Elisha Georgiou: Founder and Executive Director of Willow Nest Studio, which has been growing in community with Brooklyn families since 2015.
Elisha Georgiou is the founder and executive director of Willow Nest Studio, a creative learning community she established in Brooklyn in 2015. With a Master's in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, her career has taken her from first grade classrooms in California to work as a K–6 language arts specialist and teaching artist in New York City. Along the way, she discovered that the richest learning happens when children are trusted to explore, create, and make meaning through relationships—with materials, with nature, and with one another.
Originally from Northern California's Napa Valley, Elisha considers herself happily bicoastal. After making Brooklyn her home in 1999, she built Willow Nest from years of dreaming, teaching, observing, and listening to children. Her work has also been profoundly shaped by motherhood, deepening her commitment to creating spaces where children feel known, capable, and free to imagine.
For more than two decades, Elisha has had the privilege of working with children from toddlerhood through early adolescence. Many families have remained part of Willow Nest for years, allowing her to witness children grow not only in skill, but in confidence, curiosity, and character. She believes that accompanying children over long stretches of their lives is one of education's greatest gifts, and her years of journals, photographs, and documentation continue to inform her evolving practice.
An artist at heart, Elisha finds inspiration everywhere—from museums, theater, music, and dance to forests, gardens, and neighborhood sidewalks. She is especially drawn to humble materials and overlooked objects, believing that discarded scraps often hold extraordinary creative potential. Her work invites children to see beauty where others might not, encouraging imagination while nurturing respect for the natural world and thoughtful stewardship of its resources.
At Willow Nest, Elisha continues to design environments where art, nature, storytelling, and scientific inquiry exist side by side. She approaches curriculum as a living process, continually observing, researching, documenting, and refining alongside the children she teaches. Whether she is preparing beautiful materials, mentoring educators, writing curriculum, or sweeping glitter from the studio floor, she sees every part of the work as an expression of care.
As Willow Nest continues to evolve, Elisha remains committed to following the curiosity of children and the changing needs of her community. She looks forward to future collaborations that bring together art, education, ecology, and the shared belief that creativity has the power to shape not only how children learn, but how they see and care for the world.
Our approach
Our mission is to guide and support children’s early development so they may grow into the confident, expressive, and thoughtful human beings they are meant to be. We believe children learn best when they feel safe, valued, and deeply engaged, so we provide a nurturing, beautiful environment where curiosity is welcomed and every child can thrive.
Our philosophy is child-centered, holistic, and inquiry-based. We see children as capable, creative, and full of potential, and we focus on their strengths while honoring their unique ways of thinking, feeling, and learning. Guided play—supported by caring, attentive, and playful adults—lies at the heart of our practice. Through listening closely to children and inviting their ideas, we co-create meaningful learning experiences together.
Our curriculum centers on interdisciplinary arts and exploration. We integrate visual art, music, creative movement, dramatic and story play, puppetry, light and shadow theater, nature and science inquiry, sensory-rich materials, and collaborative group experiences. These experiences support social skill development, problem-solving, communication, and joyful self-expression.
We are influenced by the Reggio Emilia approach, the play theories of Lev Vygotsky, and other leaders who emphasize the vital role of play, relationships, and the multi-modal arts in early childhood development. These foundations help children develop a strong sense of self, executive functioning skills, and the confidence needed to become lifelong learners.
Learning at Willow Nest Studio unfolds through exploration, documentation, reflection, and discovery. By making children’s thinking visible and honoring their questions and ideas, we create an emergent, developmentally appropriate curriculum that grows naturally from their interests.
Our teachers are dedicated, creative, and joyful guides who are deeply committed to making learning a positive and meaningful experience for every child. Through this holistic approach, children develop the skills, independence, and curiosity needed for school readiness while also growing as compassionate, imaginative, and engaged citizens of the world.
