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Infant / Toddler Outdoor Learning Environment Features Padlet

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Infant / Toddler Outdoor Learning Environment Features Padlet

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Forest School Training, July 20-29, 2026

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Forest School Training, July 20-29, 2026

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Designed to develop leadership, facilitation, and practical skills to understand and implement the principles and ethos of Forest School.

July 20 - 29, 2026, Waldoboro, Maine.

Registration Opens February 1, 2026.

Upcoming information sessions:

January 29th, 4:30pm. Join here.

February 4th, 12:30pm. Join here.

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Unit 1: Forest School programme delivery (pilot): plan, evaluate and reflect on six pilot sessions; weekly observation of three participants; summative evaluation.

Unit 2: Learning and development: learning theories; holistic development; play; building community; encouraging expected behaviour and reflections on your personal development.

Unit 3: Planning and preparation: the development of Forest School; research on the benefits of Forest School; ecological impact and three-year plan for sustainability; policies and procedures for best practice; benefit risk assessments; the role of the Forest School Leader and the first plan of your 'introduction to Forest School programme' (pilot).

Unit 4: Practical skills: knots; knives; drills; saws; shelters and dens; campfire building and campfire cooking; how to clean, store and maintain tools and ropes. These are skills for yourself and how to safely apply them in practice with participants.

Unit 5: Woodland management: comparison of broadleaved and coniferous woodlands; identify flora and fauna on your own Forest School site; sustainable woodland management techniques; research on the importance of nature connection; how to build nature connection.

Most of the evidence for Units 2-5 is completed during the 9-day in-person training and the 7.5 hour online session. Unit 1 (the 6 week pilot program) must be completed AFTER the in-person training.

Full support, practice and templates are provided during the training so you will be confident to complete this independently.

If you already work in a setting with children that has an outdoor space, the training can be finished in 2-3 months after the in-person training. Otherwise, it may take 9 months to a year as you will need to arrange your 6-week pilot program.

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Forest School - Maine Early Childhood Outdoors

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Unit 1: Forest School programme delivery (pilot): plan, evaluate and reflect on six pilot sessions; weekly observation of three participants; summative evaluation. Unit 2: Learning and development: learning theories; holistic development; play; building community; encouraging expected behaviour and reflections on your personal development.

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ELRC 8, 9, & 10 Quest for Quality Podcast

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ELRC 8, 9, & 10 Quest for Quality Podcast

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-Play Schemas (Ep. 3)

-Play Personalities (Ep. 4)

-Process Art (Ep. 6)

-2-part Series on Outdoor Learning Environments (Eps. 10 & 11)

-Transforming Your Play-Based Classroom (Ep. 28)

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1. Complete a Consultation Request in your PD Registry Organization Profile.

2. Elizabeth or Susan will reach out to schedule an initial meeting with you.

3. Have your staff complete the Pre-Survey to assess the baseline of understanding and willingness to adopt a play and nature-focused teaching mindset.

4. After a meeting with you and reviewing the survey results, we will co-create an action plan with you, setting actionable next steps and a timeline. This action plan will include professional development for staff and admin and hands-on coaching.

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Create a picture of "a coaching blueprint" that looks like a roadmap and includes nature.

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Resources for Outdoor Learning Initiatives, all in one document

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Resources for Outdoor Learning Initiatives, all in one document

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These resources were researched and compiled by Community Connections for Children's Outdoor Learning and Play Consultants.

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A Parent’s Guide to Nature Play | Natural Start Alliance

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Childhood nature play advocate Ken Finch shares strategies for making nature play easy so that families can make it part of every day.

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Benefits of Engaging Children with Nature (Natural Learning Initiative, NC State)

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Benefits of Engaging Children with Nature (Natural Learning Initiative, NC State)

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NATURALIZING OUTDOOR LEARNING AND PLAY ENVIRONMENTS

The majority of children are in childcare or school for extended periods of time, often eight to ten hours per day, which makes green environment vital to their physical and emotional well-being. Childcare centers and schools with naturalized outdoor environments allow children to have safe, ready-made access to green places and engagement with nature. A wide range of naturalized settings and elements stimulate a diversity of play and learning experiences for children, adding endless value to an outdoor environment.

NATURALIZED SETTINGS AND ELEMENTS

Multi-use lawns

support high-energy group games and the exuberant joy of running - activities that promote cooperation and gross motor development (Figure 5). Lawns provide an ideal space for play with balls and other types of mobile equipment that require a soft surface. Grassy areas can accommodate social gatherings such as story time, and offer a place for simply relaxing.

Gathering places

encourage children to meet and work together in small groups, stimulating social interaction and cooperative relationships. Such spaces can support art-making, storytelling, and science exploration (Figure 6).

Sun protection

is essential for the health and comfort of children outdoors. This can be achieved by installing medium-size trees, large shrubs, arbors, pergolas, tunnels, and trellises. When scattered throughout the play and learning area, they create frequent patches of shade and three-dimensional spaces scaled to children. Vine-covered teepees provide shade and an exciting play space.

Experience of edible landscape

offer an essential introduction to healthy eating. They include annual vegetable gardens and permanent edible landscape elements such as perennial vegetables, fruiting trees, shrubs, and vines. Gardens can be a small, single bed or a large managed garden of 200-300 square feet. Edible landscapes get children excited about eating fresh fruit and vegetables and connect them intimately with nature.

Pathways

promote active, play, and learning by providing children and teachers with easy access throughout the outdoor learning environment. Primary pathways stimulate vigorous activity, while secondary and tertiary pathways provide sensory interest and opportunities to explore (Figures 8 & 9).

Sand and mud play

allow children to move, mold, dig, sift, sculpt, and pour. Sand and mud are classic natural materials that provide a multitude of opportunities for creative play and social interaction (Figure 10).

Water play settings

create multi-sensory play opportunities. Water features allow children to interact with diverse objects, manipulate water flow with movable stones, pour with containers, splash, paint with water, and more. Primary methods of providing water play include elevated water tables (lower) or in-ground, hard-surfaced streams.

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01. Benefits of Engaging Children with Nature

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The majority of children are in childcare or school for extended periods of time, often eight to ten hours per day, which makes green environment vital to their physical and emotional well-being. Childcare centers and schools with naturalized outdoor environments allow children to have safe, ready-made access to green places and engagement with nature.

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Tried and True Outdoor Learning Supplies and Materials

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Tried and True Outdoor Learning Supplies and Materials

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Nature Play at Home is a joint project of the National Wildlife 
Federation and the Natural Learning Initiative, dedicated to 
creating tools and resources that restore nature to children’s 
everyday outdoor play and learning environments.

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Nature Play at Home: A Guide for Boosting Your Children's Healthy Development and Creativity

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Nature Play at Home: A Guide for Boosting Your Children's Healthy Development and Creativity

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Includes How-To Guides, info-sheets, information for supporting families, and much more!

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Resources are created, often in collaboration with the Natural Learning Initiative's interdisciplinary partners, to support technical assistance, professional development, and generally to promote the importance of the natural environment in the daily experience of all children. Please use and share.

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Resources are created, often in collaboration with the Natural Learning Initiative's interdisciplinary partners, to support technical assistance, professional development, and generally to promote the importance of the natural environment in the daily experience of all children. Please use and share.

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Research Brief: Impact of Naturalized Early Childhood Outdoor Learning Environments (Natural Learning Initiative, NC State)

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Research Brief: Impact of Naturalized Early Childhood Outdoor Learning Environments (Natural Learning Initiative, NC State)

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Research Brief: Impact of Naturalized Early Childhood Outdoor Learning Environments | NLI

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American Institutes for Research (2005). Effects of Outdoor Education Programs for Children in California. Retrieved from http://www.seer.org/pages/research/AIROutdoorSchool2005.pdf.

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Ensuring Every Child in Maine Has Access to Outdoor Early Education

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Maine Early Childhood Outdoors | Explore Outdoor Learning Now

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Discover Maine Early Childhood Outdoors, offering engaging outdoor educational services for children to promote learning and development.

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Outdoor Learning Environment (OLE!) Texas is a statewide initiative that promotes healthy, nature-based outdoor spaces at early childcare and education (ECE) programs. A healthy outdoor space helps preschool children be more active while they play, discover, and connect with nature.

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Outdoor Learning Environment (OLE!) Texas

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Outdoor Learning Environment (OLE!) Texas

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Outdoor Learning Environment (OLE!) Texas | Texas DSHS

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Explore our Outdoor Learning Environment (OLE!) initiative that promotes healthful outdoor environment at early childcare and education (ECE) programs.

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Grow Outdoors South Carolina is a joint initiative of the South Carolina Department of Social Services – Division of Early Care and Education and the South Carolina Department of Public Health – Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Prevention Section. This initiative aims to transfer knowledge and support the early childhood community to create vibrant outdoor spaces that inspire curiosity, creativity, and physical activity among children.

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Grow Outdoors SC officially launched on December 11, 2023, at the MEGA Child Development Center in Gilbert, SC. This video celebrates the event and shows how nature-based design encourages physical activity, healthy eating, social-emotional development, and STEAM learning in South Carolina child care centers.

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A short video of a childcare outdoor learning environment that supports young children's physical activity, healthy eating, and outdoor learning.

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Playgrounds to Outdoor Learning Environments

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Playgrounds to Outdoor Learning Environments

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Playgrounds to Outdoor Learning Environments

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Peter Gray - Free to Learn (Interview on The New Schools)

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Peter Gray - Free to Learn (Interview on The New Schools)

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Angela Hanscom: Balanced and Barefoot (Interview on The New Schools)

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Angela Hanscom: Balanced and Barefoot (Interview on The New Schools)

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Helping Licensed Child Care Programs Embrace Nature Play by Elizabeth Marcello

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Helping Licensed Child Care Programs Embrace Nature Play by Elizabeth Marcello

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Helping Licensed Child-Care Programs Embrace Nature Play

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I grew up on two acres of land in rural West Virginia, and my childhood was full of outdoor exploration. To my adult eyes, that land may not seem extraordinary, but as a child, it was my playground. I spent hours catching toads and grasshoppers, building homes for birds and caterpillars, playing in the stream, and resting in the shade of two large weeping willows. I dug for treasures and gathered cherry tomatoes from my mother’s garden. Those memories still fill me with joy and nostalgia, and it wasn’t until much later in life that I fully understood the value of that kind of play.

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Nature Play at Home: Creating Outdoor Spaces that Connect Children with the Natural World

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Nature Play at Home: Creating Outdoor Spaces that Connect Children with the Natural World

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National Wildlife Federation's Early Childhood Health Outdoors

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National Wildlife Federation's Early Childhood Health Outdoors

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Dr. Rebecca Colbert Joins ECHO as Senior Director of Design and Engagement

Colbert will lead the enhancement and activation of equitable, nature-based outdoor play and learning settings with a focus on improving built environments for children and communities who have historically faced institutional barriers to quality outdoor spaces. Colbert also will support the organization's efforts to incorporate nature play spaces and wildlife habitat into residential parks and other places where children and families spend time. See the press release below for more info.

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Early Childhood Health Outdoors | National Wildlife Federation

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Dr. Rebecca Colbert Joins ECHO as Senior Director of Design and Engagement Colbert will lead the enhancement and activation of equitable, nature-based outdoor play and learning settings with a focus on improving built environments for children and communities who have historically faced institutional barriers to quality outdoor spaces.

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The Natural Learning Initiative of NC State University

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The Natural Learning Initiative of NC State University

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PROGRAMS integrate many multi-year PROJECTS with the aim of achieving higher levels of sustained quality. Projects are typically concentrated, short duration efforts that focus on specific design issues (e.g., design assistance, evaluation, professional development, or policy initiative).

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PROGRAMS integrate many multi-year PROJECTS with the aim of achieving higher levels of sustained quality. Projects are typically concentrated, short duration efforts that focus on specific design issues (e.g., design assistance, evaluation, professional development, or policy initiative).

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What is Nature-Based Early Childhood Education?

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What is Nature-Based Early Childhood Education?

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2.5K views · 46 reactions | Nature-based preschools are growing in popularity in early childhood education. In this video Rachel A. Larimore, Founder of Samara Early Learning, LLC, describes the broad concept of nature-based early childhood education and nature-based preschools specifically. | Samara Early Learning

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Nature-based preschools are growing in popularity in early childhood education. In this video Rachel A. Larimore, Founder of Samara Early Learning, LLC, describes the broad concept of nature-based…

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Quality Outdoor Play Environments - Free OLE How-To Guidebook

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Quality Outdoor Play Environments - Free OLE How-To Guidebook

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Free Webinar

Outdoor Unstructured Free Play & Handouts

Other Resources and Research

PD Sessions with the Education Team

Facilitators:

Jill Bienenstock, RECE
Director of Education

Jill is passionate about taking advantage of the unique outdoor benefits to support children's different learning styles & personalities. She provides simple solutions for both educators & families to promote outdoor play opportunities in all 4 seasons.

Margie Newlands, RECE
Senior Outdoor Education Consultant

Margie loves exploring the outdoors with children & celebrating the diverse learning opportunities it provides. She aims to further connect children & educators with nature and showcasing the natural world as a powerful teaching tool.

Kristie Roorda, RECE
Outdoor Education Consultant

As a Registered Early Childhood Educator with 10-years experience in childcare Kristie has extensive knowledge and understanding of the early learning years. With experience spanning from infants to school-age children, Kristie brings a vast knowledge of child development to the team.

Learn More or Book a Workshop

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In this workshop, we will explore the opportunities that nature has to offer while showcasing the importance of outdoor unstructured free play.

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Comprehensive list of OLE features to purchase or DIY.

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Comprehensive list of OLE features to purchase or DIY.

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Submitting a Consultation Request to begin coaching

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Submitting a Consultation Request to begin coaching

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If you would like to receive STARS Coaching on nature-based ECE / outdoor learning practices, please complete a consultation request in your PD Registry Organization Profile. You can find instructions by clicking this link.

*Note: if you do not have the option to submit a consultation request upon logging into your Organization Profile, that means you are not listed as the Admin of this profile. Please reach out to your STARS Quality Coach for support.

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How To Request A Consultation - The Pennsylvania Key

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Watch this talk if you are interested in the well-being of young children. Children spend most of their waking hours in child care every day where they can play outdoors and learn from nature. Interacting with plants and insects outside is found to be fundamental for children’s health and well-being.  In her talk, Cosco will explain the importance of being outdoors as it releases the power of experiential learning and etches lifelong memories of nature.

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What nature teaches children | Nilda Cosco | TEDxRaleigh

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The intuition that “nature is good for children” is widely held, and yet, historically, the evidence for this intuition has been uncompelling, with a distressing number of weak studies and inflated claims. Now, however, an impressive body of work has accrued and converging lines of evidence paint a convincing picture.

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Do Experiences With Nature Promote Learning? Converging Evidence of a Cause-and-Effect Relationship

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Do Experiences With Nature Promote Learning? Converging Evidence of a Cause-and-Effect Relationship

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Landscape and Human Health Laboratory, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, United States

Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, United States

Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States

Children & Nature Network, Minneapolis, MN, United States

Do experiences with nature - from wilderness backpacking to plants in a preschool, to a wetland lesson on frogs-promote learning? Until recently, claims outstripped evidence on this question. But the field has matured, not only substantiating previously unwarranted claims but deepening our understanding of the cause-and-effect relationship between nature and learning. Hundreds of studies now bear on this question, and converging evidence strongly suggests that experiences of nature boost academic learning, personal development, and environmental stewardship. This brief integrative review summarizes recent advances and the current state of our understanding. The research on personal development and environmental stewardship is compelling although not quantitative. Report after report - from independent observers as well as participants themselves - indicate shifts in perseverance, problem solving, critical thinking, leadership, teamwork, and resilience. Similarly, over fifty studies point to nature playing a key role in the development of pro-environmental behavior, particularly by fostering an emotional connection to nature. In academic contexts, nature-based instruction outperforms traditional instruction. The evidence here is particularly strong, including experimental evidence; evidence across a wide range of samples and instructional approaches; outcomes such as standardized test scores and graduation rates; and evidence for specific explanatory mechanisms and active ingredients. Nature may promote learning by improving learners' attention, levels of stress, self-discipline, interest and enjoyment in learning, and physical activity and fitness. Nature also appears to provide a calmer, quieter, safer context for learning; a warmer, more cooperative context for learning; and a combination of "loose parts" and autonomy that fosters developmentally beneficial forms of play. It is time to take nature seriously as a resource for learning - particularly for students not effectively reached by traditional instruction.

Introduction

The intuition that "nature is good for children" is widely held, and yet, historically, the evidence for this intuition has been uncompelling, with a distressing number of weak studies and inflated claims. Now, however, an impressive body of work has accrued and converging lines of evidence paint a convincing picture.

This integrative mini-review (see Supplementary Material for methods) summarizes what we know about the role of nature experiences in learning and development. It draws on a wide array of peer-reviewed scientific evidence, ranging from research in the inner city, to the study of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, to neurocognitive and physiological explorations. Our overarching question was, "do nature experiences promote learning and child development?"

Throughout our review, we took care to distinguish between evidence for cause-and-effect relationships and evidence for associations; causal language (e.g., "affects," "boosts," "is reduced by") is used only where justified by experimental evidence. Where converging, but not experimental, evidence points to a likely cause-and-effect relationship, our language is qualified accordingly (e.g., "seems to increase"). Table 1 summarizes recent advances in this area and explains how those advances contribute to our confidence in a cause-and-effect relationship between nature and learning and development.

Table 1. Do nature experiences promote learning? Advances in methodology and evidence.

What emerged from this critical review was a coherent narrative ( Figure 1): experiences with nature do promote children's academic learning and seem to promote children's development as persons and as environmental stewards - and at least eight distinct pathways plausibly contribute to these outcomes. Below, we discuss the evidence for each of the eight pathways and then the evidence tying nature to learning, personal development, and the development of stewardship.

Figure 1. Nature-based learning: exposures, probable mechanisms, and outcomes. This Figure summarizes the state of the scientific literature on nature and learning. The items and pathways here emerged from our review as opposed to guiding our review; thus each item listed has been empirically associated with one or more other items in the figure. Relationships for which there is cause-and-effect evidence are indicated with an asterisk; for example, "more able to concentrate" is asterisked because experimental research has demonstrated that exposure to nature boosts concentration. Similarly, "increased retention of subject matter" is asterisked because experimental research has demonstrated that exposure to nature in the course of learning boosts retention of that material. Here and throughout this review, causal language (e.g., "affects," "increases," "boosts," "is reduced by") is used only where experimental evidence (the gold standard for assessing cause-and-effect) warrants. Where converging evidence suggests a causal relationship but no experimental evidence is available, we use qualified causal language (e.g., "seems to increase"). The green box lists forms of nature exposure that have been tied with learning, whether directly (nature -> learning) or indirectly, via one or more of the mechanisms listed (nature -> mechanism -> learning). In this review, "nature" includes experiences of nature not only in wilderness but also within largely human-made contexts. Thus a classroom with a view of trees offers an experience of nature not offered by its counterpart facing the school parking lot. This review encompassed experiences of nature regardless of context - whether through play, relaxation, or educational activities, and in informal, non-formal and formal settings. The blue boxes show probable mechanisms - intermediary variables which have been empirically tied to both nature and learning. For example, the ability to concentrate is rejuvenated by exposure to nature and plays an important role in learning. Natural settings may affect learning both by directly fostering a learner's capacity to learn and by providing a more supportive context for learning. The purple box lists learning outcomes that have been tied to contact with nature. In this review, "learning" encompasses changes in knowledge, skills, behaviors, attitudes, and values. A database of articles found in the three phases of the review process (ending in 2018) is available at: https://goo.gl/FZ1CA9.

Nature May Boost Learning Via Direct Effects on Learners

Five of the eight plausible pathways between nature and learning we identified are centered in the learner. Learning is likely to improve when a learner is more attentive ( Rowe and Rowe, 1992; Mantzicopoulos and Morrison, 1994); less stressed ( Grannis, 1992; Leppink et al., 2016); more self-disciplined ( Mischel et al., 1988; Duckworth and Seligman, 2005); more engaged and interested ( Taylor et al., 2014 for review); and more physically active and fit (for reviews, see Álvarez-Bueno et al., 2017; Santana et al., 2017). Evidence suggests that contact with nature contributes to each of these states or conditions in learners.

Nature Has Rejuvenating Effects on Attention

The rejuvenating effect of nature on mentally fatigued adults (e.g., Hartig et al., 1991; Kuo, 2001) and children has been demonstrated in a large body of studies, including field experiments ( Faber Taylor and Kuo, 2009) and large-scale longitudinal studies ( Dadvand et al., 2015). Students randomly assigned to classrooms with views of greenery perform better on concentration tests than those assigned to purely "built" views or windowless classrooms ( Li and Sullivan, 2016). Nature's rejuvenating effects on attention have been found in students going on field trips ( van den Berg and van den Berg, 2011), Swedish preschoolers ( Mårtensson et al., 2009), children in Chicago public housing ( Faber Taylor et al., 2002), and 5 to 18-year-olds with ADHD (e.g., Kuo and Faber Taylor, 2004), using measures of attention ranging from parent and teacher ratings ( O'Haire et al., 2013) to neurocognitive tests ( Schutte et al., 2015).

Nature Relieves Stress

The stress-reducing effects of nature have been documented in adults in a large body of controlled experiments (see Kuo, 2015; Supplementary Material for review) and the available evidence points to a similar effect in children. Nature has been related to lower levels of both self-reported and physiological measures of stress in children ( Bell and Dyment, 2008; Chawla, 2015; Wiens et al., 2016). Recently, an experimental study showed that a window view of vegetation from a high school classroom yields systematic decreases in heart rate and self-reported stress, whereas built views do not ( Li and Sullivan, 2016). Further, students learning in a forest setting one day a week showed healthier diurnal rhythms in cortisol in that setting than a comparison group that learned indoors - cortisol dropped over the course of the school day when lessons were held in the forest but not in the classroom - and these effects could not be attributed to the physical activity associated with learning outdoors ( Dettweiler et al., 2017).

Contact With Nature Boosts Self-Discipline

In adults, the effects of viewing scenes of nature on self-discipline have been demonstrated experimentally using tests of impulse control ( Berry et al., 2014; Chow and Lau, 2015). In children, nature contact has been tied to greater self-discipline in children from inner city Chicago ( Faber Taylor et al., 2002) to residential Barcelona ( Amoly et al., 2014) and in experimental ( Sahoo and Senapati, 2014), longitudinal ( Ulset et al., 2017), and large-scale cross-sectional studies ( Amoly et al., 2014). These benefits have been shown for neurotypical children as well as for children with ADHD ( Sahoo and Senapati, 2014) and learning difficulties ( Ho et al., 2017). The types of self-discipline assessed include delay of gratification ( Faber Taylor et al., 2002) and parent ratings of hyperactivity ( Flouri et al., 2014), and the types of "nature" include not just "greenness" but contact with horses in animal-assisted learning ( Ho et al., 2017). Note that impulse control effects are not always statistically significant (e.g., Amoly et al., 2014; Schutte et al., 2015). Nonetheless, in general, impulse control is better during or after children's contact with nature.

Student Motivation, Enjoyment, and Engagement Are Better in Natural Settings

Student motivation, enjoyment, and engagement are better in natural settings, perhaps because of nature's reliably positive effects on mood (e.g., Takayama et al., 2014). In previous reviews ( Blair, 2009; Becker et al., 2017) and recent studies (e.g., Skinner and Chi, 2014; Alon and Tal, 2015; Lekies et al., 2015), students and teachers report strikingly high levels of student engagement and motivation, during both student-elected and school-mandated nature activities. Importantly, learning in and around nature is associated with intrinsic motivation ( Fägerstam and Blom, 2012; Hobbs, 2015), which, unlike extrinsic motivation, is crucial for student engagement and longevity of interest in learning. The positivity of learning in nature seem to ripple outward, as seen in learners' engagement in subsequent, indoor lessons ( Kuo et al., 2018a), ratings of course curriculum, materials, and resources ( Benfield et al., 2015) and interest in school in general ( Blair, 2009; Becker et al., 2017), as well as lower levels of chronic absenteeism ( MacNaughton et al., 2017). Encouragingly, learning in nature may improve motivation most in those students who are least motivated in traditional classrooms ( Dettweiler et al., 2015).

Time Outdoors Is Tied to Higher Levels of Physical Activity and Fitness

While the evidence tying green space to physical activity is extremely mixed (see Lachowitz and Jones, 2011 for review), children's time outdoors is consistently tied to both higher levels of physical activity and physical fitness: the more time children spend outdoors, the greater their physical activity, the lesser their sedentary behavior, and the better their cardiorespiratory fitness ( Gray et al., 2015). Importantly, cardiorespiratory fitness is the component of physical fitness most clearly tied to academic performance ( Santana et al., 2017). Further, there is some indication greener school grounds can counter children's trend toward decreasing physical activity as they approach adolescence: in one study, girls with access to more green space and woodlands, and boys with access to ball fields, were more likely to remain physically active as they got older ( Pagels et al., 2014). This pattern is echoed in later life: in older adults, physical activity declines with age - but among those living in greener neighborhoods the decline is smaller ( Dalton et al., 2016).

Nature May Boost Learning by Providing a More Supportive Context for Learning

In addition to its effects on learners, natural settings and features may provide a more supportive context for learning in at least three ways. Greener environments may foster learning because they are calmer and quieter, because they foster warmer relationships, and because the combination of "loose parts" and relative autonomy elicits particularly beneficial forms of play.

Vegetated Settings Tend to Provide Calmer, Quieter, Safer Contexts for Learning

Both formal and informal learning are associated with a greater sense of calmness or peace when conducted in greener settings ( Maynard et al., 2013; Nedovic and Morrissey, 2013; Chawla et al., 2014). Problematic and disruptive behaviors such as talking out of turn or pushing among children are less frequent in natural settings than in the classroom ( Bassette and Taber-Doughty, 2013; Nedovic and Morrissey, 2013; O'Haire et al., 2013; Chawla et al., 2014). Further, in greener learning environments, students who previously experienced difficulties in traditional classrooms are better able to remove themselves from conflicts and demonstrate better self-control ( Maynard et al., 2013; Ruiz-Gallardo et al., 2013; Swank et al., 2017). The social environment of the classroom has long been recognized as important for learning ( Rutter, 2000). Calmer environments have been tied to greater student engagement and academic success ( Wessler, 2003; McCormick et al., 2015).

Natural Settings Seem to Foster Warmer, More Cooperative Relations

Images of nature have prosocial effects in adults (e.g., Weinstein et al., 2009) and greener settings are tied to the development of meaningful and trusting friendships between peers ( White, 2012; Chawla et al., 2014; Warber et al., 2015). Maynard et al. (2013) theorize that natural settings provide a less restrictive context for learning than the traditional classroom, giving children more freedom to engage with one another and form ties. Indeed, learning in greener settings has been consistently tied to the bridging of both socio-cultural differences and interpersonal barriers (e.g., personality conflicts) that can interfere with group functioning in the classroom ( White, 2012; Cooley et al., 2014; Warber et al., 2015). Finally, learning in nature facilitates cooperation and comfort between students and teachers, perhaps by providing a more level playing-field wherein the teacher is seen as a partner in learning ( Scott and Colquhoun, 2013). More cooperative learning environments promote student engagement and academic performance ( Patrick et al., 2007; McCormick et al., 2015).

Natural Settings May Afford "Loose Parts," Autonomy, and Distinctly Beneficial Forms of Play

In his "theory of loose parts," Nicholson (1972) posited that the "stuff" of nature - sticks, stones, bugs, dirt, water - could promote child development by encouraging creative, self-directed play. Indeed, teachers' and principals' observations suggest children's play becomes strikingly more creative, physically active, and more social in the presence of loose parts (e.g., Bundy et al., 2008, 2009). Interestingly, it appears that nature, loose parts, and autonomy can each independently contribute to outcomes (see Bundy et al., 2009; Niemiec and Ryan, 2009; Studente et al., 2016, respectively), raising the possibility of synergy among these factors. Although the effects of loose parts play on child development have yet to be quantitatively demonstrated ( Gibson et al., 2017), the potential contributions of more creative, more social, more physically active play to cognitive, social and physical development seem clear.

Outcomes for Learning and Development

In school settings, incorporating nature in instruction improves academic achievement over traditional instruction. In a randomized controlled trial of school garden-based instruction involving over 3,000 students, students gained more knowledge than waitlist control peers taking traditional classes; moreover, the more garden-based instruction, the larger the gains ( Wells et al., 2015). Further, among the over 200 other tests of nature-based instruction's academic outcomes, the vast majority of findings are positive (for reviews, see Williams and Dixon, 2013; Becker et al., 2017) - and here, too, the most impressive findings come from studies employing the largest doses of nature-based instruction (e.g., Ernst and Stanek, 2006). Findings have been consistently positive across diverse student populations, academic subjects, instructors and instructional approaches, educational settings, and research designs.

Interestingly, both the pedagogy and setting of nature-based instruction may contribute to its effects. Hands-on, student-centered, activity-based and discussion-based instruction each outperform traditional instruction-even when conducted indoors ( Granger et al., 2012; Freeman et al., 2014; Kontra et al., 2015). And simply conducting traditional instruction in a more natural setting may boost outcomes. In multiple studies, the greener a school's surroundings, the better its standardized test performance - even after accounting for poverty and other factors (e.g., Sivarajah et al., 2018)-and classrooms with green views yield similar findings ( Benfield et al., 2015; although c.f. Doxey et al., 2009). The frequency of positive findings on nature-based instruction likely reflects the combination of a better pedagogy and a better educational setting.

In and outside the context of formal instruction, experiences of nature seem to contribute to additional outcomes. First, not only do experiences of nature enhance academic learning, but they seem to foster personal development - the acquisition of intrapersonal and interpersonal assets such as perseverance, critical thinking, leadership, and communication skills. While quantitative research on these outcomes is rare, the qualitative work is voluminous, striking, and near-unanimous (for reviews, see Cason and Gillis, 1994; Williams and Dixon, 2013; Becker et al., 2017). Teachers, parents, and students report that wilderness and other nature experiences boost self-confidence, critical thinking, and problem-solving (e.g., Kochanowski and Carr, 2014; Truong et al., 2016) as well as leadership and communication skills such as making important decisions, listening to others, and voicing opinions in a group (e.g., Jostad et al., 2012; Cooley et al., 2014). Students emerge more resilient, with a greater capacity to meet challenges and thrive in adverse situations ( Beightol et al., 2012; Cooley et al., 2014; Harun and Salamuddin, 2014; Warber et al., 2015; Richmond et al., 2017). Interestingly, greener everyday settings may also boost positive coping ( Kuo, 2001) and buffer children from the impacts of stressful life events ( Wells and Evans, 2003).

And second, spending time in nature appears to grow environmental stewards. Adults who care strongly for nature commonly attribute their caring to time, and particularly play, in nature as children - and a diverse body of studies backs them up (for review, see Chawla and Derr, 2012). Interestingly, the key ingredient in childhood nature experiences that leads to adult stewardship behavior does not seem to be conservation knowledge (knowledge of how and why to conserve). Although knowledge of how and why to conserve, which could presumably be taught in a classroom setting, has typically been assumed to drive stewardship behavior, it is relatively unimportant in predicting conservation behavior ( Otto and Pensini, 2017). By contrast, an emotional connection to nature, which may be more difficult to acquire in a classroom, is a powerful predictor of children's conservation behavior, explaining 69% of the variance ( Otto and Pensini, 2017). Indeed, environmental attitudes may foster the acquisition of environmental knowledge ( Fremery and Bogner, 2014) rather than vice versa. As spending time in nature fosters an emotional connection to nature and, in turn, conservation attitudes and behavior, direct contact with nature may be the most effective way to grow environmental stewards ( Lekies et al., 2015).

Conclusion and Implications

Do experiences with nature really promote learning? A scientist sampling some of the studies in this area might well be dismayed initially - as we were - at the frequency of weak research designs and overly optimistic claims. But a thorough review reveals an evidence base stronger, deeper, and broader than this first impression might suggest: weak research designs are supplemented with strong ones; striking findings are replicated in multiple contexts; the research on nature and learning now includes evidence of mechanisms; and findings from entirely outside the study of nature and learning point to the same conclusions.

Robust phenomena are often robust because they are multiply determined. The eight likely pathways between exposure to nature and learning identified here may account for the consistency of the nature-learning connection. Certainly it seems likely that increasing a student's ability to concentrate, interest in the material, and self-discipline simultaneously would enhance their learning more than any of these effects alone. Moreover, in a group setting, effects on individual learners improve the learning context; when Danika fidgets less, her seatmates Jamal and JiaYing experience fewer disruptions and concentrate better; when Danika, Jamal, and JiaYing are less disruptive, the whole class learns better. These synergies - within and between students - may help explain how relatively small differences in schoolyard green cover predict significant differences in end-of-year academic achievement performance (e.g., Matsuoka, 2010; Kuo et al., 2018b).

An important question arose in the course of our review: is nature-based instruction effective for students for whom traditional instruction is ineffective? Although this review was not structured to systematically assess this question, the benefits of nature-based learning for disadvantaged students were a striking leitmotif in our reading. Not only can nature-based learning work better for disadvantaged students ( McCree et al., 2018; Sivarajah et al., 2018), but it appears to boost interest in uninterested students ( Dettweiler et al., 2015; Truong et al., 2016), improve some grades ( Camassao and Jagannathan, 2018), and reduce disruptive episodes and dropouts among "at risk" students ( Ruiz-Gallardo et al., 2013). Nature-based learning may sometimes even erase race- and income-related gaps (e.g., Taylor et al., 1998). Further, anecdotes abound in which students who ordinarily struggle in the classroom emerge as leaders in natural settings. If nature is equigenic, giving low-performing students a chance to succeed and even shine, the need to document this capacity is pressing. In the United States, where sixth graders in the richest school districts are four grade levels ahead of children in the poorest districts ( Reardon et al., 2017), this need is urgent.

Fully assessing and making use of the benefits of nature-based instruction can serve all children. The available evidence suggests that experiences of nature help children acquire some of the skills, attitudes, and behaviors most needed in the 21st century. "Non-cognitive factors" such as perseverance, self-efficacy, resilience, social skills, leadership, and communication skills - so important in life beyond school ( National Research Council, 2012) - are increasingly recognized by the business community and policy makers as essential in a rapidly changing world. And for generations growing up in the Anthropocene, environmental stewardship may be as important as any academic content knowledge.

We conclude it is time to take nature seriously as a resource for learning and development. It is time to bring nature and nature-based pedagogy into formal education - to expand existing, isolated efforts into increasingly mainstream practices. Action research should assess the benefits of school gardens, green schoolyards and green walls in classrooms. Principals and school boards should support, not discourage, teachers' efforts to hold classes outdoors, take regular field trips, and partner with nearby nature centers, farms, and forest preserves. Teachers who have pioneered nature-based instruction should serve as models and coaches, helping others address its challenges and take full advantage of its benefits.

Author Contributions

All authors co-wrote and edited the manuscript. MK provided leadership for decisions of content, framing, and style and led the creation of the Figure and Table. MB created the SoNBL literature database on which this review is based. CJ serves as the principal investigator of the Science of Nature-Based Learning Collaborative Research Network project; in addition to initiating this project and substantially shaping the Figure and Table, she solicited feedback from Network members.

Funding

This literature review was conducted under the auspices of the Science of Nature-Based Learning Collaborative Research Network (NBLR Network) supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. NSF 1540919. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

We thank the members of the NBLR Network for their diverse contributions of expertise, skills, resources and passion for connecting children to nature: Marc Berman, Judy Braus, Greg Cajete, Cheryl Charles, Louise Chawla, Scott Chazdon, Angie Chen, Avery Cleary, Nilda Cosco, Andrea Faber Taylor, Megan Gunnar, Erin Hashimoto-Martell, Peter Kahn, Sarah Milligan Toffler, Robin Moore, Scott Sampson, David Sobel, David Strayer, Jason Watson, Sheila Williams Ridge, Dilafruz Williams, and Tamra Willis.

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00305/full#supplementary-material

References

Reardon, S. F., Kalogrides, D., and Shores, K. (2017). The Geography of Racial/Ethnic Test Score Gaps (CEPA Working Paper No.16-10). Available at: Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis: http://cepa.stanford.edu/wp16-10
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Frontiers | Do Experiences With Nature Promote Learning? Converging Evidence of a Cause-and-Effect Relationship

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Do experiences with nature - from wilderness backpacking to plants in a preschool, to a wetland lesson on frogs-promote learning? Until recently, claims o...

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NAEYC: Rocking and Rolling. Fresh Air, Fun, and Exploration: Why Outdoor Play Is Essential for Healthy Development

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NAEYC: Rocking and Rolling. Fresh Air, Fun, and Exploration: Why Outdoor Play Is Essential for Healthy Development

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Coteachers Marissa and Kate are out for a walk around the block with a small group of 18- to 30-month-olds. The sky is a brilliant blue and there are bright green grass shoots and spring leaves to touch and smell. Two-and-a-half-year-old Aisha approaches Marissa, eyes shining, clutching a treasured object in her hand. She uncurls her fingers to reveal an acorn. "Look!" she says. "What dis?"

"Wow! That's an acorn. It fell from the tree last fall," Marissa answers. "If you plant it in the ground, it will grow into a big tree."

Aisha discovers two more acorns and shares them with Brady, who is 2 years old. Kate offers Aisha and Brady small bags they can use to collect more acorns and other interesting objects they find during the walk. The group's progress around the block is slow as the children find twigs, old brown leaves, new green leaves, and more acorns to bring back to the center.

It can be challenging to take young children outside-from naps to mealtimes and sunscreen to mittens, a trip outdoors might feel like too much hassle. Additionally, play outside may seem unruly, overwhelming, or lacking in learning opportunities. But outdoor play is worth the time and effort.

What are the benefits of outdoor play?

1. It invites children to learn science

As seen in the opening vignette, you don't have to plan for science lessons when you take young children outside. Children are natural explorers and discoverers, and you can bring whatever interests them back to your early childhood setting for further exploration. By turning their questions into group inquiry projects, you'll soon have several starting points for emergent curriculum. An acorn won't grow quickly enough to satisfy a curious child-it takes two months for the first shoots to appear! But there are faster-growing seeds (peas, green beans, corn) perfect for classroom experiments. Picture books like The Carrot Seed, by Ruth Krauss, and Growing Vegetable Soup, by Lois Ehlert, add early literacy to the mix while building children's vocabulary and knowledge.

2. It creates opportunities for social interaction and collaboration

One-on-one interactions, like the conversation between Aisha and Marissa in the vignette, help build a foundation for future teacher relationships that will occur when children enter school. Marissa's interest and delight in Aisha's discovery reinforce Aisha's knowledge that she's important and her ideas matter. Outdoor play also provides a chance to practice social and emotional skills with other children, including problem solving, turn taking, encouragement, self-control, safe risk taking, and following the rules of a game. And outdoor play provides opportunities to develop empathy; for example, imagine one child encouraging another to try the slide or a child comforting another who has fallen down while running.

3. It promotes physical health

The obesity rate for US children ages 2 to 5 is 14 percent, and it rises to over 40 percent for middle-aged adults, leading to an increased risk of health problems like diabetes and heart disease (Hales et al. 2017). That's one reason why the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a "prescription for play" at every well-child visit through age 2 (Yogman et al. 2018, 10) and Nemours Health and Prevention Services recommends daily, supervised outdoor time for children from birth to age 5 (Hughes 2009). Specifically, Nemours calls for toddlers to have at least 30 minutes of structured (adult-led) physical activity and at least 60 minutes of unstructured (child-led) physical activity each day. Outdoor play is a great way to model the joy of physical activity. When children run, jump, climb, throw and kick balls, and ride toys that require balance, they also build gross motor skills and start developing a habit of being active.

4. It invites new contexts for learning

You can use outdoor spaces to create intentional learning activities that are difficult to execute inside. There's great value in looking at books about nature in the shade of a tree, pouring (and splashing!) water at an outdoor water table, building extra large structures in the sandbox or mud, collecting leaves, watching a parade of ants, and playing pretend on a playground structure. To make the most of your outdoor time, think about creative, joyful, engaging activities that capitalize on children's need to move and enthusiasm for doing so, while also achieving other curricular goals. For example, you might create a sorting game in which children have to find all the yellow balls and all the red balls hidden on the playground, then sort them into two groups.

5. It promotes better sleep

A study of 2- to 5-year-olds showed that children who play outdoors sleep better at night (Deziel 2017). This may be due to the physical activity, stress reduction, and exposure to natural light that come with playing outdoors (Coyle 2011). You may want to share this information with families-a tired, happy child is one who sleeps well!

6. It gives children a chance to take appropriate risks

Toddlers are all about challenging themselves to do new and difficult things-pet a dog, climb some stairs, venture a little farther away from a caregiver and then return. Playing outside provides opportunities to run faster, climb higher, jump farther, and more-all under the watchful eye of a caring adult.

7. It may lead to better learning outcomes once children return to other activities

Research shows that older children are more attentive and productive in the classroom when recess-indoors or outdoors-is part of the school day (Council on School Health 2013). If older children need a brain break, it follows that younger ones do too.

8. It supports STEM skills

Remember making mud pies and forts when you were a child? The outdoors is the perfect place for big (and messy) projects that support STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) skills, such as building, sand and water play, and investigations of the natural world. Almost any indoor activity can be brought outside for further exploration.

9. It anchors children to the real world

Talking with a child about an illustration of a bird in a picture book is good, but sharing the book and the experience in the real world is even better: "I wonder what that robin is looking for in the grass? Oh, look! It got a worm!" Children develop more comprehensive knowledge about their world when they have a chance to watch, observe, predict, and learn in the moment.

Conclusion

Playing outdoors has benefits for both young children and educators. It's a refreshing pause in the day's schedule-time set aside to look and listen, explore and observe, move and let loose. Time spent outside can lead to better physical and mental health, improved sleep, and cognitive, social, and emotional gains for young children. Ensuring that outdoor play is an integral part of your child care and education setting's daily schedule supports early learning across all domains and unleashes a whole lot of joy-for you and for children!

Think about it

Reflect on your feelings about being outside. What do you enjoy or dislike about being outdoors?

What are your goals for outdoor play? (These can differ from day to day, depending on children's needs, the season, and the spaces and materials you have access to for structured versus unstructured activities.)

What routines can you create that will assist you in getting children outdoors? (Some programs have outdoor time at the beginning and end of every day so they don't have to deal with coats and hats in the middle of the day.)

What classroom/programmatic roadblocks exist that may make it harder to get children outdoors? How might you tackle them?

How can you share children's outdoor activities and accomplishments with their families?

Mix it up: provide a balance of structured play (in which you choose the goals and initiate activities that will meet them) and unstructured play.

When the weather outside is frightful . . . dress appropriately and make it part of the adventure! For example, observe the sound and smell of rain, the splashes boots make in puddles, and the way rainwater collects on leaves. (If possible, have some extra outdoor gear on hand for children who are not adequately dressed for the conditions.)

The world is your canvas! Try drawing on the sidewalk with chalk, or use rollers or big brushes to paint with water.

Start a collection: have children collect specific objects-leaves, pinecones, rocks, or whatever interests them. Use these items for sorting activities when you return to the classroom. Items can be organized by shape, color, or texture.

Document discoveries: snap photos or take video of children's discoveries and experiments in the outdoor "classroom." Post photos or videos in a place where children and their families can see them. Create a classroom book that shows what children are doing and learning outside.

References

Council on School Health. 2013. "The Crucial Role of Recess in School." Policy statement. Pediatrics 131 (1). http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/131/1/183.

Coyle, K.J. 2011. Green Time for Sleep Time: Three Ways Nature and Outdoor Time Improve Your Child's Sleep: A Guide for Parents and Caregivers. Reston, VA: National Wildlife Federation. www.nwf.org/~/media/PDFs/Be%20Out%20There/BeOutThere_GreenTimeforSleepTi....

Deziel, S. 2017. "5 Reasons Why Every Kid Should Play Outside." Today's Parent. www.todaysparent.com/kids/kids-health/unexpected-benefits-of-outdoor-play/.

Hales, C.M., M.D. Carroll, C.D. Fryar, & C.L. Ogden. 2017. "Prevalence of Obesity Among Adults and Youth: United States, 2015-2016." NCHS Data Brief #288. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db288.pdf.

Hughes, D. 2009. Best Practices for Physical Activity: A Guide to Help Children Grow Up Healthy for Organizations Serving Children and Youth. Newark, DE: Nemours Health and Prevention Services. www.nemours.org/content/dam/nemours/www/filebox/service/preventive/nhps/paguidelines.pdf.

Yogman, M., A. Garner, J. Hutchinson, K. Hirsh-Pasek, & R.M. Golinkoff. 2018. "The Power of Play: A Pediatric Role in Enhancing Development." Clinical Report. Pediatrics 142 (3): 1-18. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/142/3/e20182058....

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Rocking and Rolling. Fresh Air, Fun, and Exploration: Why Outdoor Play Is Essential for Healthy Development

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Ensuring that outdoor play is an integral part of your child care and education setting's daily schedule supports early learning across all domains and unleashes a whole lot of joy-for you and for children!

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Top 5: Tips for Active Play, Indoors and Out

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Experts recommend that toddlers get plenty of active play every day-at least 30 minutes of adult-led activities and 60 minutes of active free play. Here's how to do it, whatever the weather.

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Browse fun seasonal activities by month to find play activities that promote your child's development all year.

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Browse fun seasonal activities by month to find play activities that promote your child’s development all year. You are your child’s favorite toy. There is nothing in the world your child would rather do than play with you! Use the ideas below as a starting point for the many joyful ways there are t…

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Whether you are in a large city or rural community, these articles are filled with ways to help children experience the wonders of nature.

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Pennsylvania Department of Conservation & Natural Resources

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DCNR provides conservation education programs and opportunities for people of all ages from all regions across Pennsylvania to create awareness and improve understanding about the environment, conservation, and recreation in Pennsylvania. DCNR offers conservation education opportunities for:

Teachers and other non-formal educators hoping to connect students to their natural environment

Students looking for an outdoor, educational experience

Families who want to learn more about recreation on our public lands

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DCNR provides conservation education programs and opportunities for people of all ages from all regions across Pennsylvania to create awareness and improve understanding about the environment, conservation, and recreation in Pennsylvania.

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Register for a Project Learning Tree Workshop

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Project Learning Tree is an award-winning, environmental education program committed to advancing forest literacy and green career pathways, using trees and forests as windows on the world.

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PA DCNR Calendar of Events and Trainings

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PA DCNR Calendar of Events and Trainings

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DCNR Calendar of Events events updated every day. powered by Concept3D Event Calendar Software

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The Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Educators empowers people to build an environmentally engaged community. We are a pivotal organization in supporting a healthy, vibrant, and resilient PA where all community members live in respect and harmony with the natural world.

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Founded in 1977 and now one of the oldest state environmental education groups, PAEE continues to change, grow, and learn through the work of its members and leaders.

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Better Kid Care On-Demand Courses that align with outdoor learning, play, and STEM

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Better Kid Care On-Demand Courses that align with outdoor learning, play, and STEM

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BKC On Demand Courses that Align with OL

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Infant and toddler responses to a redesign of their childcare outdoor play space

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Infant and toddler responses to a redesign of their childcare outdoor play space

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The greening of an outdoor playspace led to an increase in the variety and level of infants’ and toddlers’ movement and physical activity - Children & Nature Network

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This study investigated the responses of infants and toddlers to the greening of the outdoor playspace at their childcare center in Melbourne, Australia. The redesign process was completed over a three-month period and included the addition of a variety of natural elements such as trees, sand, logs, sticks, stones, bark, and hay. The post-greening environment also included inclines, an arched bridge, and a raised platform providing opportunities for children to experience space with slightly differing levels.

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The Infant Garden, Publication in Early Education, Issue 59, Autumn 2009

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The Infant Garden, Publication in Early Education, Issue 59, Autumn 2009

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Outdoor learning environments offer infants and toddlers opportunities to further explore and discover different types of sights, sounds, smells, materials, and surfaces. This lesson will highlight the importance of outdoor play and outline important factors to consider as you examine or redesign the outdoor learning environment.

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The Outdoor Environment: Designing for Engagement

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The Outdoor Environment: Designing for Engagement

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Know

The Importance of Outdoor Play

What do you remember from playing outdoors when you were younger? What did you enjoy? What didn't you enjoy?

Outdoor environments are the perfect space for infants and toddlers to explore, gather information and experiment. Infants and toddlers are amazing young scientists ready to learn using all of their senses!

The outdoor environment offers experiences that children simply cannot have indoors. The outdoor environment supports busy movement, which helps to strengthen children's muscles, hearts and lungs. Exposure to the outdoor environment may also foster children's health via strengthened immunity, more regular sleeping patterns and a sense of well-being. Outdoor play also encourages creativity and time for what some think of as indoor activities. For instance, some of us like to take a book to the park or beach on a warm and sunny day. Others paint and draw outdoors. Or perhaps some sit and watch people walk by while enjoying the sights, sounds, smells and breeze.

Being outdoors provides enjoyable experiences that are critical for infants' and toddlers' overall development.

Creating an Outdoor Learning Environment

Outdoor learning environments should be designed with the same intentionality as indoor learning environments. They must accommodate the needs of young infants, crawling infants, beginning walkers and active climbers.

As our youngest scientists and explorers, infants and toddlers require constant supervision while they are outdoors. Using all of their senses to learn, they will, for example, often try to taste things they have uncovered. It is necessary that all potential choking hazards be considered and that caregivers remain in close proximity.

Because infants and toddlers are still mastering balance, it is also important to offer a surface that allows them to move around easily and provides a soft landing. Surfaces that support infants, toddlers and caregivers provide a level of comfort (for example, not too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter) and have enough space for children to move around without hitting sharp edges.

Outdoor equipment should safely support the developmental needs of infants and toddlers. The Community Investment Collaborative for Kids Resource Guide (Pardee, Gillman, & Larson, 2005) recommends specific elements for infant and toddler outdoor spaces (p. 13):

Places for eating or relaxing outdoors in the shade

Convenient access to a diapering area and hand washing

Safe spots for crawling, such as on grass

A non-metal slide with a gentle slope accessed by a low climbing ramp with steps and a handrail

Bucket swings at a safe distance from other play

Short tunnels and peek-a-boo places

Comfortable seating at various levels

Rocking toys that children can sit inside

Pushing or riding wheeled toys

Safe water and sand with simple props

A safe outdoor learning environment for infants and toddlers is the result of informed planning and intentional design, developmentally appropriate equipment and activities, close supervision, a focus on engagement, and planned activities to support development and learning.

Follow your program's safety guidelines to ensure all equipment complies with safety standards. Be sure to use the safety checklists from the Safety Course or your program to monitor and check the safety and security of your program's outdoor learning environment.

Engagement and Learning in an Outdoor Learning Environment

Infants and toddlers benefit from the outdoors - fresh air, sunshine, open space, and exposure to nature. They have opportunities to grow and learn, affecting all areas of development. Caregivers can support infants and toddlers by reflecting on the importance of outdoor experiences and planning ways to include these experiences in learning. Specifically, caregivers can ask themselves:

As I observe infants and toddlers outdoors, do I notice differences in their attention and learning? What do I think about that?

How do infants and toddlers experience the different spaces or areas we have designed outdoors?

How does each infant and toddler develop while outside?

In what ways do we create areas of curiosity, challenge, wonderment and movement for infants and toddlers?

As caregivers think about each infant's and toddler's experience outdoors, they can also reflect on their own experiences of being outdoors, as well as memories of being outdoors as a young child.

While children of all ages can enjoy the outdoor learning environment, caregivers should consider the various ages and developmental stages of the infants and toddlers in their care. Doing so helps caregivers continue to meet the specific needs of infants and toddlers and provide intentional opportunities for them to actively use their senses as they explore the world.

Young Infants: Caregivers can provide young infants comfort and openness while outdoors, while encouraging enjoyment of the many sensory experiences. Engaging in the outdoor environment will likely involve the caregiver holding or keeping the infant close and continuing with her or his natural routines, such as feeding or sleeping. Grass and leaves can be interesting for young infants, as can the sound of dripping or trickling water from a fountain. Wind chimes can be made and hung to offer intriguing sounds that complement the sounds of birds chirping in nearby trees or bushes.

Mobile Infants: Being outdoors involves a different level of fun for mobile infants as they are learning new ways to move on their own. Stumps and sturdy garden containers invite mobile infants to pull themselves up to stand. Sitting, standing and climbing areas may include benches, logs or bridges. Shaded areas for sand and water offer countless opportunities for digging, dumping and pouring. Garden areas can include soft and colorful flowers, plants with fuzzy leaves, and moss for touch. The outdoor exploration of mobile infants is supported and encouraged by an adult caregiver who remains close by. Infants who are learning to walk may enjoy sturdy push toys that they can use to help explore the outdoors while upright.

Toddlers: Caregivers can continue to observe and add materials that reflect toddlers' varying levels of development and skills. Caregivers can offer toddlers opportunities to watch for and examine animals and insects, or dance and move around like animals they see outside. Toddlers also enjoy pulling wagons, pushing baby dolls in carriages, and using tricycles and other riding toys. Offering toddlers opportunities to help care for plants gives them experience in caring for the environment.

Watch this video and notice how caregivers support the needs of children at different ages and development while offering different types of experiences and materials outdoors.

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Strategies to Meet the Needs of All Infants and Toddlers While Outdoors

Caregivers should also take time to understand what an outdoor learning environment means to families and try to identify strong beliefs, values and perceived risks. Outdoor experiences can feel unsafe and cause uncertainty for some families. Other families may feel very strongly that being outdoors is an important part of their infant's or toddler's day and wish that they spent the majority of the day outdoors. When caregivers have knowledge of and sensitivity to what is important to families, they will be better equipped to create meaningful outdoor learning environments while providing supportive care for infants and toddlers.

See

Caregivers thoughtfully plan and organize for learning in outdoor environments just as they do indoor environments. Watch the video below. What do you notice about the outdoor environment that helps provide these infants and toddlers with a sense of security and opportunities for development and learning?

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Opportunities for Outdoor Learning

Do

You can do many things to enhance and help infants and toddlers learn and feel comfortable in an outdoor environment. Consider:

Using swings and benches to help create a comfortable area outdoors where you can hold, feed, or read to young infants.

Creating opportunities to experiment with water using tubs, sprinkler, gutters, and sprayers.

Pointing out interesting sounds and sights, such as a bird chirping.

Growing nontoxic plants indoors and outdoors.

Taking seeds from fruits served at lunchtime and planting them with toddlers.

Lying on the grass and watching the clouds.

Making an outdoor art center by adding easels, chalk, and paintbrushes.

Creating different outdoors surface to jump and balance, such as beams, logs, and stumps.

Adding a platform or playhouse, to support pretend play.

Dodge, D., Rudick, S., Berke, K. (2006). The Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers and Twos, (2nd ed.) Washington DC: Teaching Strategies, Inc.

Greenman, J. (2005). Caring Spaces, Learning Places: Children's Environments that Work. Exchange Press Inc. https://www.childcareexchange.com/catalog/product/caring-spaces-learning-places-digital/4900402/

Greenman, J., Stonehouse, A., & Schweikert, G. (2007). Prime Times: A Handbook for Excellence in Infant and Toddler Programs, (2nd ed.). St. Paul: Redleaf Press.

Resources for Teaching and Learning about the Natural World. (2008). YC Young Children, 63(1), 42-43.

Pardee, M., Gillman, A., & Larson, C. (2005). Creating Playgrounds for Early Childhood Facilities (Community Investment Collaborative for Kids Resource Guide 4). New York: Local Initiatives Support Co.

Playground Information to Use with the Environment Rating Scales. (2011). FPG Child Development Institute of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved from http://ers.fpg.unc.edu/sites/ers.fpg.unc.edu/files/playground%20revised%2010-28-10.pdf

Supporting Outdoor Play and Exploration for Infants and Toddlers. (2013). Early Heady Start National Resource Center. Retrieved from http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/ehsnrc/docs/ehs-ta-paper-14-outdoor-play.pdf

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The Outdoor Environment: Designing for Engagement

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What do you remember from playing outdoors when you were younger? What did you enjoy? What didn't you enjoy? Outdoor environments are the perfect space for infants and toddlers to explore, gather information and experiment. Infants and toddlers are amazing young scientists ready to learn using all of their senses!

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Nature Play for Babies and toddlers – Earlyspace

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Spending Time Outdoors Matters for Infants and Toddlers

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Spending Time Outdoors Matters for Infants and Toddlers

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Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

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Spending Time Outdoors Matters for Infants and Toddlers

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Research shows that children who play outdoors regularly are happier, healthier, and stronger. Health benefits include stronger immune systems, decreased risk of developing chronic diseases as they grow, improved sleeping patterns, and access to vitamin D.

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Outdoor Experiences for Infants and Toddlers

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Outdoor Experiences for Infants and Toddlers

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Nature play is important for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, families, staff, and communities. New research indicates that children who regularly play in nature are growing up healthy, smart, and happy.

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Nature-based Learning and Development | HeadStart.gov

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Nature play is important for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, families, staff, and communities. Watch this video series, and apply the resources to plan successful nature-based activities.

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This News You Can Use is full of ideas about how to create outdoor spaces that are engaging for infants, toddlers, and their families. Early Head Start teachers and home visitors may use this resource to set up spaces for families using community resources such as parks, gardens, and nearby schools.

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Early Head Start teachers and home visitors may use this resource to set up spaces for families using community resources such as parks, gardens, and nearby schools.

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The Infant and Toddler Outdoor Play Space Assessment is designed to assist Head Start staff and early childhood educators in assessing the quality of outdoor play spaces for young children.

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Infant and Toddler Outdoor Play Space Assessment

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Infant and Toddler Outdoor Play Space Assessment

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The Infant and Toddler Outdoor Play Space Assessment is designed to assist Head Start staff and early childhood educators in assessing the quality of outdoor play spaces for young children. This tool helps to identify the strengths and needs of an existing play space and serves as a basis for setting priorities and planning enhancements and improvements. Head Start directors, managers, and other educators may also use this tool to help plan and design a new play space.

Infant and Toddler Outdoor Play Space Assessment is made up of eight categories that are used to rate an existing play space or to help design a new one. It is best completed during an outdoor walk-through. Criteria for each category are listed in the left-hand column. Score the play space using the rating scale in the center column and circle the number that best reflects its present state. Use the right-hand column to make additional comments, such as strengths, areas for improvement, high or low priority, and ideas. If you are using this tool to help plan a new play space, simply ignore the ratings scale column. Infant and Toddler Outdoor Play Space Assessment

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Infant and Toddler Outdoor Play Space Assessment | HeadStart.gov

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This tool helps to identify the strengths and needs of an existing play space and serves as a basis for setting priorities and planning enhancements and improvements.

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eePRO’s Group for early childhood educators—anyone working with children from birth through age eight. Our goal is to provide a platform for educators to promote programs or events, share news or resources, ask questions, collaborate with peers, or otherwise use this group to advance your work or program.

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Natural Start Alliance Google Group of Nature-based educators 

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Natural Start Alliance Google Group of Nature-based educators 

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Educating children in nature is an essential part of active, engaging, and comprehensive learning. While not a new concept or approach, direct and sustained interactions with nature may be increasingly important for children’s development today. 

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Our Proud Heritage. Take It Outside: A History of Nature-Based Education

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Our Proud Heritage. Take It Outside: A History of Nature-Based Education

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Our Proud Heritage. Take It Outside: A History of Nature-Based Education

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In this column, we put renewed interest in outdoor learning into context by reviewing the past 200 years of ideas and practices in nature-based education for young children.

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It’s nothing new for early-learning researchers, as years of research have shown just how important play is for early childhood development, and they have suggested incorporating it into early education.

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Play-based learning for children encouraged by educators

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Play-based learning for children encouraged by educators

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Play-based learning for children encouraged by educators - Study International

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Recent years have seen a push for play-based learning in early education centres worldwide. Play-based learning is becoming more popular around the world due to positive learning outcomes.

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10 Tips for Finding Nature to Bring into Your Classroom

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10 Tips for Finding Nature to Bring into Your Classroom

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10 Tips for Finding Nature to Bring into Your Classroom

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Here, we share 10 tips for finding nature-based objects to prompt curiosity, questioning, observation, and learning.

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Developmentally appropriate teaching practices encompass a wide range of skills and strategies that are adapted to the age, development, individual characteristics, and the family and social and cultural contexts of each child served. 

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DAP: Teaching to Enhance Each Child’s Development and Learning

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DAP: Teaching to Enhance Each Child’s Development and Learning

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Developmentally appropriate teaching practices encompass a wide range of skills and strategies that are adapted to the age, development, individual characteristics, and the family and social and cultural contexts of each child served. Grounded in the caring relationships that educators nurture with each child and family as well as among all children and families (see guideline 1, "Creating a caring community of learners"), these teaching practices are designed to foster development and learning for each child across all domains and subject areas. Teaching practices build on each child's multiple assets and actively counter various forms of bias. Through their intentional teaching, educators blend opportunities for each child to exercise choice and agency within the context of a planned environment constructed to support specific learning experiences and meaningful goals. Educators recognize that children are active constructors of their own understanding of the world around them; they understand that children benefit from initiating and regulating their own learning activities and from interacting with peers.

Recognizing play as critical for children to experience joy and wonder, early childhood educators incorporate frequent opportunities for play in their teaching strategies. They plan learning environments that provide a mix of self-directed play, guided play, and direct instruction. Educators maximize opportunities for children to choose the materials, playmates, topics, and approaches they use throughout the day for all children, birth through age 8. Educators support and extend children's play experiences by providing materials and resources based on careful observation of children's play choices. Adult-guided activities provide for children's active agency as educators offer specific guidance and support to scaffold and extend children's interest, engagement, and learning.

Direct instruction-for example, providing children with relevant academic vocabulary, pointing out relationships, helping children recognize specific phenomena, or suggesting an alternative perspective-is an important tool for supporting children's learning. Its effectiveness is determined by the degree to which it extends children's interests and learning in meaningful ways and educators' sensitivity to changes in children's interest. Individually or in small or large groups, across all activities-self-directed play, guided play, direct instruction, and routines-the teacher is responsible for ensuring that each child's overall experiences are stimulating, engaging, and developmentally, linguistically, and culturally responsive across all domains of development and learning. Promoting many opportunities for agency for each child is essential to fulfilling this responsibility.

The following descriptions of educators' actions illustrate teaching practices that are developmentally appropriate for young children from birth through the primary grades.

A. Educators demonstrate and model their commitment to a caring learning community through their actions, attitudes, and curiosity. They recognize that through their actions, they are influencing children's lifelong dispositions, confidence, and approaches to learning.

B. Educators use their knowledge of each child and family to make learning experiences meaningful, accessible, and responsive to each and every child. Building on the relationships they nurture with each child and family and between children (see also guideline 1, "Creating a caring community of learners"), educators design learning activities that reflect the lives and cultures of each child.

1. Educators incorporate and integrate a wide variety of experiences, materials, equipment, and teaching strategies to accommodate the range of children's individual differences in development, languages, skills and abilities, prior experiences, needs, and interests.

2. Educators, with the support of families, bring each child's home culture(s) and language(s) into the shared culture of the learning community. They model recognition and valuing of the unique contributions of the home cultures and languages so that these contributions can be recognized and valued by the other members of the learning community. They strategically use the child's home or family language and cultural ways of learning to enhance each child's communication, comprehension, self-expression, and learning. Educators continually strive to support and sustain each child's connection with their family, languages, and cultures.

3. Educators provide all children opportunities to participate in all activities and encourage children to be inclusive in their behaviors and interactions with peers.

4. Educators are prepared to individualize their teaching strategies to meet the specific needs of individual children, including children with disabilities and children whose learning is advanced, by building upon their interests, knowledge, and skills. Educators use all the strategies identified here and consult with appropriate specialists and the child's family; they see that each child gets the adaptations and specialized services needed for full inclusion as a member of the community and that no child is penalized for their ability status.

C. Educators effectively implement a comprehensive curriculum so that each child attains individualized goals across all domains (physical, social, emotional, cognitive, linguistic, and general learning competencies) and across all subject areas (language and literacy, including second language acquisition, mathematics, social studies, science, art, music, physical education, and health). Educators follow Universal Design for Learning principles by proactively providing multiple means of engagement, multiple means of representation, and multiple means of action and expression. Educators design experiences that celebrate the diversity in the experiences and social identities of each group of children and counter the biases in society. They build upon the children's combined funds of knowledge to foster each child's learning and understanding. Educators design activities that follow the predictable sequences in which children acquire specific concepts, skills, and abilities and by building on prior experiences and understandings. (Also see guideline 5, "Understanding and using content areas to plan and implement an engaging curriculum designed to meet goals that are important and meaningful for children, families, and the community in the present as well as the future.")

D. Educators plan the environment, schedule, and daily activities to promote each child's development and learning.

1. Educators arrange firsthand, meaningful experiences that are cognitively and creatively stimulating, invite exploration and investigation, and engage children's active, sustained involvement. They do this by providing a rich variety of materials, challenges, and ideas that are worthy of children's attention and that reflect the funds of knowledge each child brings to the setting. Materials are periodically rotated and revisited to provide children with opportunities to reflect and re-engage with the learning experiences.

2. Educators consistently present children with opportunities to make meaningful choices. Children are encouraged to shape specific learning activities and to identify projects that can be used to extend their learning. Children are regularly provided with opportunities for child-choice activity periods-not simply as a reward for completing other work. Educators assist and guide children who are not yet able to enjoy and make good use of such periods.

3. Educators organize the daily and weekly schedules to provide children with extended blocks of time in which to engage in sustained investigation, exploration, interaction, and play. Children are encouraged to freely interact with peers, and collaborative learning opportunities with peers are frequently used. Adults offer questions to stimulate children's thinking, introduce related vocabulary, and provide specific suggestions to scaffold children's thinking. As much as possible, educators use multiple languages to support bilingual and multilingual children and also use nonverbal means of communication such as images and gestures.

4. Educators routinely provide experiences, materials, and interactions to enable children to engage in play. Play allows children to stretch their boundaries to the fullest in their imagination, language, interaction, and self-regulation, as well as to practice their newly acquired skills. Play also provides an important window for educators to observe children's skills and understandings.

5. Educators create language-rich environments that focus on the diversity and complexity of language in children's communities. Given the importance of vocabulary for conceptual development and as the key building blocks for academic subject areas, this is especially crucial. Educators affirm children's use of home dialects, vernaculars, and language as strengths as they also support the development of academic English.

E. Educators possess and build on an extensive repertoire of skills and teaching strategies. They know how and when to choose among them to effectively promote each child's development and learning at that moment. Such skills include the ability to adapt curriculum, activities, and materials to ensure full participation of all children. These strategies include but are not limited to acknowledging, encouraging, giving specific feedback, modeling, demonstrating, adding challenge, giving cues or other assistance, providing information, and giving directions.

1. To help children develop agency, educators encourage them to choose and plan their own learning activities. Self-directed learning activities are important for all young children, including those in K-3 classrooms. Self-directed activities can engage children in meaningful learning that is relevant to all curriculum and applicable learning standards.

2. To stimulate children's thinking and extend their learning, educators pose problems, ask questions, and make comments and suggestions.

3. To extend the range of children's interests and the scope of their thoughts, educators present novel experiences and introduce stimulating ideas, problems, experiences, or hypotheses.

4. To adjust the complexity and challenge of activities to suit children's skills and knowledge, educators increase the challenge as children gain competence and understanding or reduce the complexity for those who struggle.

5. To strengthen children's sense of competence and confidence as learners, motivation to persist, and willingness to take risks, educators provide experiences that build on a child's funds of knowledge, are culturally and linguistically responsive, and are designed for each child to be challenged and genuinely successful.

6. To enhance children's conceptual understanding, early childhood educators use various strategies, including conversation and documentation, which encourage children to reflect on and revisit their experiences in the moment and over time.

7. To encourage and foster children's development and learning, educators avoid generic praise ("Good job!") and instead give specific feedback ("You got the same number when you counted the beans again!"). They use the home or family languages, images, or other forms of non-verbal communication to be sure the child understands the feedback. With frequent, timely, specific feedback, educators help children evaluate their own learning.

8. Educators focus on what children can do rather than what they can't or don't do. For example, a child who responds to a question asked in academic English by speaking in their home dialect is recognized for their receptive language. Similarly, invented spellings or other "errors" in children's thinking or language are analyzed for what they reveal of children's current understanding.

F. Educators know how and when to scaffold children's learning. Based on their ongoing interactions and knowledge of each child, educators provide just enough assistance to enable each child to perform at a skill level just beyond what the child can do on their own, then gradually reduce the support as the child begins to master the skill, setting the stage for the next challenge.

1. Educators recognize and respond to the reality that in any group, children's skills will vary and they will need different levels of support. Educators also know that any one child's level of skill and need for support will vary over time and in different circumstances.

2. Scaffolding can take a variety of forms, such as giving the child a hint, providing a cue, modeling the skill, or adapting the materials and activities. It can be provided in a variety of contexts, not only in planned learning experiences but also in free play, daily routines, and outdoor activities.

3. Peers can be effective providers of scaffolding in addition to educators. Peer learning can be an effective mechanism to provide individual support and assistance across all areas of development and learning. Peer learning can be especially useful for children who are bilingual or multilingual.

G. Educators know how and when to strategically use the various learning formats and contexts.

1. Educators understand that each major learning format or context (for example, large group, small group, learning center, routine) has its own characteristics, functions, and value. They consider the characteristics of the learners in choosing the most appropriate format, such as limiting the use of large groups with very young children or of groups led in a language not understood by all the children. Educators recognize that they need to balance activities that require attentive behavior with time for more active movement. Circle time and large group instruction periods are limited in length to match age-appropriate attention span limits. Breaks for self-directed and active play are provided throughout the day. Flexibility of participation is provided to all children to accommodate individual needs.

2. Educators think carefully about which learning format is best for helping children achieve a desired goal, given the children's ages, abilities, experiences, temperaments, and other characteristics. Especially in the case of large group activities, educators change formats when attention wanes. In K-3 classrooms, educators ensure that individual seatwork is used only when it is the most effective format for meeting the learning objective. They encourage collaborative learning through peer interaction and provide frequent opportunities for children to support each other's learning in pairs and small groups. Educators strive to provide opportunities for physical activity throughout the day, including the use of learning activities that incorporate movement.

3. Educators minimize time in transitions and waiting for children to line up or be quiet. Educators who document how children spend their time are often surprised at how much time is spent in transitions, often in ways that do little to support children's development and learning.⁷¹ Reducing the time and amount of full-group activities, providing children with advance notice of the transition, and incorporating songs, pretend play, and/or movement into the transition can be useful strategies. Educators strive to reduce the need for transitions through flexible schedules, strategic use of staff and volunteers, and helping children take responsibility for their own learning.

H. Educators differentiate instructional approaches to match each child's interests, knowledge, and skills. Children who need additional support receive extended, enriched, and intensive learning experiences, always building on the child's current interests, strengths, and cultural ways of knowing.

1. Educators take care to provide each child with opportunities to be successful and to engage in joyful learning. They work to avoid children having frustrating or discouraging experiences that lead to a negative association with schooling.

2. Regardless of their need for additional support, all children are provided agency to the greatest extent possible. Educators are highly intentional in use of time, and they focus on key skills and abilities through highly engaging, play-based experiences to build on the assets of children and their families.

3. Recognizing the self-regulatory, linguistic, cognitive, and social benefits that play and active self-direction affords, educators do not reduce or eliminate play opportunities, recess, or any other important community and inclusive activities for children who need additional support to meet school readiness/grade level or behavioral expectations.

View the full list of endnotes.

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DAP: Teaching to Enhance Each Child's Development and Learning

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Developmentally appropriate teaching practices encompass a wide range of skills and strategies that are adapted to the age, development, individual characteristics, and the family and social and cultural contexts of each child served.

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Natural Learning Initiative Professional Development and Certificate Courses

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Natural Learning Initiative Professional Development and Certificate Courses

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Professional development and training includes theory, principles, and techniques that guide the design of play and learning environments with an emphasis on the design and management of natural environments to support healthy child development. The roles of play professionals, educators, and cultural animators are particularly emphasized in landscape design.

Contexts include informal environments such as community parks and play areas; non-formal educational institutions such as museums, zoos, and botanical gardens; formal educational institutions such as child development centers and schools; urban neighborhoods and pedestrian and bicycle networks that provide young people access to experiences in the broader community.

Professional development and training programs are delivered in live conferences, symposia, and hands-on workshops, as well as webinars and distance learning certificate courses. Distance learning programs offered through NC State University disseminate NLI resources across the State of North Carolina and beyond.

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Professional development and training includes theory, principles, and techniques that guide the design of play and learning environments with an emphasis on the design and management of natural environments to support healthy child development. The roles of play professionals, educators, and cultural animators are particularly emphasized in landscape design.

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Antioch University › Win One For Humanity

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Certificate in Nature-Based Early Childhood Education

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Inspire young learners by integrating nature into early childhood education. This certificate program empowers you to create rich, immersive learning experiences that foster growth and connection to the natural world. Ready to lead the way in nature-based learning?

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Online Bachelor of Science in Education in Early Childhood Education with a Concentration in Nature-Based Early Learning

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Online Bachelor of Science in Education in Early Childhood Education with a Concentration in Nature-Based Early Learning

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Online Bachelors Education in Early Childhood Education

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Earn your BS in Early Childhood Education online with UC. 100% online, transfer-friendly, and licensure-focused. Apply today

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University of Minnesota Duluth- Bachelor of Applied Science in Childhood Nature Studies

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University of Minnesota Duluth- Bachelor of Applied Science in Childhood Nature Studies

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Childhood Nature Studies | College of Education and Human Service Professions | University of Minnesota Duluth

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Hamline University - Nature-based Early Learning Certificate

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Hamline University - Nature-based Early Learning Certificate

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Nature-based Early Learning Certificate ❘ Hamline University - MN

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Explore Hamline’s online Nature-based Early Learning Certificate, designed to prepare those who work with children to create meaningful outdoor learning experiences.

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University of Maine at Farmington- Graduate Certificate in Nature-Based Education 

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University of Maine at Farmington- Graduate Certificate in Nature-Based Education 

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Nature-Based Education Graduate Certificate | University of Maine at Farmington

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UMF’s Graduate Certificate in Nature-Based Education helps educators create engaging, hands-on outdoor learning experiences that inspire students

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Learning to negotiate risk is an important part of early childhood development, but risk is only healthy and developmentally appropriate insofar as it is managed, to the appropriate degree, by a knowledgeable and attentive adult

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Nature-Based Preschool Professional Practice: Safety

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Nature-Based Preschool Professional Practice: Safety

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Nature-Based Preschool Professional Practice: Safety | Natural Start Alliance

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Nature-based programs are obligated to mitigate, or if possible remove, hazards in the environment, and to create environments and experiences that allow children to take risks that are individually and developmentally appropriate.

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Plan for Outdoor Play: Weather Considerations

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Plan for Outdoor Play: Weather Considerations

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Weather Considerations

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US Department of Commerce, NOAA, National Weather Service

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Ep. 4 Gear IS the Curriculum by The Outside The Box Podcast

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Join Ade as she explores the idea that gear is a vital piece of that beloved curriculum that so many of us cling to. Also hear about her two exclusive freebies she has created to help you gather gear with ease and major savings. Download your FREE guide to Why Play Matters MORE than Kindergarten readiness HERE: https://mailchi.mp/1e971e8a207d/9l9pim0nua Check out Ade’s Ultimate Gear Guide: https://mailchi.mp/1db2ee74701f/the-ultimate-gear-guide-sign-up More Gear Goodies: https://mailchi.mp/d71298bbaa16/top5wintergear

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How to Dress Your Kids for Outdoor Play in Any Weather 

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How to Dress Your Kids for Outdoor Play in Any Weather 

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Get the Kids Outside - helping families get kids active outside, back to nature

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How to Dress Your Kids for Outdoor Play in Any Weather - Get the Kids Outside

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Knowing how to dress your kids for outdoor play in any weather can make a huge difference to the amount of time they’re happy to spend outside. Clothing should remove the distractions that less-than-ideal weather imposes, leaving kids free to focus on play, not the physical discomfort of being “too hot” or “too wet” or

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Flourishing in Winter: Guidance for Cold-Weather Play

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Flourishing in Winter: Guidance for Cold-Weather Play

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Flourishing in Winter: Guidance for Cold-Weather Play | Natural Start Alliance

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This compilation of early childhood practitioners’ knowledge and insight developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota Duluth will inspire and support your facilitation of cold-weather outdoor play.

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11 Smart Ways to Score Affordable Outdoor Clothing for Kids

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11 Smart Ways to Score Affordable Outdoor Clothing for Kids

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A little preparation will go a long way to helping your kids get outside — and have fun — in “bad” weather.

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How to Help Kids Get Outside in “Bad” Weather

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How to Help Kids Get Outside in “Bad” Weather

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Get the Kids Outside - helping families get kids active outside, back to nature

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How to Help Kids Get Outside in “Bad” Weather: 12 Strategies - Get the Kids Outside

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A little preparation will go a long way to helping your kids get outside -- and have fun -- in “bad” weather. Some kids look for any excuse to stay indoors, and “bad” weather is often an easy one. And let’s face it... adults often use that excuse too! But we all need to remind

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Early Childhood Environmental Education Programs: Guidelines for Excellence

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Early Childhood Environmental Education Programs: Guidelines for Excellence

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Early Childhood Environmental Education Programs: Guidelines for Excellence | eePRO

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The Early Childhood Environmental Education Programs: Guidelines for Excellence comprises a set of recommendations for developing comprehensive early childhood environmental education programs or triggering improvements in existing ones. A companion publication, the Early Childhood Environmental Education Rating Scale, provides a collaborative tool for educators and others to discuss their early childhood environmental education program goals, consider strengths and areas of needed improvement, and chart a future direction for program development.

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The Nature-Based Preschool Professional Practice Guidebook represents the combined expertise of professionals across the field of nature-based education, and describes how nature-based educators offer programs that are safe, effective, and inclusive.

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Nature-Based Preschool Professional Practice Guidebook | Natural Start Alliance

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The Nature-Based Preschool Professional Practice Guidebook represents the combined expertise of professionals across the field of nature-based education, and describes how nature-based educators offer programs that are safe, effective, and inclusive.

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Regular time outdoors helps children thrive.

But over the past few generations, childhood has moved indoors. On average, today's kids spend up to 44 hours per week in front of a screen, and less than 10 minutes a day playing outdoors. And for too many kids, regular and safe access to nature is determined by race, income, identity, ability and postal code.

We support a global movement of leaders working to turn the trend of an indoor childhood back out to the benefits of nature - and to make sure that all children have equitable access to outdoor spaces where they can learn, play and grow.

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Children and Nature Network is committed to the belief that nature makes kids healthier, happier and smarter. Join us!

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Association for Nature-Based Education (ANBE)

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Association for Nature-Based Education (ANBE)

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Association for Nature-Based Education - Home

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We live and breathe to support the field of nature-based education because ALL children deserve it. Every contribution helps! Your gift helps us provide access to nature-based training and education. Thank you!

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In early childhood, learning comes naturally

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Natural Playgrounds Designed & Built by Bienenstock

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Bienenstock is a leader in natural & eco friendly playgrounds in Canada & USA, with our team of award-winning designers, builders, & educators.

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At TimberNook, play isn’t just fun, it fuels growth. Rooted in story and the wonder of nature, TimberNook programs use extended outdoor play to spark creativity, build confidence, and strengthen resilience.

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Playing the Timbernook Way

TimberNook was designed as the vehicle to get children outdoors in sensory-rich experiences that inspire, restore, and challenge the mind and the body. We strive to be the "living example" of what real, authentic outdoor play should look like.

TimberNook is not your typical nature program. TimberNook programs intricately weave the therapeutic benefits of being outdoors with a thorough understanding of child development and alternative education. The result is a sensory play experience that supports every aspect of the growing child. We do this by skillfully staging and using the environment as inspiration for creative play opportunities.

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TimberNook was designed as the vehicle to get children outdoors in sensory-rich experiences that inspire, restore, and challenge the mind and the body. We strive to be the "living example" of what real, authentic outdoor play should look like. TimberNook is not your typical nature program.

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Nature Explore: What is a Nature Explore Classroom?

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Nature Explore: What is a Nature Explore Classroom?

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World Forum Foundation: Nature Action Collaborative for Children

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World Forum Foundation: Nature Action Collaborative for Children

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Berta MacGregor, Mexico
Bishnu Hari Bhatta, Nepal
Caroline Hudicourt, Haiti
Claire Warden, Scotland
Fiona Robbe, Australia
Gillian McAuliffe, Australia
Hadijah Nandyose, Uganda
Helle Nebelong, Denmark
Irma Allen, Swaziland
Kumara Ward, Australia
Marc Veekamp, Netherlands
Martha Cecelia Fajardo, Colombia
Raed Abu Hayyaneh, Jordan

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Berta MacGregor, Mexico Bishnu Hari Bhatta, Nepal Caroline Hudicourt, Haiti Claire Warden, Scotland Fiona Robbe, Australia Gillian McAuliffe, Australia Hadijah Nandyose, Uganda Helle Nebelong, Denmark Irma Allen, Swaziland Kumara Ward, Australia Marc Veekamp, Netherlands Martha Cecelia Fajardo, Colombia Raed Abu Hayyaneh, Jordan

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Mindstretchers Academy & Dr Claire Warden

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With so many children at home, Dr Claire Warden has opened a Virtual Nature School to help parents support their children's inquiry-based learning inside your home and outside in the garden.

The school will also allow children to virtually interact with their peers around the world in small groups so they feel connected to others during these times of self-isolation and social distancing.

Each weekday morning Claire will be available at 10am (GMT) for about 30 minutes to start the session with ideas and inspiration to explore nature with curiosity and joy. You're invited to check back in between 12 noon and 1pm to share your experiences of that morning's session.

This is a free service provided by the charity Living Classrooms in partnership with Mindstretchers Academy. Donations very welcome.

We've also created a FREE NATURE PLAY DIARY - download it here
Virtual Nature School every weekday from 10am - 1pm Please note that spaces are limited so make sure you enrol promptly to reserve your place. "In my experience of working with children in unsettling times, the key is routine and stability in their world, combined with the positive mindset that this will pass, and we will be together again"
Dr Claire Warden

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Mindstretchers Academy & Dr Claire Warden

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With so many children at home, Dr Claire Warden has opened a Virtual Nature School to help parents support their children's inquiry-based learning inside your home and outside in the garden. The school will also allow children to virtually interact with their peers around the world in small groups so they feel connected to others during these times of self-isolation and social distancing.

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We’re here to support your nature-based early childhood education journey! 

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We offer a variety of books, downloads, courses, and more. This includes Establishing a Nature-based Preschool and Preschool Beyond Walls written by our founder and Chief Visionary Dr. Rachel A. Larimore.

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Samara Early Learning helps early childhood educators start nature-based early childhood education programs or grow the nature-based approach in existing schools or programs. With our support on the business or teaching side of operations, educators help young children learn with nature to expand th

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Our business is built on the passion for the wonder and magic of early childhood. We believe young children have the right to play, to be collaborators in learning and to dream.

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This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website.

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We think it's time to bring Nature back to childhood.

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Blog, activities, research, events and tools to help get children learning, playing and connecting outside in nature.

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Our Mission: To Support, Connect and Partner Nature-Based Educators

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Inside-Outside: Nature-based Educators formed in response to a growing interest in nature-based education. Our purpose is to develop a network of educators and educational institutions throughout the U.S. to support, connect and partner; to confidently, safely and joyfully venture outdoors with children; and to use nature for teaching and learning.

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Inside-Outside: Nature-based Educators formed in response to a growing interest in nature-based education. Our purpose is to develop a network of educators and educational institutions throughout the U.S. to support, connect and partner; to confidently, safely and joyfully venture outdoors with children; and to use nature for teaching and learning.

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Track Your Time Outside!

The concept at the core of this movement is simple - the amount of time kids spend outside 'actually matters', though you may not hear this very often. A childhood flooded with nature time benefits kids (and adults) in untold ways. However, the spirit behind the journey is one of encouragement - not competition. There are often questions about 'rules', but the good thing here is that there really aren't any! 1000 Hours Outside is about striving for engaged time outside, and that looks different from one family to the next. That's the beauty of nature play; it works for any age and any stage, in any outdoor environment. Remember not to get bogged down on the details. Adjust the goal if you need to. No matter what, we promise you'll never regret committing to a year filled with making memories outside.

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The concept at the core of this movement is simple - the amount of time kids spend outside 'actually matters', though you may not hear this very often. A childhood flooded with nature time benefits kids (and adults) in untold ways. However, the spirit behind the journey is one of encouragement - not competition.

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The global platform reclaiming childhood, reconnecting families and restoring mental health in the age of artificial intelligence.  

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Let's Stop Stealing Time From Children

Life holds one great but quite commonplace mystery. Though shared by each of us and known to all, seldom rates a second thought. That mystery, which most of us take for granted and never think twice about, is time. -Michael Ende, Momo

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Life holds one great but quite commonplace mystery. Though shared by each of us and known to all, seldom rates a second thought. That mystery, which most of us take for granted and never think twice about, is time. -Michael Ende, Momo

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Host Rusty Keeler sits down with Deb Curtis, a longtime champion of childhood and co-author of The Art of Awareness. With stories straight from the classroom and a heart full of curiosity, Deb reminds us that children are already wired for empathy, fairness, and deep learning—no adult scripts required

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Podcast Episode: The Power of Toddler Play: Trusting Little Ones to Lead and Learn with Deb Curtis

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Podcast Episode: The Power of Toddler Play: Trusting Little Ones to Lead and Learn with Deb Curtis

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I am so excited for you to check out this episode of the podcast because I'm speaking with the great Deb Curtis.

Rusty Keeler: Yay. I've known Deb for a million years and she is so wise and inspiring and I don't know the best vibe in early childhood education, in my opinion. And so we have a great conversation here, but we dove into it so quickly that I didn't even get to read her bio. So I'm gonna read it now before we even start the conversation.

Rusty Keeler: And it's. Kind of funny because it's written in the first person, so it's me saying, I'm Deb Curtis. Greetings. My name is Deb Curtis. I'm a passionate advocate for children and childhood, and the adults who care and educate them. I've spent my career championing the rights and brilliance of young children with decades of experience working alongside children and educators in early childhood programs across North America.

Rusty Keeler: I've spent countless hours observing. Learning from and studying children's and teachers' development as the author of several books focused on stories of children. I've shared insights drawn from real classrooms and relationships. I consider myself an avid kid watcher, someone who finds endless inspiration in children's capacity for connection, curiosity, and learning.

Rusty Keeler: This deep respect is what keeps me in the classroom. Engaged as a mentor teacher. Even beyond my the age, many choose to retire, I continue to observe, reflect with others, and share stories that remind us of the hope and possibility children bring to a complex world. You can find my work at Redleaf Press and Exchange Press or on the Facebook group, children's Lively Minds.

Rusty Keeler: Yes. I told you she's inspirational and hey, here's a bonus. We are gonna do a book giveaway of one of Deb's great books. All you need to do is listen to the podcast and. We have a special video that we put together of, uh, Deb and I looking at all these pictures of toddlers in her environment, in at her center, and we talk all about it.

Rusty Keeler: She describes what's going on. We have a great conversation in the video too, that's in the show notes link to YouTube. So listen to the podcast, watch the video, and you'll get a clue. It's sort of like a little treasure hunt. And then you can just, uh, email me at Play Nature Podcast at gmail with the answer.

Rusty Keeler: But without further ado, here's our conversation.

Rusty Keeler: Hey, good. How are you?

Deb Curtis: Oh, hanging in. You asked me to talk about what I've been thinking about lately and children actually give me hope for humans because they're, you know, my whole career, which is a long time now, since 1969, I was in the very first Head Start program in my community in Long Beach, California.

Deb Curtis: That was when Head Start was just the summer before kindergarten, summer program for kids from low income households. Anyway, so I, I have incredible hope for us. Yeah. Yeah. This whole entire career, what I've noticed about children is they're really. Kind and they're pretty much into helping and they wanna make a contribution to the group and they have these incredible social skills already.

Deb Curtis: And so I've been doing a lot of reading about it and research and all of the research confirms that we are born to be good. In fact, there's a book called that. Uh, we're born with a compassionate instinct, also a book about that. And I've been reading this book called Humankind, and really Darwin's idea about the survival of the fittest is not accurate.

Deb Curtis: It's survival of the kindest. This guy in this book, he's a research way back to when we were, you know, in the cave people days and like all of these questions that he had about, well, how did we survive? Why didn't they Neanderthals survive? Because they actually had better brains than we have in terms of being smart.

Deb Curtis: But they were, you know, sort of not kind. And so we're, we, were the kindest. We survived because of that. And even our facial features have changed. They call us homo puppies because we've changed to have these incredible round faces and eyes and we're, we're more friendly looking than oh, than the Neanderthals were.

Deb Curtis: Anyway, I just, wow. You know, that's my thing. I love to watch what kids do, and then I love to look at what does the science say about it? What do other people think about this? And. Bring that together. So that's what I've been really excited about and collecting. I've been collecting those stories my whole career, but I'm putting it together and sort of, oh my goodness.

Deb Curtis: Uh, and I'm writing another book with Nadia about it. It's called, uh, gonna be called Eagerness for Relationships. So it will, these stories about children doing amazing things. Then the, the research and the science that supports this, and one of the things that it says is that when we try to teach children social skills, we actually undermine their natural abilities because we know they're, they know we're smarter than them and we're powerful.

Deb Curtis: So they stop paying attention to their own natural instincts.

Deb Curtis: And try to do what we say. So, yeah.

Deb Curtis: Yeah. It's confusing. That's very confusing. When you, you have, you already have a voice. They have the voice inside and inner guidance and

Deb Curtis: Yeah. Yeah. And then people, you gotta do it this way.

Rusty Keeler: Love it. It's amazing.

Deb Curtis: But I feel like this needs to be out there in our profession. 'cause there's everything about social skills curriculum and teach kids to share and teach compassion. And you don't need to teach it. You need to recognize it and make it visible so it can grow. And I think that message needs to be out there, so.

Rusty Keeler: Mm-hmm. So how, how do you see that? What, what are some examples that just is a, like, obvious, like the natural compassion that we, we, we come into the world with and, and

Deb Curtis: well, I mean, you see it in relationship to how children respond to each other's sadness and. Struggle, particularly to young toddlers.

Deb Curtis: They will go and try to comfort somebody. They wanna help when you, when you give them the opportunity to wash the tables, they wanna move right in there. They recognize when something's not fair. Like I use that a lot. 'cause I read this idea that children have a. Understanding of fairness from the time they're really young, like 10 months or something.

Deb Curtis: Anyway, so Co Koji has all the trucks and Caico wants some and. So I just named that. Oh look, Koji, you have all the trucks and Caico doesn't have any, that doesn't seem very fair. That's all I have to say. And he'll start, he is like, oh, okay. Starts giving. And that happens more often than not. I would say probably 80% of the time kids will go, oh yeah, it needs to be fair.

Deb Curtis: So I think those kinds of things are really powerful. I, I've been doing some, uh, mentor teacher teaching in a preschool this last year. And. They were, there were these girls having this conversation about, uh, I got here first. I had it first, which is something we do with kids. Like, if you had it first, you get it.

Deb Curtis: And I was always like, so what if you had it first? Like, what does that mean Anyway, so they were having this like little dispute and I don't, I try not to move in until. I give them opportunity, so they all wanted to sit on a bench and they couldn't all fit. So they were having this discussion. Well, I was here first.

Deb Curtis: Well, I've been here 30,000 minutes. Well, I've been, you know, they were like having this huge discussion about it. So finally one of the children said, well, I know, why don't we walk over here and sit on this bench? 'cause then we could all sit together. So it was her idea. Mm-hmm. So that was because I didn't jump in.

Deb Curtis: Right. Most grownups don't give that time. Move in and try to solve it or try to do some sort of problem solving rather than see what happens.

Deb Curtis: you know, if they hadn't gone for it after a while, I would, as you know, offered the idea, well that doesn't seem fair, that she doesn't get to sit there with you.

Deb Curtis: And she had a great idea. That might have been what I'd said if nothing would've shifted. And it doesn't always, but most of the time it does. And I wanna call on that in children. Help that happen. Help them see their own kindness and compassion and, and wanting to be together to do it together.

Rusty Keeler: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Nurture that

Deb Curtis: make it visible to me and to them so that it can grow. 'cause the stories we tell is what grows. Mm-hmm. And if we the story of that's what's gonna grow. Instead of, oh look, we're all playing together. Oh, we all have the same ideas.

Rusty Keeler: Yeah, we're in it together. We're in it together.

Rusty Keeler: It's not a competition.

Deb Curtis: Yeah. And that's our natural way, right? That is the natural way for humans to be, is to be together. And children want that. More than anybody 'cause they haven't had it trained out of them. So, you know, I started getting more specific about it with the schema theory. Do you know that book?

Deb Curtis: children's Lively Minds. And it's got this idea of, uh, repeated, it's a theory called Schema Theory and it's pretty much promoted mostly in Great Britain and Australia. That's where I learned it. I went to New Zealand or Australia and learned about it. So basically what it is, is these repeated actions and patterns in children's play that are reflections of their brain development.

Deb Curtis: And they do it over things, over and over again. And it's things like dumping and filling, you know, it's mostly things that annoy you. It's things like transporting things from place to place without necessarily a purpose. Just moving things trajectory. You probably know this one 'cause you create all kinds of opportunities for that in your design.

Deb Curtis: Make things move. Make your body move, fly through the air, run down a ramp. Throw a ball, zoom, so that's another one. Another one is enclosure, getting inside things or putting things inside other things. Anyway, so that was this big thing that I was paying attention to and Nadia and I, the co-author of that book.

Deb Curtis: We were talking, we were sending each other text messages and pictures. Look, this is happening. And there were no books in the United States about it. And all the ones from New Zealand and the other places are all white ki all white kids. So we wanted to reflect the beautiful diversity of our program. So we wrote this book and it's such a powerful notion once you see it.

Deb Curtis: You never stop seeing it because it's what happens. So to build on this idea of relationships, all children see these things and they see them in each other, and it is how they play together without words, oh, you wanna zoom down that hill? I wanna do that too. Oh, you wanna dump that? So do I. Oh, you wanna change that somehow?

Deb Curtis: So that's how they play together with this. Repeated actions that they're all doing, it's familiar to them and they don't even need words to do it. So it's pretty amazing when you start seeing all this stuff.

Deb Curtis: How it works to build their brain and their relationships with each other. So yeah, and I could probably name ways your designs, your environmental designs involve all of these things.

Deb Curtis: Even if you haven't thought specifically about mm-hmm.

Rusty Keeler: Mm-hmm. The patterns. The patterns of play that children Yeah. Find themselves in and seek out. I love that idea of recognizing developmentally. It's just an interesting perspective of like, oh, I recognize that person pouring water because I'm developmentally in that, that zone too, and I wanna do that and side by side and Yeah.

Deb Curtis: do it together. Let's do it together. Yeah. It's powerful, powerful stuff. Once you start seeing,

Rusty Keeler: so then these, these are patterns that are helping to make the branches of the brain building the different. Pieces and parts.

Deb Curtis: Yeah, it's all about brain development. I mean, it's not, you can't check it off on a box, right?

Deb Curtis: Oh, there's that brain pathway for this. It's this, you know, sort of continual way that the brain makes connections. And obviously you know this too, that physicality is hugely important for brain development. So just a more specific thinking about. What that means. Like they've also connected these schemas to math play, like all of it is math and physics.

Deb Curtis: Right? The way that, and one of them is also sorting and classifying, lining things up. Those are, there's, they've identified about 40 schemas in children's play. Naty and I only write about eight of them. So there are a lot of people who are, have nerd brains like go horizontal this and vertical this. So it's, it's fascinating to me.

Deb Curtis: I like that stuff.

Rusty Keeler: Well, what are the eight?

Deb Curtis: Oh, okay, so it's enclosing and enveloping.

Deb Curtis: So you do that with your own body, right? You get inside things, you cover yourself, or that's enveloping or in getting in a hole or a cubby, or you know, some of those things that you design on playgrounds.

Deb Curtis: It's also. And closing is filling, but also dumping, like making things fall out so that they call trajectory, right? When things you make things move, whether it be your body speeding down or a ball or you know, these are these main things, right? Mm-hmm. That when kids do that, like I used to have this group of preschool boys who would.

Deb Curtis: Zoom the little cars all over the room and I was like, ah, you're gonna break a window. You're gonna poke your eye out. You know, it was like, really? 'cause they would, they would just zoom them. So my coworker and I, this is before I knew about schemas, uh, we decided, well let's try this. 'cause they are having so much fun.

Deb Curtis: And we were just being the preschool police the whole day. Like stopping it and it obviously was not working. So we decided to try it ourselves and we had a blast trying to figure out how to make these cars zoom everywhere. So then we started provisioning for it in ways that would control the zoom.

Deb Curtis: Right. So we found ramps, we found things with openings that they can put it in. We, we got a great big. Tube that went from our climber in the room, our loft to the floor, so that they could do it in ways that was okay with us and wasn't just flying. So that trajectory is a big one. And they do most of these schemas with their own bodies first, right?

Deb Curtis: And close their bodies, zoom their bodies down a ramp or down. Uh, you know, in those places then there's also transforming, making things change. You know why a baby squishes a banana? And, you know, makes you know a mess.

Deb Curtis: I would say another annoying behavior. A mess. Mm-hmm.

Deb Curtis: that's also a huge one.

Deb Curtis: That's why they love things like water play and Play-Doh and all of those things that appeal to this desire to make something change, to transform the world. Let's see what else? Like I said, orientation and perspective. Like how can you see, how often have you seen kids put things up to their eyes, right?

Deb Curtis: To look through something. Uh, so they wanna change their perspective or, or go upside down so they see how the world looks. Yeah.

Deb Curtis: Yeah. By parents. So that's

Deb Curtis: another one. Ordering and classifying, lining things up, matching things, stacking things. If there's vertical and horizontal ordering and classifying, what am I forgetting?

Deb Curtis: Oh, this one's a fascinating one. Rotation and circularity. Children are drawn to things that are circles that they can make turn in circles. So you see that all the time, right? That they wanna do things that make them spin or, uh, and I, I was like, well, why is that? Why do, why are we drawn to circular things?

Deb Curtis: So I looked that up. And basically they discovered when they did brain imaging, when we're looking at something circular or curved shaped the part of our brain that feels calm, lights up. And when we're looking at an angles and points and things like that, the part of our brain that feels stressed, lights up.

Deb Curtis: they looked at human faces, right? And that's this whole homo puppy again. Uh. All these curved lines and circles on our face. So, uh, that has to do with babies look zoom, you know, looking in their face

Deb Curtis: Members' eyes and seeing this round face and round eyes and feeling really calm. So it's like all of these connections, it's just like astonishing from my point of view.

Deb Curtis: Um, there's so many, there's so much complexity in the world, and. I love to think about those things. I have a curious mind. I hang out with toddlers. They make me that way.

Rusty Keeler: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Well, they are like, they're investigating, I would say, like a planet in outer space. They're searching, they're, they're curious.

Rusty Keeler: They're wondering, they're figuring it out. I mean, really, you suddenly, you find yourself as a toddler and there's, here's the world and what's it do?

Deb Curtis: Yeah. It's just so exciting. Right. There's, and you have extra sensory perception and most people call that, uh, attention deficit. You know, you have an, you have an excitement for everything.

Deb Curtis: Attention for everything. Your brain is built that way. Yeah. '

Deb Curtis: that's how you learn, right? Something new comes, you wanna see it.

Deb Curtis: People say that's a deficit, attention deficit, rather than, I call it attention for everything or super attention because they, that's what their brain is seeking, right?

Deb Curtis: Their, their brains are really open, way more open than ours. Ours are kind of. Stuck in place unless we do things to try to keep them open. Mm-hmm. Uh, so that's what they're doing. Like you say, oh, here, look the world. Now I can move. Now I can do this. Now I can change this. And then there's this natural gift of your brain telling you what to do to figure it out.

Deb Curtis: These schemas, it's like astonishing.

Deb Curtis: And did you know the scientific method was defined by watching children play? It was No,

Rusty Keeler: Did not know that. What do you what? What do you mean

Deb Curtis: look that up? Because they were trying to figure out like what goes on, and they saw how children like had hypotheses.

Deb Curtis: They tried out their theories. They used problem solving and trial and error. Statistics. I mean, as young as 10 month old, they're doing statistical analysis of the world. Like, you do this, I do this, you do this, I do this. Noticing what you might do. You know, I don't think we see how amazing children are and I wanna make sure that we don't interfere with that.

Deb Curtis: That we don't undermine these natural gifts and abilities. 'cause that's, it's amazing who humans

Rusty Keeler: are in the world. When you work with adults, what are some of your favorite ways from this perspective of offering and helping, you know, make change come from you to, to the people you're with, to the children they're with?

Deb Curtis: yeah, that's this side by side work I described. When we go and the focus is looking at what do we notice, and I try to help people see themselves first, because I really believe that as. Educators in a room with a group of children, we have all the power. Sometimes don't feel like it. We decide when the lights are on or off.

Deb Curtis: We decide what materials are gonna be available when kids get to go outside. We decide everything. We decide who we're gonna pay attention to and why, and who we're not gonna pay attention to, and what are we gonna further and notice. So all those things have so much power in a group of children, and I want us to do it with intention and.

Deb Curtis: To really make sure we're not undermining these amazing people. So that's what I, you know, we go in first in these observations, and I suggest don't, don't do anything but notice yourself. What are you noticing? Why are you noticing that? What's your response to it? And then notice what you wouldn't have noticed.

Deb Curtis: So what are you noticing that you wouldn't have noticed, and how do you respond to that and, and what happens when you don't respond? If you're not the one responding, you don't have a role, what happens? And that's a really powerful tool, I think, for adults to work with children because, and it's not an easy one, right?

Deb Curtis: Because you have so many things you have to pay attention to, and the idea that you would stop and pay attention to yourself, it's sort of what, but the truth is you're only paying attention to yourself anyway, so you might as well be intentional about it.

Deb Curtis: Through what it is, and I think it takes practice.

Deb Curtis: You need to do it away. You need to notice and reflect and notice and reflect so that when you're in the moment, you have more of a repertoire to call on, to make meaning. 'cause there's so many things happening and there's not one right way, right? There are many ways and many meanings to make about what's going on right now.

Deb Curtis: And you get to decide which one you're gonna, you know, notice what you value here. What do you wanna help grow? And further, and again, not easy, I'm not some sort of pie in the sky person that thinks this is all magic wand. It's not an easy job to do, but that's the way to make it nourishing for yourself.

Deb Curtis: And also, if you're looking for what you love, the children are gonna be a lot happier because you're gonna be

Deb Curtis: happy. Mm-hmm. You're gonna be loving everything so. That's what I think is the most useful. And I have to say, if I'm not in a role where people are, I'm supporting them to slow down and do this, you know, it's a very specific structure for notice practice.

Deb Curtis: Right. But if I'm just side by side with people. Working with them, not very patient because I'm seeing these things children are doing as amazing and they're not. Right,

Rusty Keeler: right, right. So I've

Deb Curtis: just been doing it so wow. Long. I wanna just go, wait, look.

Rusty Keeler: So okay. That, that noticing, you know, as an adult and you know, whether it's educator or for parents too, you know, all the different things that parents are juggling.

Rusty Keeler: I don't know what, what can people do in a small way that, that, uh, noticing themselves or watching themselves?

Deb Curtis: Well, I suggest you just even pause for 20 seconds.

Deb Curtis: Just pause for a minute. Mm-hmm. And take it in. Mm-hmm.

Deb Curtis: is so urgent. Sometimes it might be you have to jump in, but not, things are not that urgent that you have to jump in.

Deb Curtis: So how do you even pause for 20 seconds? Take a breath and try to see what a child's. What might be on a child's mind or what they're trying to accomplish. So I think that's a really. Good idea. And then once you start seeing that you can pause for that long, maybe you can pause for a little longer and not interact for a while to see one unfolds.

Deb Curtis: Like you don't have to fix everything. In fact, when you try to fix things, you undermine what's going on. So that's to me a first little practice. It's just stop, breathe, and note. And then I suggest people, how do you see what children are doing as amazing? How do you not judge it as something that needs fixing or care?

Deb Curtis: How do you try to get curious about what is this child trying to accomplish? What's on their mind? How is this something that's going to help them from their point of view? Because I really believe so children seek what they benefit from that we're born. With all of these natural abilities, instincts, approaches to life that benefit us and our brain.

Deb Curtis: Sometimes we're not right about that as a child, and sometimes adults have a better way, but children don't do things just to be mean. They don't. Do things just to mess up the world. They do them because there's something that they think they're gonna benefit from, either naturally or because what their life has been.

Deb Curtis: So if you can shift. Your attention to that. I think that helps you see confidence. And if there's a kid that drives you nuts, find the ways you can fall in love with them, because that's the only way you're gonna help yourself in them, right? If it's always about, no, no, no, no, no. That's just gonna keep perpetuating their negative feelings about themselves and life and the, and then you're only gonna see that story of that child.

Deb Curtis: So how do you find all the ways the child is doing something amazing that you can love? So those are little, and it takes practice. It doesn't get fixed right away, and you're human and you have headaches, and I don't think there's any right answers to any of this. I do think there are wrong answers. The wrong answers are gonna hurt a child emotionally or physically that point.

Deb Curtis: And that, you know, we could have different opinions about what that would look like. But again, there are so many things that you can do and it's just a matter of what do you wanna do and what do you wanna further, what do you value? Mm-hmm. How do you, this child's competence and. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Not easy. I'm noting it's easy.

Rusty Keeler: No, no, no. So layered and complex and changing all the time and,

Rusty Keeler: Wow. Uh, I like that, that there's no, there's no right answer, but there are wrong answers.

Rusty Keeler: So how do we shift to the, yeah, to the, the realm of right answers. So what are, how about with the educators, when, when they, they try this on and they go through the process with you and they're butting their lips and what do, what do they find from the exercise or what Yeah, what kind of noticing and people like, I am gonna change, I wanna change or.

Rusty Keeler: I don't know. Yeah.

Deb Curtis: There is that process of, you know, like, wow, self discovery, and I did this in San Diego, and they wanna keep, they start, they kept doing it. She started giving these opportunities not to have a role. To just watch. So they keep doing it? Yeah. Yeah. Because they realize how much they can gain from being able to just watch and notice and talk to somebody else about what you just saw and get another point of view and things.

Deb Curtis: So again, she took it right up and started creating these structures for people to have time off the floor, but to be in the room. To really watch and see. So that happened. That just happened. I don't know. I did this work over many years in the same program with the same people, and one of the things that made me believe it was valuable is that the same teachers kept signing up to do it.

Deb Curtis: I did it in Arizona, like for four or five years in toddler programs with toddler teachers. The same group of people signed up every year to be a part of this. Mm. I would go four times a year and we would do this work in the classroom. Uh, I did it in Texas for 10 years and in Canada for many years, and the same people just kept wanting to do it.

Deb Curtis: So. That's another reason I think it's real. People find it really useful. It's not easy, it's an expensive model, right? To have teachers in a room that don't have a role but watching, but it makes such a difference

Deb Curtis: How they see their work and. Thing

Rusty Keeler: when I, when I first started and, uh, you know, getting these ideas for the nature play.

Rusty Keeler: And, and I, when my first three jobs was up at Cornell University and they had an amazing early childhood program. Incredible teachers and they had a, you know, the behind the two-way mirror glass stuff. So I remember going up there, it was like I, I had a project to do for the outdoor play, but I was just there to kinda learn about the early childhood world that, you know, way back when.

Rusty Keeler: And, and it was just interesting to even have that, of like, what, what those, the college students, the experience that they could have. What, what you see through that window when you are not. Involved at all. At all, right? Just to really watch what happens. And then you see the adults and it's interesting there.

Rusty Keeler: Then you see the adults. You see what those adults in there don't see. 'cause they're not, you know, they're not. Yeah. There's so many, I mean, in incredible things. Incredible. And I do that now. I have a favorite preschool that my sons went to, and I'm friends with the director in town and just, I'll go, like, embed myself, you know, take pictures or do, you know, scribble ideas and stuff and watch and, and again, the things that you see, like just magical, magical moments that just, yeah.

Rusty Keeler: Rise and fall. Rise and fall, and, and then it goes back into the swirl of, of the flow of play.

Deb Curtis: Yeah. Isn't play amazing, it's just still these, I get so excited about what I see, like I was, yesterday, I was at the program I go to, I go to this preschool. I'm, I was watching these children that were soul.

Deb Curtis: Remarkable. I, I focused on this one little girl who was like running around the yard kind of in her own drama, right? With this like claws out and her face fierce and she's growling as she runs and, and then she stopped and there was this structure made out of holes and. That it was turn, it was like a square made out of poles.

Deb Curtis: And so she decided she was gonna pick it up and she just, it was really unwieldy and a little bit heavy, but she stuck with it. And again, her, she had the best facial expressions and so she picked it up and moved it and went back and forth across the yard, really like tippy and unwieldy, but did it. And then she went.

Deb Curtis: Put that down, and she went running to the climbing structure, jumped onto the top and flung herself way off, and then just had this look on her face and I, I just got so happy watching her right, like this, this power, this feeling of powerful and fierceness and strength. Then. Drama. It was just, I love watching it.

Deb Curtis: It just makes me so happy and you know, I know all the things about what was happening in that are helping her grow and learn and all of that stuff, you know, 'cause I've studied it so much, but just the pure feeling like. Of what she was experiencing. And you know, that's another thing, mirror neurons. When you pay attention to someone, your brain does the same thing their brain does.

Deb Curtis: That's like a huge way humans look.

Deb Curtis: you can feel that amazing feeling of wonder and magic and. Effervescence. Yes. By just watching them brain gets that way.

Deb Curtis: try it. You do. It sounds like that's what you

Rusty Keeler: do. I do, I do. Well, it made me think of this, this little sequence, this little story, watching this play.

Rusty Keeler: It was a sand pit area with a little trickle of water and there were two girls that were in, in the sand and they were, there were little troughs and they were, you know, putting different cup, pouring it in cups and then pouring it in their, uh, in the sand and doing things. And teachers were elsewhere. So they kept doing things and they both had sun hats on and at one point they got the idea of like, oh, what if we put the water instead of a cup into our sun hats and then carry it over in the sun hats?

Speaker 6: Enclosure. Yeah.

Rusty Keeler: Right. Enclosure. And then, and then how does a sun hat hold water compared to a, you know, a plastic cup? And they did that for a while, and then they were standing side by side, both filling their hats and there was, it was like another unspoken thing. They both said it. You could say, put it on our heads.

Rusty Keeler: And they put it on their, and I, I was just watching and they did, and they had the instantaneously the same experience of the water. Suddenly what that felt like and their eyes together. And it was like this, I just felt like this emotional supernova of like

Rusty Keeler: joy, excitement, and, uh. I, they would. I was just a witness.

Rusty Keeler: Right. Teachers were also it. Yeah. I bet

Deb Curtis: your brain did it too. 'cause you were right there with them. I

Deb Curtis: felt it. Yes. I was

Deb Curtis: like, ah, yes. That is the best story. I love it.

Rusty Keeler: Yeah. A million magic moments.

Deb Curtis: Yeah. If we just pause to notice. Just pause and marvel. That's my other phrase.

Deb Curtis: Pause and marvel at what you're seeing.

Deb Curtis: Mm-hmm. And yes,

Deb Curtis: it's not easy. I gotta make sure people don't just write me off. Yeah, yeah,

Deb Curtis: yeah, yeah. I get

Deb Curtis: that. It's not an easy thing to do. I've been doing it for 60 years, so

Rusty Keeler: long time. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And educators, we know there's a million, billion things going on in the classroom and, you know, all sorts of, of stuff happening and your goals and, you know, cleanups and, and, and high energy.

Rusty Keeler: But yeah, just, I mean, just the, the call, I mean, that's for our life in general. Like deep breaths, deep breaths, where are we, what's happening? And, and you know, in the greater things, how can we get through this or where are our. Allies and in it all, and yeah. Yeah.

Deb Curtis: Hold the complexity.

Rusty Keeler: Hold the complexity.

Rusty Keeler: Well, it's been great to pause and marvel with you. Yeah. Today, Deb and

Rusty Keeler: right. All right, all

Rusty Keeler: rest. All right. Thanks Deb. See ya all. Bye.

All right. Thanks for listening. Do you have a comment or a question? Email me at Rusty Keeler: playnaturepodcast@gmail.com. You know, I like talking about this stuff and maybe we could use your question on a future podcast episode. As always, I have some free goodies for you in the show notes, including my outdoor loose parts guide, fun stuff in there.

Rusty Keeler: And so I wish you the best in your outdoor play adventures. And when it comes to adding nature to your yard or loose parts or saying yes to risky play, my favorite motto is dream big, start small and never stop. Oh yeah. Woo, woo, woo. Let's do it. All right. Have fun out there.

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Ep 12 | The Power of Toddler Play: Trusting Little Ones to Lead and Learn with Deb Curtis - Rusty Keeler

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Play is serious stuff. It's how kids make sense of the world, grow their brains, build friendships, and show us their natural brilliance. When we step back and let play lead, magic happens. In this episode of Play Nature Podcast, we're celebrating the joy, wisdom, and wildness of children's play, just as it is.

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A New Approach to Early Learning Policy

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Thanks to the efforts of nature-based practitioners working to license outdoor nature-based childcare programs, national policymakers have begun recognizing a new area to early childhood education policy in the United States-Outdoor Nature Based (ONB) Early Learning Policy.

Following successful organizing and advocacy by preschool providers in Washington State to license outdoor nature based programs, many early childhood systems around the country are now beginning to accommodate outdoor play and learning in early care and education settings and beyond. Natural Start recognizes ONB licensing as a key step toward systems change in that it:

Extends the same standards of safety and effectiveness accompanying traditional regulations to natural, outdoor-based settings.

Promotes inclusive and culturally responsive access to nature-rich early childhood learning environments.

Leads to the creation of new teaching and learning competencies and other resources that integrate the benefits of nature connection for all early education settings.

Establishes a critical framework for making contextually informed decisions about children's health and safety indoors and out.

Expands recognition of the impact of environmental injustice on young children's learning and development.

ONB Licensing is about more than just allowing preschools and childcare centers to operate primarily or entirely outdoors. The expertise and partnership developed by state agencies, regional networks, and national partners engaging on outdoor and nature-based regulatory change can positively influence the full spectrum of early childhood policy; helping change how we understand, prioritize, and resource young children's relationship with the natural world through a time of rapid environmental change.

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Outdoor Nature-Based Education Policy | Natural Start Alliance

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Leading Nature-based Teaching: Prepare yourself to prepare your staff for the transition to an outdoor program

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Leading Nature-based Teaching: Prepare yourself to prepare your staff for the transition to an outdoor program

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Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Leading Nature-based Teaching: Prepare yourself to prepare your staff for the transition to an outdoor program, by Dr. Rachel A. Larimore. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.

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Welcome to Early Childhood Investigations, a webinar series produced by Engagement Strategies, LLC. Early education program leaders around the world are increasingly enthusiastic about nature-based learning. Many leaders want to jump in wholeheartedly but find shifting the culture of their organization incredibly challenging. In this this action-focused webinar designed for program leaders and administrators, experienced early childhood nature-based program leader and author, Dr. Rachel Larimore will share her Trail Map for Leading Change as an approach for inspiring and supporting staff to move toward nature-based teaching. The first step of the Trail Map is preparing yourself as leaders for the journey to ensure you are ready to lead change within our team. This requires doing inner social-emotional work. Talk of social-emotional health of children is common in early childhood, but we rarely stop to consider how adult relationships, with ourselves and others, influence our professional roles in early childhood. In this session, Dr. Larimore will guide you to explore the many social-emotional factors that impact your ability to lead change toward a nature-based teaching approach.
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Read about CERTIFICATES: https://www.earlychildhoodwebinars.com/certificates/ As of January 1, 2024 we temporarily suspended the service of offering Continuing Education Units. We hope to begin offering them again in the future. ******************************************************************************

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Please complete this survey if your program has requested STARS Coaching and you are working with Elizabeth and/or Susan.

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If you are interested in coaching with a STARS Outdoor Learning Coach, please review the "STARS Outdoor Learning Coaching" section directly below for next steps.

If you are here for resources, you will find them in alphabetical order below, with the exception of the "Top Resources" section near the top, which you will want to start with. You may use the search bar to search for specific subject matter or scroll through each organized section to find what you need.

We consistently update this Padlet, including the "Upcoming PD" section so we can be sure to provide you with the most up-to-date resources and information. Please check back often.

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please create a photo that says "How to navigate this Padlet" and make it nature-themed

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a child outside navigating with a compass

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Meet Outdoor Learning and Play Consultant Susan Chlebowski

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Meet Outdoor Learning and Play Consultant Susan Chlebowski

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Susan is the Outdoor Learning and Play Consultant for Community Connections for Children. She is also a playworker and certified Playwork Trainer through PARS (UK), as well as a Certified Forest School Leader through Under the Hazels (UK). She is the founder and director of two nature preschools and works as a nature play design consultant, supporting the development of outdoor learning environments grounded in child-led practice.

An AMS-certified Montessori teacher (ages 3–6) and occupational therapist, her work bridges therapeutic, Montessori, playwork, and forest school approaches. She has participated in multiple study tours of Danish and UK nature schools (2018, 2019, 2023, 2024, 2025), deepening her understanding of international models of outdoor and nature-based education.

Her professional focus centers on inclusion, equity, and expanding access to evidence-based early childhood education and care, with particular emphasis on play, nature, and child-led learning.

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Meet STARS Outdoor Learning Coach Elizabeth Marcello

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Meet STARS Outdoor Learning Coach Elizabeth Marcello

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Elizabeth is the Outdoor Learning Coach for Community Connections for Children, where she supports early childhood leaders and educators through coaching, modeling, and professional development focused on nature- and play-based learning.

With over a decade of experience in early childhood education, she has served as an infant and toddler teacher, playworker, adjunct faculty member, QRIS Quality Coach, and Technical Assistance Coach. Elizabeth holds a B.S. in Child and Family Studies from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and an M.S. in Applied Developmental Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. A certified trainer through the Pennsylvania Quality Assurance System, she has delivered professional development to thousands of educators statewide.

Elizabeth is passionate about child-led, nature-based play and creating environments where children can freely explore with diverse materials and peers. She previously led a Pop-Up Play organization offering loose-parts play experiences and has consulted on nature playground projects in central Pennsylvania.

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Results Check each product page for other buying options. FREE delivery Wed, Jan 28 on $35 of items shipped by AmazonOr fastest delivery Tomorrow, Jan 23Available instantlyGreat On Kindle: A high quality digital reading experience. FREE delivery Wed, Jan 28 on $35 of items shipped by AmazonOr fastest delivery Sat, Jan 24Available instantly FREE delivery Wed, Jan 28 on $35 of items shipped by AmazonOr fastest delivery Tomorrow, Jan 23 More results FREE delivery Wed, Jan 28 on $35 of items shipped by AmazonOr fastest delivery Tomorrow, Jan 23Free with Kindle Unlimited membership Join Now Available instantlyOr $7.90 to buyAges: 5 - 8 years FREE delivery Wed, Jan 28 on $35 of items shipped by AmazonOr fastest delivery Tomorrow, Jan 23Available instantlyAges: 5 - 11 years FREE delivery Wed, Jan 28 on $35 of items shipped by AmazonOr fastest delivery Sat, Jan 24Only 1 left in stock - order soon.Available instantlyAges: 2 - 10 years More results FREE delivery Wed, Jan 28 on $35 of items shipped by AmazonOr fastest delivery Tomorrow, Jan 23Available instantlyAges: 10 years and up FREE delivery Wed, Jan 28 on $35 of items shipped by AmazonOr fastest delivery Tomorrow, Jan 23Available instantlyFREE delivery Fri, Feb 6Ages: 4 - 9 years FREE delivery Wed, Jan 28 on $35 of items shipped by AmazonOr fastest delivery Tomorrow, Jan 23Ages: 4 - 6 years FREE delivery Wed, Jan 28Or fastest delivery Sat, Jan 24Only 16 left in stock (more on the way).Available instantly FREE delivery Wed, Jan 28 on $35 of items shipped by AmazonOr fastest delivery Tomorrow, Jan 23Available instantlyAges: 3 - 6 years FREE delivery Wed, Jan 28 on $35 of items shipped by AmazonOr fastest delivery Tomorrow, Jan 23Free with Kindle Unlimited membership Join Now Available instantlyOr $7.31 to buyAges: 6 - 11 years FREE delivery Wed, Jan 28 on $35 of items shipped by AmazonOr fastest delivery Tomorrow, Jan 23Only 14 left in stock (more on the way).Available instantlyAges: 3 - 9 years FREE delivery Wed, Jan 28 on $35 of items shipped by AmazonOr fastest delivery Sat, Jan 24Only 17 left in stock (more on the way).Available instantly FREE delivery Wed, Jan 28 on $35 of items shipped by AmazonOr fastest delivery Tomorrow, Jan 23Free with Kindle Unlimited membership Join Now Available instantlyOr $9.48 to buyAges: 1 - 3 years FREE delivery Wed, Jan 28 on $35 of items shipped by AmazonOr fastest delivery Sat, Jan 24Available instantly FREE delivery Wed, Jan 28 on $35 of items shipped by AmazonOr fastest delivery Tomorrow, Jan 23 FREE delivery Wed, Jan 28 on $35 of items shipped by AmazonOr fastest delivery Sat, Jan 24 Previous12320Next Books related to your searchSponsored Need help?

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Take Me Outside - To get people, both young and old, outside

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Photo credit: Three Pines Outdoor and Nature Play, 2025

This Outdoor Play and Learning Course comprises approximately 30 hours of self-paced learning. It is designed to be an introduction to outdoor play and learning in the early years, providing a strong foundation with many practical ideas you can implement in an early years context.

A growing body of research from child development specialists, academic researchers and advocates provides evidence that outdoor active play is essential for healthy child development and illuminates the multitude of health and well-being benefits young children experience when they spend time outdoors. Play is the foundation of how children learn in early childhood and is at the core of what early childhood educators support. The opportunities for play in the outdoor environment are more varied and expansive than in the indoor environment, as children can move their bodies in different ways, use their voices with more enthusiasm and interact with the Land.

This certification will help you gain confidence in facilitating outdoor active play and taking your learners outside in all types of weather. The purpose of this course is to support you in embedding outdoor play and learning into your practice, providing you with skills and tools to help guide you in creating engaging and meaningful experiences outdoors with all children in your program.

You do not need a background in outdoor play to successfully integrate the course materials, this course will meet you where you are at and support you to increase the time you spend outdoors with children in any setting. Curiosity and a willingness to try new ideas is all you need!
The course includes:

10 online learning Modules

30 hrs of self-paced learning

Hands on activities for you and your group of learners

Outdoor Play and Learning Certification upon completion

Please note this certification course is not currently recognized by a governing body; it is part of our extensive offering of professional development.

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Early Years: Outdoor Learning Certification Program - Take Me Outside

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Photo credit: Three Pines Outdoor and Nature Play, 2025 This Outdoor Play and Learning Course comprises approximately 30 hours of self-paced learning. It is designed to be an introduction to outdoor play and learning in the early years, providing a strong foundation with many practical ideas you can implement in an early years context.

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How to Create a Nature-Based Curriculum for Your Childcare Center: A Comprehensive Guide

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How to Create a Nature-Based Curriculum for Your Childcare Center: A Comprehensive Guide

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How to Create a Nature-Based Curriculum for Your Childcare Center: A Comprehensive Guide

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Developing a nature-based curriculum for childcare transforms how children learn and connect with their surroundings. As a childcare provider, you have the unique opportunity to foster meaningful bonds between the children in your care and the outdoor environment around them. This approach isn’t just about scheduling outdoor time—it’s a comprehensive educational philosophy that weaves environmental elements into the very fabric of your program.When children splash in puddles, collect colorful au

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Project WET has been researching, writing, and publishing water education materials since 1984. The result is the most comprehensive collection of award-winning water education books, guides, maps, posters, and downloadable resources you’ll find anywhere. Our interactive professional development trainings ensure you are ready to use our lessons at any time to meet your needs.

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Families' Club Kit

Engaging Families' Club materials provide ideas to help families connect to the natural world while introducing them to a variety of natural spaces in their communities.

Learn more (English) Learn more (Spanish)

Family Toolkit

Find ideas and activities to inspire children's love for the earth and help them become tomorrow's generation of caring environmental stewards. This kit was developed by the Nature Action Collaborative for Children Leadership Team, a World Forum Foundation Working Group, and Nature Explore. Learn more.

Nature for Families Video

Gain insights for ways to engage families in exploring the natural world together. Hear direct testimonials from parents and educators discussing family involvement as a key component to the success of connecting children with nature. View video.

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Family Resources - Nature Explore Program

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Families' Club Kit Engaging Families' Club materials provide ideas to help families connect to the natural world while introducing them to a variety of natural spaces in their communities. Learn more (English) Learn more (Spanish) Family Toolkit Find ideas and activities to inspire children's love for the earth and help them become...

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Evaluating Natureness: Community & family engagement — Samara Early Learning

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Family engagement and community partnerships are areas of nature-based education that sometimes get overlooked, but are important components for a thriving program. Let’s look at each…