Crown Hill Co-op Preschool has become the first preschool in Seattle to offer a Nature Explore class, which has children learning in research-based outdoor lessons. The “Crown Hill Explorers” has four classes, with children from 1 to 3 years old.
The Nature Explore curriculum allows children to do most of their learning outdoors, using natural toys and interacting with the outdoor environment. Teacher Janice Jacobson says the outdoor classroom allows children many ways to engage with nature, “enriching their learning and encouraging their curiosity.” She says they use toys and tools that promote whole body movement and collaborative play, and supports the notion that the experience is the teacher. Their outdoor class allows children, “opportunities to explore the natural world and develop empathy for living things.”
Nature Explore Classrooms are a collaborative program of the Arbor Day Foundation and Dimensions Educational Research Foundation. The program is found throughout the United States in everything from elementary schools to wildlife refuges, and even on some military bases.
To learn more about class offerings at Crown Hill Preschool, click here.
Photo courtesy Kamm Teply from Crown Hill Preschool
