Colorado's outdoor preschools trade chalkboards and desks for crawdads and mud
Two kids amble down a trail through prairie grasslands, joining their preschool classmates under a shady tree. They’re welcomed with their ‘wild’ names.
“Good morning, Rabbit Brush! Good morning, Rabbit Brush, we’re glad you came today!” the children sing to greet their friends.
At first, it seems similar to a conventional preschool. There’s story-time. Kids are painting. There’s singing. But the song these 3- to 6-year-olds sing is about things like mycelium and nematodes and taking care of the planet – and is partly in the Maori language.
“Tane Mahuta/ Guardian of the forest/ We’re planting seeds/ Thinking of Amazing Grace/ Mycelium and mycorrhizae/ Tree roots, soil and nematodes too!”
The biggest difference is this preschool takes place entirely outside near a wetland in Denver. It’s one of about 45 outdoor preschools that are part of the Colorado Collective for Nature-Based Early Learning
https://www.cpr.org/2024/07/10/colorados-outdoor-preschools-trade-chalkboards-and-desks-for-crawdads-and-mud/
These are common in Scandinavian countries, which are far ahead of ours in learning. I'd have killed for programs like these for my kids, even the ASD one.