Bright Ideas
Join a New Initiative to Bring Nature into Preschools across the Country
December 17, 2014
Natural Start’s members are committed to bringing nature and the environment into young children’s lives because we know that nature is good for children. Reams of research have demonstrated that children who have regular access to nature and the outdoors reap rewards cognitively, physically, socially, and emotionally.
Our goal at Natural Start is not only to support our members in bringing these experiences to young children, but also to help build the infrastructure needed to create more of these opportunities for all children. One of the most effective ways to help build that infrastructure is to ensure that our public policies support nature-based education for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.
We’re thrilled to announce that Natural Start has partnered with the National Wildlife Federation to launch a major new initiative to advance public policies that encourage preschools and childcare centers to incorporate nature and the outdoors in their programs. As we have argued before, we believe that as the nation expands access to high-quality early childhood education for our children, the environmental education community must engage to ensure that the kinds of experiences we know are good for children—experiences that allow children regular access to nature and the outdoors in educational settings—are considered vital to “high-quality” early childhood education.
If you are interested in joining this effort, we invite you to learn more during an introductory webinar on Friday, January 16th at 2 pm ET. On the call, we’ll explain the vision for this project, present a policy framework for early childhood education, and talk about how you can get involved.
Webinar Details
Date: Friday, January 16th
Time: 2 pm ET
Password: nature
Audio Conference: 1-650-479-3207; Access code: 661 129 708
For more information, please contact us at [email protected].