Feature Stories

Feature Story

Photo by Tina Pretzer

December 2014

Rachel A. Larimore

Responding to parent demand, Chippewa Nature Center's Nature Preschool has partnered with the local school district to bring nature-based classrooms to public kindergartens.

Photo by Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm

November 2014

Patty Born Selly

Children have a biological connection to living things that can be fostered in early care and education settings. A growing body of research shows that children who are supported in their love for animals tend to generalize that love to other living things, such as plants and nature.

Desert Botanical Garden

October 2014

Emily Morris

Despite mounting research about the importance of getting children outside from an early age, there are surprisingly few environmental education programs for babies. This story profiles one program in Phoenix, Arizona.

Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm

September 2014

Christy Merrick

Take a look inside the nation's first Head Start classroom at a working farm at Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm in Dayton, Ohio.

Photo by Nature Explore

August 2014

Susan Wirth

Nature Explore's Susan Wirth shares the results of Dimensions Foundation's research that reveals six indicators of thriving, growing, and sustainable outdoor classrooms.

Photo by Lesley Romanoff, Takoma Park Cooperative Nursery School

July 2014

Lesley Romanoff

A cooperative nursery school shares tips for how to engage parents, teachers, and children in learning in the outdoors.

June 2014

Liza Lowe

Liza Lowe shares her story of how she started Wild Roots Nature School at Stonewall Farm.

May 2014

Robin Long and Marilyn Fenster

This partnership between a first-grade teacher and a retired environmental educator brought children outdoors to investigate nature with the help of new digital tools.

Photo by Elizabeth Feinberg

April 2014

Patti Ensel Bailie, PhD

Are nature-based programs possible in public school settings? Several teachers give us new hope that public schools can use the forest as a classroom.

March 2014

Christy Merrick

Could the push to get more children into preschool set us back in terms of connecting children to nature, encouraging creative play-based education, and building a love of learning?

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