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For nature-based preschools and childcare programs, summer increasingly brings climate-related challenges—wildfires, tornadoes, extreme heat, flooding—that shape how they approach curriculum and ensure children's safety outdoors. Yet few resources or frameworks address the unique considerations of outdoor practice or the grief and uncertainty that come with this work, leaving many providers to rapidly adapt policies and routines largely on their own.
To help meet this moment, Natural Start hosted a virtual Climate Impact Forum on Monday, August 10, 2026. Facilitated by Claire Underwood of the University of Minnesota Duluth, and Kit Harrington, Deputy Director of Early learning Policy for Natural Start, this open-space discussion surfaced climate-responsive practices and policy ideas, connected participants with existing resources, and created space to process the emotional weight of this work—all in a spirit of collective resilience.
Take The Climate Impact Survey
To help guide our next steps in building the relationships, resources, and networks this moment calls for, we invite you to take a few minutes to share your input. Input matters most when it reflects the full range of perspectives across the field, so please consider adding yours.
Exploring Meeting Materials & Resources
- Canva Whiteboard — Visit (or revisit) this interactive space to share reflections or ideas, and help build an ongoing point of connection for the field
- Emerging Resource Collection — A living document supporting programs in adapting policies and practices to keep children safe while nurturing wonder, belonging, and resilience. Have a resource to add—model policies, family communications, climate-responsive curriculum? Comment on the document or reach out directly to [email protected]
- Additional Meeting Materials — Slides, the grounding meditation, closing poem, and frameworks mentioned during the session