Member Spotlight

Nature Nuts runs a year-round Forest School for young children in Maple Valley, WA. The school has recently been accredited in the Cedarsong Way Teaching Methodology. We asked the school's Lead Instructor, Brenda Running, to tell us more about it.

Empowering people to respect, protect, and enjoy the natural world is central to the mission of the Aldo Leopold Nature Center and its programs in Monona, WI, including the Wonder Bugs Preschool Program.

Every year, the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science welcomes 100,000 visitors to its trails, exhibits, and collections. An increasing number of those visitors bring along young children to climb a tree in the Preschool Room, play with puppets, visit animal habitats, and listen to captivating stories under the guidance of preschool education staff. Find out how early childhood programs fit into the Museum's mission and what advice the Museum has for other natural science institutions that want to better serve young children and their caregivers.

The Center for Nature and Place-based Early Childhood Education is a teacher preparation and professional development initiative based at Prescott College in the central highlands of Arizona.

SHP Leading Design provides architectural design, planning, engineering, and other services to educational institutions and other clients. We asked Ed Melvin, Landscape Architect, and John Noble, Project Architect, to tell us about their approach to the design of spaces for learning in early childhood.

We asked Dr. Yashwant Bhagwanji, the Executive Editor of the International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental Education's, about the influences behind his work and some of his exciting plans for the future.

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts uses nature to promote children's development and growth. We asked the museum's Early Childhood Education Programs Coordinator to tell us more about their approach and share some lessons learned with similar institutions interested in increasing their nature-based early learning offerings.

An E-STEM public school district near Minneapolis now also offers half-day nature preschool programs. We were naturally curious to find out more! We asked Anna Dutke, Nature Preschool Teacher and the programs’ developer, to share with us the impetus behind the programs and any advice she gives to new teachers.

Bija is a holistic early childhood program in New York with a focus on mindfulness, the arts, social justice work, food, and farming. Its founder and director, Lauren Maples, shares some tips and examples for incorporating mindfulness into any early childhood program.

Check out this new program and their emphasis on family and health! Tiny Explorers is a program presented by the Children’s Forest of Central Oregon. Tiny Explorers encourages new parents to kickstart a healthy life enjoying the outdoors by getting their little ones outdoors starting at a young age.

The PlayGarden is a safe, supportive, accessible, and innovative place for children of all abilities.

A preschool in Duluth, MN fosters self-directed play, confidence, and a strong sense of self in relationship with nature and the community.