When Carissa Tikalsky interviews prospective child care teachers, there’s one question she’s sure to ask. She holds up a stick, and readies a timer.
“In 30 seconds, tell us how many things this stick can be.”
“You can really tell a lot about a teacher based on if they can do that or not,” said Tikalsky, program director at Lake Edge Learning Center in Neenah. “You can tell whether or not they are a good fit for the school.”
It may be a simple question, but it gets to the core of what Lake Edge is all about as a nature-based early education program.
Nature-based early education is much more than spending ample time outdoors, although this is a hallmark of such programming. It’s also about being resourceful and imaginative, taking care of the earth and its creatures, and learning through play.
An increasing number of these programs are sprouting up throughout the state, said Tara Von Dollen, a University of Wisconsin-Whitewater adjunct instructor. But with varying definitions as to what makes an early education program "nature based," there's no one centralized database listing them.
Von Dollen, who teaches courses for the state’s nature-based early childhood education credential, explained the pedagogy has seen fluctuating periods of popularity, and is now gaining steam again after the pandemic increased time spent outdoors.
Nature-based early childhood education exists on a continuum
Just as its prevalence can vary, so can the very definition of "nature-based early childhood education."
“It’s complicated,” Von Dollen said. “You can say that you are a nature-based educator if you incorporate even just a little bit of nature. But my personal thought is, to be truly nature based, you are teaching about nature, you are teaching with nature, you are teaching in nature. As much as possible, your curriculum and activities have nature at their heart.”
That’s why, in teaching the nature-based early childhood credential courses at UW-Whitewater, Van Dollen and adjunct instructor Peter Dargatz refer to it as a continuum.
On one end, there are programs where children might not get to spend most of their time in natural habitats and have more structured learning, but maybe they’re taught a lesson about fall leaves.
On the other end, you have “full immersions,” like Aldo Leopold Nature Preschool in Monona, where Von Dollen also works as a part-time environmental educator. Here, children spend the majority of their time in nature, and the materials they use are supplied by nature — like sticks, rocks and acorns. They may also be fully emergent; instead of a strict curriculum, the teachers shape the learning around the children’s interests.
Dargatz’s kindergarten class at Woodside Elementary School in Sussex falls somewhere in the middle, he said. They are outside every day (although the amount of time varies throughout the year) and engage in a variety of nature-related activities, such as birding, planting, pulling invasive species, “and explore whatever (their) nature-loving minds desire,” Dargatz said.
Cuddle Care, a child care center in Howard, is a “blend of a structured program and outside nature program,” its co-owner Amy Coté said.
She points to its playground as an example: It has traditional elements like monkey bars and a slide, but there’s also a mud kitchen, trees to climb and other opportunities to explore nature.
More:Milwaukee area school districts are using the great outdoors to further student learning
Related:As youths grapple with climate anxiety, they turn to activism, education for hope
There are commonalities among nature-based programs
A few hallmarks typically mark nature-based early childhood education.
- Bringing nature inside the classroom
- Spending more time outdoors than most other early childhood programs
- It’s play-based, with elements of emergent education; a program may not entirely be driven by the children’s interests, but educators pay attention to those interests and explore them further.
- “Loose parts play” in which objects that are not connected to something else are available, requiring children to use their imagination
- It's immersive, using materials found outdoors, less man-made materials
- Curriculum and activities include nature concepts, even if they are not centered entirely around them. Many, like Lake Edge and Amy & Kids Co. Nature Playschool in Appleton, partner with a local naturalist. They also garden with the children.
- Risk-taking play, including physical play like running and jumping where there’s a risk of minor injury. It also lets children evaluate what risks they should and should not take and better understand the limits of their bodies
Nature-based principles can even be integrated into infant learning. For example, at Lake Edge, teachers take infants down to the lake, stopping to expose them to different textures like grass and tree bark.
Is nature-based early education right for my child?
Many proponents of nature-based education say they’ve seen its benefits.
There is ample evidence that being outdoors is important for children’s well-being and development. A review of such studies published in an American Academy of Pediatrics’ journal found nature exposure is associated with a variety of both mental and physical health benefits.
The latter is something Tikalsky witnesses first-hand at Lake Edge. She noticed when the children are outside, they show less challenging behaviors like hitting and kicking, and are better able to regulate if they get overwhelmed. When they come inside the center after spending time outdoors, they’re in a calmer state, she said.
“A lot of children need some sensory stimulation or sensory de-stimulation to self-regulate, and through that variety of experiences (that they get outside), and the fact that they get to choose their experience, helps them learn how to regulate themselves,” Tikalsky said.
Amy Nogar, who runs Amy & Kids Co. Nature Playschool out of her Appleton home and is earning the nature-based early childhood credential, explained her program and other nature-based early learning sites may not be for every family — and that’s OK.
That’s why, before enrolling a new family, she tells them what to expect.
“They’ll be spending a lot of time outdoors. They’re going to get messy, they’re going to get wet, and they’re going to be allowed to take risks,” Nogar said.
Related:Picking a safe, high-quality child care for your family can be difficult. Here's some helpful tips
Madison Lammert covers child care and early education across Wisconsin as a Report for America corps memberbased at The Appleton Post-Crescent.To contact her, emailmlammert@gannett.comor call 920-993-7108.Please consider supporting journalism that informs our democracy withatax-deductible gift to Report for Americaby visitingpostcrescent.com/RFA
