Recommended Reading: The Natural Way to Learn and Play

What preschool-aged child wouldn’t love to spend their school day climbing trees and playing in the dirt? Nature-based education allows for curriculum that supports those activities as well as positive emotional and cognitive development, reigniting the spark between youth and the natural world. And recently, there’s more research that suggests that children benefit both physically and mentally from playing in the outdoors and getting closer to nature, inspiring new-found interest in nature preschools like Drumlin Farm Community Preschool in Massachusetts.

Nature-based education has been fairly popular in Northern Europe for decades, but is picking up steam in the United States, especially with the rise in what journalist Richard Louv calls “nature-deficit disorder,” where lack of natural and outdoor play and exploration carries detrimental effects. The programs at many nature-based schools follow the interests of the students and allow for use of their imaginations to help develop problem-solving skills.

There are no concrete limits to learning, exploring and playing in nature, allowing children to engage in such a wide variety of activities, the positive effects of exposure to nature on their development has been supported over and over again.

>>Learn more about nature-based education here.