Category: Nature Preschool
Finding joy in the outdoors
January 14, 2023The return of leaves and flowers, insects and animals greets us each spring day at our Nature Preschool. Our children show up with smiles on their faces, ready to explore and discover what the day might have in store. As the weather turns warmer, we shuck off our mittens and boots and head out to see how the world is changing around us with the coming of spring.
Our 3-5 year old Nature Preschoolers–and their teachers–are a hardy bunch. They find joy in each day, whether that day includes sunshine and warm weather or rain and cold. Their days are…
Kindergarteners reboot their relationship with nature
August 6, 2020
“To Cattail Pond! To Cattail Pond!” several of the kindergarteners shout as they skip towards the Schuylkill Center’s serene, sunlit woodland opening at the edge of our forest, just a few quick steps outside our back door. This is one of our most active sites on the property in the late winter and early spring when water is abundant and vegetation is emerging.
For our 5- and 6-year-old kindergarteners, it’s an ideal place to set the outdoor classroom scene. Given the overwhelming evidence of the many health benefits of learning outdoors, especially in the context of the current health crisis,…
Nature Preschool meets our pileated woodpecker
December 26, 2019By Leigh Ashbrook
Editor’s note: one of the largest-- and rarest-- birds in the Schuylkill Center forest is the pileated woodpecker, our largest woodpecker with a wood chipper for a beak. We’ve seen them here this winter, and Nature Preschool has become enchanted by them. One of our teachers, Leigh Ashbrook, also a great birder, teaches about birds in the school, and writes about her students meeting them recently.
Photo: Chris Petrak
Sixteen Nature Preschoolers are meandering along the Widener Trail toward the bird blind, flanked by trees of the second growth forest. Out of the woods on their left…
Children Need Nature: Tiny Worlds Terrarium
May 3, 2018Children Need Nature is a monthly blog column from our Nature Preschool program. Read more posts here.
When children have access to natural spaces and time to explore these spaces beautiful things happen. With nature’s diverse textures, scents, tastes, sounds, colors, and shapes, young children find playtime in natural settings compelling and aesthetically inviting. As mindful adventure seekers propelled by innate curiosity, children eagerly seek nature’s loose parts (the leaves, the flowers, the pinecones, the shells, etc.) and use them in their play. In this way, young people build an intimate understanding of the natural world, one element at a time.
From fairy houses in the woods…
Children Need Nature: Rainy Day Hike
February 22, 2018
Children Need Nature is a monthly blog column from our Nature Preschool program. Read more posts here.
Activity: Rainy Day Hike
You will need:
Rain gear
Raincoat
Umbrella
Hat
Rain boots
What to do:
On a rainy day (either during or after the rain stops), go outside and take a walk around your neighborhood. Follow the path of rainwater from your roof, your doorstep, or the sidewalk in front of your house. Where does it lead?
Is the water carrying anything with it? Where do you think these objects end up?
Notice areas where the water puddles. Why do puddles form in some places but…
Children Need Nature: The Art of Tree Climbing
December 21, 2017
By Alyssa Maley, Lead Preschool Teacher
Children Need Nature is a monthly blog column from our Nature Preschool program. Read more posts here.
I remember the moment during my childhood when I developed a bond with my favorite climbing tree on my front lawn—a Japanese maple. This tree was particularly challenging because it did not have lower branches. I had to jump up, grab a branch, and then swing my legs up moving my body like a monkey. Then I used my upper body strength to pull myself to begin the vertical climb. I have so many fond memories of tree climbing—I spoke to fairies,…
Redefining School
August 17, 2017by Nicole Brin, Assistant Director of Early Childhood Education
Preface: The past 7 years teaching young children have taught me more about myself, our education system, and human nature as a whole than I could ever have imagined when starting out. The most recent 4 years spent teaching with the Schuylkill Center Nature Preschool have broadened my views of what is possible in the world of education and led me to the next step in my professional journey. As I move out of the classroom and into the role of Assistant Director of Early Childhood Education, I hope to learn, share, and…
Nature: Fostering children’s social interactions
May 26, 2017By Rachel Baltuch, Nature Preschool Teacher
Children Need Nature is a monthly blog column from our nature preschool program. Read more posts here.
While researching the effects of unstructured play time in nature for young children, I discovered that the benefits are vast and encompass most aspects of children’s development. Play time in nature tends to affect children’s cognitive development, which includes intellectual learning, problem solving skills, and creative inquiry, and can lead to increased concentration, greater attention capacities and higher academic performance.[1] These children also demonstrate “more advanced motor fitness, including coordination, balance and agility, and they are sick less often.[2]
Additionally,…
My Path to Nature Education
March 16, 2017By Nicole Brin, Sycamore Classroom Lead Teacher
Editor's Note: This post was originally published by Pennsylvania Land Trust Association for their series on conserved lands, like the Schuylkill Center, in communities around the state.
Rows of stuffed animals- bears, bunnies, dogs, lions- all lined up in the grass of my suburban Connecticut backyard as they got ready to start their school day. Their teacher, eight-year-old me, prepared to teach them all the things that I already knew in the wisdom of my few childhood years. I made attendance sheets, created lesson, and planned field trips to the garden behind our…
Children Need Nature: An Emergent Curriculum Study
January 30, 2017By Kristina Eaddy, Sweet Gum Classroom Lead Teacher
Children Need Nature is a monthly blog column from our Nature Preschool program. Read more posts here.
Why do leaves change colors? What is under the frozen ice? And where do birds go during the winter? These are questions we hear every day, as Nature Preschool teachers. Young children’s minds are full of wonders and questions, trying to learn about, connect with, and understand the world they are surrounded by.
At Nature Preschool, we nurture this natural curiosity in young children by following the emergent curriculum approach. The goal of an emergent curriculum is…
