Synopses & Reviews
Create an outdoor learning program
Transform outdoor spaces into learning environments where children can enjoy a full range of activities as they spend quality time in nature. This book is filled with guidance to help you plan, design, and create an outdoor learning program that is a rich, thoughtfully equipped, natural extension of your indoor curriculum. Loaded with practical and creative ideas, it also includes information to help you
Understand how outdoor classrooms benefits childrenand#8217;s learning and development
Collaborate with other teachers, administrators, and families to make your outdoor classroom a reality
Create development and action plans to strategize and implement changes
Evaluate your outdoor environment, program, and practices
Cultivating Outdoor Classrooms promotes the idea that if you can do it indoors, you can probably do it outside as well.
Eric Nelson is the founder and director of Child Care Planning Associates, the consulting and training division of the Child Educational Center, Caltech/JPL Community, which he established with his wife in 1979. Eric's consulting specialties include building and playground design and renovation, child care needs assessment and feasibility studies, development of employer-related child care, and staff training and development. Ericand#8217;s understanding of the value of the outdoors is grounded in a lifetime of hiking his beloved Sierra Nevada Mountains in California since he was a young child.
Review
and#147;New research strongly suggests that schools that use outdoor classrooms and other forms of nature-based experiential education can result in significant student gains in social studies, science, language arts, and math. Children are more likely to invent their own games in green play spaces than they are on flat cement or playing fields. The outdoor classroom can also promote social inclusion, regardless of gender, race, class, or intellectual ability. More research is on the way. Yet, in many legislatorsand#8217; and even some parentsand#8217; eyes, the educational benefits of nature experience barely registers. Eric Nelson is working to change that. Along with other farsighted pioneers, Nelson is a proponent of the outdoor classroom, as well as an early leader promoting on-site company child care. With
Cultivating Outdoor Classrooms, he shows in simple, clear, and compelling language how to create an outdoor classroomand#151;and why. He offers moral context and emphasizes education not just for educationand#8217;s sake, but for the mental and physical health, learning ability, creativity, awe, and wonder of the whole child. Every educator and every parent should read this book.and#8221;
and#151;Richard Louv, Author of Last Child in the Woods and The Nature Principle
and#147;Through this reflective work and its myriad examples including illustrative photographs, resources, and planning tools, Eric Nelson unveils the essential elements for establishing and supporting highly engaging quality outdoor environments for young children. This book provides a developmental framework that early childhood practitioners, administrators, and trainers need to effectively address this extremely important aspect of childrenand#8217;s play and learning.and#8221;
and#151;Ed Greene, PhD, Senior Advisor of Piramide Approach to Early Learning, Cito USA/Netherlands and Facilitator at JCCEO Head Start Center of Excellence in Birmingham
and#147;The outdoor classroom is a healthy, engaging, and creative response to todayand#8217;s educational challenges. Cultivating Outdoor Classrooms provides the why and how in an accessible format that any educational leader can use to transform the learning environment at their school site. Photographs, design plans, a defined process of staff engagement, as well as curricular ideas and the information you need to begin this transformation, are all here. Educators would do well to embrace these concepts.and#8221;
and#151;Renatta M. Cooper, Coauthor of Playing to Get Smart and President of the Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education
and#147;With Cultivating Outdoor Classrooms, there are no more excuses for the same-old, same-old behaviors and routines in early childhood programs. Now, everyone can learn how to build a practical, useful, and exciting outdoor classroom at any site. Preschool children today do not spend nearly enough quality time playing outdoorsand#151;not at home, and not in school. Denying children ample outdoor playtime has developmental and academic consequences. Cultivating Outdoor Classrooms highlights these risks, and gives solid evidence for the value of time spent outside playing. Ericand#8217;s enthusiasm for the outdoors and for giving children the opportunity to learn in nature is translated into a text that is meaningful for everyone who works with young children. Pages of wonderful photographs help to inspire ideas and give concrete examples for easy steps teachers can take today toward changing spaces and making outdoor learning accessible for children in school programs. Cultivating Outdoor Classrooms is both a foundational how-to book for educators taking their first steps toward the joy of working with children outdoors, and, for more experienced educators, a confirmation of their best practices. This book inspires me to continue working with teachers, parents, and other school directors as they explore the possibilities of creating outdoor classrooms at their school sites!and#8221;
and#151;Sheryl E. Cohen, PhD, Director of Stephen S. Wise Temple Early Childhood Center, President of BJE-Early Childhood Directorand#8217;s Network, and Vice President Programming of the National Jewish Early Childhood Network
and#147;Eric Nelson understands the profound benefits children gain from daily access to natural outdoor classrooms. His comprehensive and thoughtful book outlines practical strategies for making this wonder-filled learning a way of life in early childhood programs. Cultivating Outdoor Classrooms will support and inspire teachers and administrators as they begin an exciting journey toward a fulfilling new way of working with children. Research continues to show the adverse effects of childrenand#8217;s disconnection from nature and the positive gains possible when daily nature connections are supported by caring, engaged adults. The ideas in this book are needed today more than ever.and#8221;
and#151;Nancy Rosenow, Coauthor of Learning With Nature Idea Book and Executive Director of Dimensions Educational Research Foundation/Nature Explore
Synopsis
Take the classroom outdoorsand#151;a place where children can explore, experiment, and initiate their own activities.
Synopsis
There are many ways outdoor spaces can be transformed into fully functioning classrooms where children explore, experiment, and spend quality time in nature. Filled with both simple and large-scale ideas, this book supports early childhood educators and administrators as they design and implement outdoor learning environments. A child development professional specializing in building and playground design and renovation, Eric Nelson promotes the idea that everything done indoors can be done just as wellif not betteroutdoors. Chapters examine the role of the outdoor classroom, working with children outdoors, getting support from stakeholders, getting started, evaluating the outdoor environment, program and implementation strategies, and more.
Loaded with colorful photographs of creative and practical outdoor spaces, Cultivating Outdoor Classrooms inspires the transformation of outdoor spaces in any climate into safe and effective learning environments.
Eric Nelson is the founder and director of Child Care Planning Associates, the consulting and training division of the Child Educational Center, Caltech/JPL Community, which he established with his wife in 1979. Eric's consulting specialties include building and playground design and renovation, child care needs assessment and feasibility studies, development of employer-related child care, and staff training and development.
About the Author
Eric Nelson: Eric Nelson is the founder and director of Child Care Planning Associates, the consulting and training division of the Child Educational Center, Caltech/JPL Community, which he established with his wife in 1979. A child development professional since 1974, Eric's consulting specialties include building and playground design and renovation, child care needs assessments and feasibility studies, development of employer-related child care, and staff training and development.