Nature Preschool: Mother Nature's Children

"Find me in a field of grass. Mother Nature's Son. Swaying daisies, sing a lazy song beneath the sun." ~The Beatles

If you want to really find something great on the internet, google search nature preschool. These are programs that are truly innovative and cutting edge, although the experiences that they provide children are ancient. I want in on this right away!

The basic concept is that the children get extended amounts of time in natural settings, free to roam and explore while interacting with nature - real nature. Streams, prairie grasses, downed logs, trees, mud, insects, birds, wildlife, scat, and native species plants. You know, the kinds of things that we spent our entire childhoods doing!

So far from what I can find, nature preschools are almost always associated with nature centers, and kudos to these organizations for embracing the early childhood cause. A few others I have found are linked to lab schools. What an opportunity for hippie teachers!

Here's the idea: what if the disenchanted hippie teachers decided to start their own nature preschools? I keep imagining a house with a few acres around it. The experiences that the children and teachers could have outside are invaluable for children to learn conservation, interconnectedness, culture, their native eco-system, confidence, courage, and of course cooperation. Growing and playing together in the fresh outdoors, in the ways that children have developed since the advent of children, except this time with hippie flair!

Here are a few crucial websites that I offer with love:
http://www.greenheartsinc.org/ Run by a guy named Ken Finch, who is awesome, there are fabulous tips and strategies to reconnect children with nature. Ken's a hippie hero for sure!
http://www.nwf.org/
http://www.childrenandnaturenetwork.org/ Inspired by the book Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. Believe me, more posts are coming about this powerful and hippie-hearted book.

Put the internet to good use. It's such an amazing tool. Let's use it for social inspiration and change!
Go Explore Outside!
~Miss Jane