We believe that children need to climb, fall, explore, get bored, and find their way out of it. They need to know what mud feels like, what an earthworm does, what happens to a puddle when the sun comes out. These are developmental needs that cannot be replaced by any indoor activity, however enriching.
Our outdoor environment is a living space - with things to dig, to climb, to carry, to discover. It changes with the seasons, and those changes are part of the curriculum.
Our outdoor environment includes
- Mud, sand, and water - for digging, pouring, mixing, and experimenting.
- Trees, logs, and natural structures - for climbing, balancing, and building.
- A garden - for planting, tending, and harvesting through the seasons.
- Loose natural materials - stones, sticks, leaves, cones, shells, bark.
- Open space - to run, roll, race, and simply move freely.
We believe in supported risk. A child who is never allowed to take a risk never learns to assess one. We allow children to test their limits - with attentive adults nearby who trust the child’s capacity. Scrapes and tumbles are part of growing up, not failures of care.
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