ABSTRACT

Early childhood education is an opportunity to create a better tomorrow. The values children learn at this age will carry on to the next generation. Providing children with opportunities to learn about the natural world around them helps create a greater awareness for the world they live in. The grant proposal would help bring children outside to connect with nature, creating an outdoor classroom where children would spend their time in the program outside rather than a physical classroom. Grant funds will help pay for equipment to make the outdoor classroom safe. This would include tarps for temporary shelters and spare winter and rain gear for children. Benefits of the outdoors include greater risk management as children would use better judgment in situations that could cause harm to them, gross motor development, reduction in stress, better health, and opportunities to learn different academic concepts such as science, math, and language. Children will also learn a respect for the natural world. Teachers witnessed firsthand that the high energy class that was brought outside for the day was able to self-regulate their energy more easily.