REI Co-op Journal
Are Outdoor Preschools Changing U.S. Education?
A group of toddlers waddle down a muddy path at Tryon Creek State Natural Area in Portland, Oregon, alternating between moving at a snail’s pace and running full-speed ahead. A handful of parents and caregivers are standing back, letting the children lead the way. No one is in a hurry and there’s no obvious teaching going on here. For the most part, it just looks like an everyday hike with a few families.
But this is more than a casual outing. This is the Free Forest School, a weekly meetup for families with preschool-age children. It’s a community-based version of an outdoor preschool, part of a growing trend to provide children with educational opportunities in the outdoors well before kindergarten.
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