Tree climbing is one aspect of nature play; however, it is limited in many areas due to fear of liability, heightened safety awareness, unclear policies, accessibility, and restrictive outdoor play time. This study investigated current practices concerning tree climbing in early childhood settings with the objective of creating recommendations,…

Farm- and nature-based early childhood education programs have a unique potential to provide young children with skills and experiences that build a strong foundation for future learning and environmental stewardship, but can also to extend positive impacts to families. In this paper, we work to bridge the gap between research and practice by…

Studies have used psychological games testing to measure children's bioaffinity (a child's love of/for or connection to nature) as a result of time spent in nature enriching children's well-being. Discrepancies found between two studies in different countries (Sweden and Canada) informed this research. Both studies used the same bioaffinity…

This paper examines the meaning, assessment, and development of connection to nature (C2N) in two- to five-year-old children. It grows out of a Connection to Nature Workshop organized by the University of Florida, Stanford University, the North American Association for Environmental Education, and the Children and Nature Network to evaluate…

In this article, I have sought to develop an understanding of the contribution of imaginative and nature appreciation in early childhood environmental education dealing with old, cultural nature myths and beliefs. The argument rests on the belief that the basis of a child-environmental education is in imagination which resonates with play,…

Young children birth to 6-years of age and their families were each studied for 6 months to identify the everyday family and community activities that were sources of informal everyday learning opportunities. The participants included 115 children with identified disabilities or developmental delays and 91 children without disabilities or delays.…

To support a sustainable planet, preschools need to engage young children with sustainability education. In the United States of America (USA), nature-based preschool programs are likely to promote environmental science and nature education, given their outdoor curricula, but very little is known about how these programs might also cultivate…

Recognizing the inherent value in outdoor play and learning for young children, we focused upon the practices and perspectives of adults at an early childhood center as the outdoor play areas were transformed into outdoor classrooms. A salient finding emerging from the data exhibited a gap between constructivist child-led theories of play and…

Gull, Levenson Goldstein, and Rosengarten (2018) examined the benefits and risks associated with tree climbing on child development and resiliency in regards to parental perspectives; however, it lacked a clear male perspective. The recommendations from that study mentioned that 93% of the responses originally came from mothers; hence, the need to…

This study utilized the Minnesota Executive Function Scale to quantitatively explore the influence of nature preschools on executive function skills, which are a critical component of school readiness. Executive function skills are malleable skills that allow goal setting and follow through, skills that determine success in school and beyond. Four…

Increasing demands of accountability and academic readiness across U.S. preschools are often accompanied by decreased play and time outdoors during the school day. The nature preschool movement, grounded in a desire to foster connection to the natural world while also supporting important developmental processes and school readiness, counteracts…

The importance of spending time in nature is undeniable for child development, yet from an early age most children's time in nature is restricted. Beginning in preschool, the range and quality of a child's nature experience is restricted by accessibility to nature experiences and pedagogical approaches. This is a problem for building a sustainable…

Resilience, the capacity to cope with stress and adversity, is universally regarded as a positive and valued trait (LeBuffe & Naglieri, 2012). The purpose of this study was to explore the potential for nature preschools to support the development of initiative, self-regulation, and attachment, which are key protective factors that can offset…

The importance of young children learning about the natural environment has been recognised in policy and curricular frameworks around the world. Moreover, there has been a call for children to spend more time outdoors and to reconnect with nature. However, the distinct construct of nature connectedness has not been examined in detail in relation…

Picture books have the potential to engage students in multimodal ways of learning in early education setting. This pilot study aims to investigate the efficacy of using picture books specifically written to convey increasingly complex ecosystem concepts and their influence on introducing ecoliteracy to first-grade students. Under the central…