This study contributes to the research in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability (ECEfS) by exploring a case study of two Western Australian early childhood education classes who welcomed an Indigenous Elder to share their expertise about the native plants in the schools' bush space. The findings from this study demonstrate the impact…

Natural materials provide children opportunities for artistic engagement, which encourages a dialogue between children and material and provides a platform for children to discuss their perspectives on significant issues like sustainable futures. This article examines the land art characters created by pre-primary education children in the garden…

This article presents Family Nature Tours as a participatory method for exploring children's human and more-than-human-nature interactions within the context of the family. Through equipping children with wearable cameras during family-led outdoor activities, this qualitative study provides insight on what non-rural Alaskan families consider…

Nature-based preschool programs continue to grow in popularity across the world. These programs provide children with critically important experiences and help them gain skills that contribute to early school success and accomplishments later in life. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and mandatory lockdowns resulted in reduced opportunities for…

Connectedness to nature (C2N) shows a positive relationship with many factors supporting children's health, wellbeing, and development. In addition, C2N has been shown to have a positive relationship with learning about and caring for nature. Despite a long history of outdoor education in early childhood settings in Sweden, C2N is not a concept…

In our interconnected world, what does it mean to teach global environmental issues to young children? Using theoretical foundations from the social justice learning community and child-directed, inquiry-based learning best practices, this practitioner reflection details a seven-week, student-centered, interdisciplinary learning experience…

Preschools and other early childhood education and care settings are influential in the promotion of physical activity (PA) for young children. This study utilized the Yamax Digiwalker pedometer within a quasi-experimental design to quantitatively explore the influence of nature preschools on the PA of 154 preschool-aged children. Results suggest…

Employing the theoretical framework of ecological psychology, this article uses observations of children in a Danish forest preschool to identify features of the forest that the children engaged with frequently, with a particular focus on affordances of "small animals." The article describes children's fascination and interactions with…

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…

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…

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.…

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…

In this article, we revisit fragments of data from a three-year study, paying close attention to the entanglements and inseparability of child/plastic/snow/GoPro within children's everyday encounters and narratives in an immersive nature-based program in Canada. We query how these entangled ways of being might help inform environmental and…

This paper draws on a research study that builds on a long and rich history of research in environmental education focusing on the value of learning through everyday experiences with the more than human. This study specially focused on very young children's experiences of ecologies and explored the unique opportunities sensorially rich bodily…