Apr 20
Green Schoolyard Success Contest Winners
Last month, the Leave No Child Inside Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati held a contest to collect success stories about how local schools are using their outdoor environments as a teaching tool. Entries ranged from school gardens to field studies to playscapes, but all were amazing examples of the effective use of outdoor spaces. Using criteria such as student involvement, enthusiasm and variety of learning opportunities, we have selected two winners: the Academy of Multilingual Immersion Studies (AMIS), a Cincinnati Public Schools magnet school located near Roselawn, and Cincinnati Country Day School in Indian Hill. AMIS has embraced the garden beds…
Dec 14
Raise awareness at your school or office
The Children & Nature Network infographics are great tools to inform people about why it is so important for today's children experience the natural world in their everyday lives. Developed in partnership with the National League of Cities' Institute for Youth, Education & Families, the latest infographic "Nature Can Improve Health and Wellbeing" would make a great poster for your school or office. You can download it here - it's free!
Sep 20
New!!! Infographics Available
As more and more research emerges confirming the value of spending time outdoors, it’s become a challenge to share the multitude of benefits in the sound-bites that we 21st century humans expect. Newly published infographics do just that! The Children & Nature Network put together a team of nationally recognized experts to vet research on the topic for its new Green Schoolyards for Healthy Communities report and condensed that information in to a series of four infographics on Mental Health, Physical Activity, Value of Play and Academic Performance. These great communication pieces are also available for download in poster size. Wouldn’t…
Apr 14
Nature-Based Education Growing
Green schoolyards provide a sensory-rich environment for learning which is shown to help students focus their attention and increase their engagement, while providing a myriad of physical and mental health benefits. Two recent news stories highlight nature-based learning: The Cincinnati Enquirer reported on a Forest Kindergarten in Yellow Springs, Ohio and the CBS Morning Show featured author Richard Louv at the Chattahoochee Charter School, a nature-based school where test scores are exceeding both the national and regional averages. Leave No Child Inside is working with local schools to encourage outdoor learning and we look forward to announcing progress on that front in the coming months! In…
May 2
Childhood Without Trees?
TREES!!! Filmmaker wants your stories “I remember having a low-branched mulberry tree in our backyard as a child. We would throw sheets over its branches and it was instantly transformed into base camp for the neighborhood “archaeology dig” where we found shards of china that we were certain must have fallen off the wagons as the pioneers travelled west in their wagon trains. By night, it became the site of many a ghost story as we huddled close with our flashlights, wrapped in blankets to stave off the chill. Imaginations ran wild and friendships grew strong in our ‘tree tent’.…
Aug 31
Back to School!
SCHOOL PROGRAM FINDER: Free Resource for Teachers LNCIgc’s new School Program Finder is a one-stop shop for anyone looking for school and after-school nature-based or environmental education outreach programs, field trips and camps. The School Program Finder lists dozens of local programs and allows you to search by topic, grade level, cost and more. We encourage you to conduct your school and after-school programs outside whenever possible! If you’d like help “greening” your school grounds or connecting with nearby nature for outdoor education, please contact us – we would love to help. THREE GREAT IDEAS FOR TEACHERS You Can Get Your Students…
Mar 28
Where Nature Meets Story – for Parents and Educators
Research shows that spending time in nature makes kids happier, healthier and smarter. Reading is probably the single most important skill for achievement in school and success in life. So, why not combine the two? The Children & Nature Network’s Where Nature Meets Story is a place for parents and educators to find fun, outdoor activities for kids with a coordinated recommended reading list for toddlers to young adults. Explore a wide range of activity themes, including “A Fort of One’s Own: Making Hide-outs” and “Of Fairies, Gnomes and Hobbits: Imagined Worlds in Nature”. Check it out and start your…
Dec 13
Re-thinking the traditional playground
In response to the growing body of evidence presented in Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, there is wide-spread recognition that children benefit in a variety of ways from unstructured play in a natural setting – not just physically, but also in terms of cognitive development, mental health and social development. This awareness has led to the development of Nature Playscapes, intended to allow groups of children to experience the natural world, as it has been experienced by generations before them, in a safe, public setting. In Cincinnati, we have what is…
May 19
Fun in the Mud
Article by Julie Eldridge Early Childhood Educator at Cincinnati Nature Center While April showers may bring May flowers, springtime also brings the season of MUD! Look away for one second and your child is ankle deep in it. Squelch, squerch, plop! His shining eyes and joyful giggles speak to every child's innate desire to get their hands dirty. So forget about the caked-on laundry and mess that will inevitably be tracked into the house. Instead, put him in his worst-of-the-worst play clothes and some sturdy rubber boots and head outside together for some fun and messy lessons. At the first…
Feb 26
A Local Success Story – Early Education
Below is a letter from Sally Wehby, Executive Director of the UC Child Care Center, Inc. with their solution to providing today’s kids with the same unstructured play opportunities that many of us took for granted. "A group of administrators and teachers from the UC Child Care Center, Inc. formed a committee during the summer of 2006 to discuss the use of a large piece of land in back of our child care facility. The Center already had traditional playgrounds for both infants and toddlers, as well as for our preschool age children. After sharing each other’s outdoor experiences as…
