A Nature Preschool Enhances Early Childhood Brain Development

An exciting nature-based curriculum for preschoolers developed at the Schlitz Center in Wisconsin is spreading to classrooms across the country鈥攁nd even to Sesame Street.

On a mild February afternoon, a dozen snowsuit-clad children in bulky boots and colorful hats perch on logs surrounded by snow outside the in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They pass raptor talons and feathered feet and gingerly touch an owl鈥檚 wing that their teacher, Liesl Schultz, holds out. She asks whether the wing belongs to a male or a female, telling the kids to look carefully at the color of the feathers. Then she explains that mothers have duller hues to help them blend in with their environment and protect their chicks.

Schultz tells the group that great horned owls breed during Wisconsin鈥檚 coldest winter months, and that she鈥檚 heard there might be one nesting in the nearby stand of evergreens. After a few practice calls鈥攈oo-h鈥橦OO鈥揾oo-hoo鈥攖hey trudge to the top of a 60-foot observation tower just before dusk. The budding nature lovers call out in a cacophony of hoots and hollers, their shouts echoing through the sky. Alexander Fudderich, a particularly gifted hooter, takes his best shot, and is rewarded when a great horned owl hoots back. The children鈥檚 eyes open wide in wonder.

Named for the big beer company that used to pasture its ale-carting horses on the property, the 185-acre center is home to 约炮视频鈥檚 only nature preschool, complete with an afterschool program. In the early 1960s Dory Vallier, the brewery founder鈥檚 granddaughter, proposed to the Schlitz Foundation that the property be converted to a nature center. The board turned her down. But she persisted, and in 1971 she finally won them over.

Former center director Buffy Cheek showed a similar tenacity, and the Schlitz 约炮视频 board approved her proposal for a nature preschool three decades later. She recruited Patti Bailie as director, and the school opened its doors in 2003. Now 144 children who attend grow intellectually and spiritually by hik ing and playing outdoors throughout the year. Bailie, a 20-year veteran of early childhood and environmental education, says, 鈥淭here鈥檚 such a connection between spending time in the natural world and the developing brain.鈥

Recent research bears her out, though it鈥檚 an understudied field. Noticing differences between objects, like seeds and burrs, helps wire the brain, nurturing initial math and pre-reading skills that develop from the ages of one through four. 鈥淭hey learn observation skills after just a few months,鈥 says Bailie. 鈥淧arents will tell me, 鈥業 can鈥檛 believe what my child sees now.鈥 鈥 Studies also show that just 20 minutes spent outdoors improves concentration in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder as much as, if not more than, medication. That鈥檚 in addition to the physical benefits of exercise and exposure to vitamin D (which helps build strong bones).

At least four other nature preschools nationwide have been modeled on Schlitz鈥檚 program. But children don鈥檛 have to attend one of these remarkable schools to benefit from nature education. Schlitz鈥檚 educators teamed up with Braininsights, a company that creates materials incorporating brain development concepts into real-life experiences, to make a pocket-sized packet of laminated cards chock-full of fun outdoor activities that parents can do with their children. One of them shows how outlining a shadow in chalk and coloring it in leads to coordination between a child鈥檚 brain and muscles. (The book is available at .)

Meanwhile, , the beloved 42-year-old TV program, consulted with Bailie after deciding to devote its last three seasons to nature and science. 鈥淐hildren have that sense of awe and wonder, and once you establish appreciation, then it鈥檚 a lot easier for the child to want to then take care of the world around them,鈥 says Rosemarie Truglio, vice president for education and research. 鈥淧atti actually brought [us] these wonderful experiences of what they鈥檙e doing at the nature center.鈥 The shows鈥攕ome of which Schlitz students previewed before they aired鈥攖aught concepts like habitat and migration. Big Bird considered flying to a warmer climate for the winter, and Elmo and Abby helped Bert find the blue bar pigeon, the last one on his life list.

At Schlitz, preschoolers use all of their senses when mucking around in forests, ponds, and prairies. In winter they tap maple trees for sap, discovering how it moves up and down a tree and tasting the sweet liquid. When ice begins to form on Lake Michigan鈥檚 shores, the waves and wind break it into pieces. Those chunks form an ice shelf laced with a labyrinth of tunnels. Waves force water through the frozen surface and create ice volcanoes, or 鈥渋ce-canoes,鈥 on the lake. The result is a seasonal landscape that allows children to play on the water鈥攃lose to shore鈥攚hen the temperature plunges below freezing.

In the fall and spring they watch caterpillars turn into butterflies and catch and release tadpoles. To master complex ideas, they play games. For instance, to illustrate why leaves change colors in autumn, each child holds a colored felt leaf. Teachers grasp a green blanket and lift it into the air so that the kids can run underneath, showing that when the chlorophyll is gone, the leaves鈥 true colors reveal themselves. 鈥淲e use the language鈥斺榤etamorphosis,鈥 鈥榗hlorophyll鈥欌攁nd they pick it right up because it鈥檚 meaningful,鈥 says Bailie. 鈥淎nd they鈥檙e completely capable of understanding what those words mean.鈥

Even before the school opened there was a waiting list for the following year; for the next class, the list is 30 students long. 鈥淭he nature preschool is really important because it鈥檚 about planting the seeds to grow tomorrow鈥檚 conservationists,鈥 says center director Nathan Smallwood, whose four-year-old son, Wolf, attends the preschool. When Smallwood first took the helm last year, his son was tearing up everything in sight. After about a week in the school, the two went on a walk on the grounds and Wolf ran ahead. Smallwood was shocked when his son turned around and said, 鈥淧apa, be careful not to step on the wildflowers.鈥

鈥淚t stopped me in my tracks,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 have the advantage of seeing the experiences of this as not just a director but as a parent.鈥