Outdoor preschools in the US are more popular than ever. Should you send your kid?
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – On a sunny February afternoon at the top of a hillside covered in mud, a boy wearing a Spiderman hat and a dirty red snow jacket decided that rolling his body down the slick slope would be easier than walking to the bottom.
And you know what — he was right.
It's this type of problem-solving that young kids enrolled in forest preschools around the country are learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, often while their pint-sized friends, in traditional preschools and daycares, may have been stuck in the house behind computers screens.
"We have not had a single case of a student contracting COVID-19 in the two years since we opened at the onset of the pandemic," said Olivia Kaiser, director of Swallowtail Forest Preschool at the Louisville Nature Center. "These kids are outdoors for three hours a day, learning, problem-solving, socializing, gaining confidence and having a good time, no matter what the weather."
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Ryan Devlin, director at Thrive Forest Preschool which opened in Goshen, Kentucky, in 2018, said his outdoor school for children ages 3, 4, and 5 has also remained COVID-free throughout the pandemic.
"It's one of those silver linings, of course. We wish the pandemic wouldn't have happened, but it's created an awareness and interest level that has been off the charts," Devlin told The Courier-Journal, a part of the Paste BN Network, about outdoor preschools. "We have a deep waitlist even though we have expanded to accommodate twice as many children as before the pandemic started."
Both schools kept their doors open during the entirety of the pandemic. Although, technically, outdoor classrooms don't actually have doors, roofs, or walls. Most natured based schools are taught entirely outside in forests, nature preserves, and parks and offer a type of learning environment that’s not only outdoors but is also guided by the outdoors. Kids still learn about music, art, and math, but with the natural world as a prompt.
Known in research circles as environmental education, forest preschools offer a wide array of benefits according to a 20-year study at Standford University. Researchers found that children who spend more time in nature do better when tested on math, reading, and science; score higher on cognitive measures such as critical thinking and problem solving; engage in more creative play; get along better with others and have greater self-discipline; have better self-esteem; are healthier, less stressed, and more physically active; and even show reduced rates of nearsightedness.
Exposure to nature has also been shown to increase focus and benefit those with attention deficit disorder.
The environment provides the play and learning space and children are encouraged to learn at their own pace, which was evident during a recent afternoon class at Swallowtail Forest School when instructor Karissa Lange discovered a black beetle and students quickly gathered around the shiny insect in the palm of her hand.
"I don't think I want to touch it," announced a young girl with fingernails painted the color of bubble gum. A few minutes later, she's decided to hunt for "roly poly" bugs and was busy tipping over logs and digging through the dirt with her fancy fingernails.
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Self-guided learning and play are at the core of this type of early childhood learning. The cognitive and emotional benefits are all solid reasons to enroll in an outdoor school, but what seems to really have convinced parents was the spread of the coronavirus.
"Our goal was to enroll 30 children this year, and we’re over 60," Devlin said. "With so many programs going to online-based learning over the past two years and so many parents wanting to keep their kids from indoor classrooms, we’ve seen incredible interest in our all-outside programs. Not only are we running four preschool classes, but we also added a new program called Afternoon Adventurers which serves kids in grades K-4 as an antidote to screen-based learning."
Swallowtail has also expanded to accommodate the growing demand.
"I am convinced it is the happiest place in town," Rebecca Minnick, executive director at the Louisville Nature Center which runs SwallowTail Forest Preschool, said. The program now offers morning sessions two, three and five days a week and a two-day afternoon program.
Both schools opt for a low child-to-teacher ratio which can make finding a spot for your preschooler a challenge but not impossible. For those who want their child to have the opportunity to dip their tiny toes into the outdoor experience without committing to weekly classes, Blackacre Nature Preserve, 3200 Tucker Station Road, offers nature-based sessions for toddlers and Pre-K.
While the pandemic has made outdoor schools more popular, they aren't new. Forest schools have been popular for decades in places such as Germany and Scandinavia.
In the US, nature preschools were taking root before the pandemic, more than doubling in the last three years, according to a report from the Natural Start Alliance, a project of the North American Association for Environmental Education. The report estimates 585 schools across the country have nature-based education at their core, meaning a significant amount of time is spent outside.
While adults may balk at an extended time spent in the snow, rain or humidity, kids don’t appreciate nature just on pleasant days.
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“If children are warm and dry — and we give extensive gear lists to parents — they prefer to be outside in the rain stomping in puddles,” said Devlin. “Adults are more inclined to be indoor people than children.”
Nevertheless, parents do play a big role when their kids attend outdoor school.
"We say that outdoor preschool is right for every kid, but it might not be for every parent, at least in the beginning," said Devlin. "There is a real turnaround we see in parents who are hesitant at first but a couple of weeks into a session, they are getting excited to pick up a preschooler covered in dirt."
Swallowtail encourages parents to dress their kids in rain gear so they can be hosed off at the end of a full day of outdoor play.
Thrive has a motto. "Your kids come home dirty or your money back." (Devlin said since 2018, they have never needed to issue a refund.)
While wrestling your kiddo into snowpants and nightly loads of laundry may seem like a chore, the benefits of a kid who comes home happy, curious and ready for a nap are bonuses worth the extra effort.
"I tell parents it's so good for these kids to spend time with people their own age and to be in this environment," Lange told the Courier Journal, a part of the Paste BN Network. "When you see children being able to choose how they want to spend their day here, it's remarkable to see them change and grow."
Follow Kirby Adams on Twitter: @kirbylouisville.