UNL Virtual Lecture Series - Dr. Rebecca Colbert
Holly Hatton
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02/01/2024
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29
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Dr. Rebecca Colbert presents a webinar on Early Childhood Health Outdoors (ECHO) initiative; National Wildlife Federation. This presentation is part of This series is brought to you by the UNL Grand Challenges Planning Grant: Advancing Cutting Edge Research and Practices to Increase Access and Use of Green Space and Outdoor Play in Early Childhood Settings and organized by a cross-disciplinary group of cognitive, developmental, architecture, and design researchers. The purpose of this series is to educate our research community about emerging ideas and findings for how different aspects of the physical environment may shape development.
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- [00:00:00.330]To our first lecture in the series,
- [00:00:03.907]"Supporting Optimal Development
- [00:00:05.400]Through Healthy Environment".
- [00:00:06.960]And this is a series that we started as part
- [00:00:09.900]of our grant challenges planning grant,
- [00:00:13.440]which is one where we're hoping to,
- [00:00:21.030]I guess, address improving environments
- [00:00:26.498]for well in particular young children.
- [00:00:30.450]So we have three more talks currently scheduled,
- [00:00:34.188]have February 21st, March 6th, and April 17th.
- [00:00:40.020]And we will be updating people in the future
- [00:00:45.180]as we schedule more.
- [00:00:49.006]So keep this time blocked on your calendars for that.
- [00:00:55.973]I'm going to for this today, turn this over to Katie
- [00:01:01.470]to introduce our speaker for today.
- [00:01:08.978]Hi everyone, I'm Katie Grouse.
- [00:01:10.530]I will say I'm on maternity leave still,
- [00:01:13.378]so if you hear a little fussing, my baby just woke up
- [00:01:14.712]as soon as answered my name,
- [00:01:17.298]which I feel like is pretty typical.
- [00:01:18.934](person laughing)
- [00:01:20.185]So, but I'm Katie Grouse, I work for Nebraska Extension
- [00:01:21.930]and I'm part of the team
- [00:01:23.640]bringing this presentations today.
- [00:01:25.740]I'm really excited to get
- [00:01:27.150]to introduce a colleague of mine,
- [00:01:28.650]Dr. Rebecca Colbert.
- [00:01:30.480]She is, I'll say kind
- [00:01:32.640]of like my own ad-lib thing,
- [00:01:34.571]and then I'll read her biography,
- [00:01:35.821]but I've worked with her since she came to ECHO,
- [00:01:38.850]which we'll talk about here in a second.
- [00:01:40.410]And I'm really, really excited that she's the first one
- [00:01:43.050]to join us for this awesome series that we're doing.
- [00:01:45.900]So Dr. Rebecca Colbert is the senior Director of design
- [00:01:50.010]and engagement overseeing
- [00:01:51.750]the Early Childhood Health Outdoors,
- [00:01:54.699]or ECHO, I was reading off your screen, sorry,
- [00:01:57.840]let me pull up mine again,
- [00:02:00.278]with a National Wildlife Federation.
- [00:02:03.390]Dr. Colbert is a licensed landscape architect
- [00:02:05.760]with 20 years of experience.
- [00:02:07.770]She has a doctorate in design and planning
- [00:02:09.960]from University of Colorado where she worked
- [00:02:12.300]with Children, youth in Environment Center for Research
- [00:02:14.460]and Design.
- [00:02:15.600]In National Wildlife Federation,
- [00:02:17.070]Dr. Colbert leads the enhancement
- [00:02:19.080]and activation of equitable, nature-based outdoor play
- [00:02:24.540]and learning settings with a focus on improving environments
- [00:02:27.720]for children and communities
- [00:02:29.070]who have historically faced institutional barriers
- [00:02:31.170]to quality outdoor spaces.
- [00:02:33.690]Dr. Rebecca, thank you so much for coming
- [00:02:35.580]and I'll hand it over to you.
- [00:02:38.130]Thanks so much, and I'm so glad
- [00:02:40.530]that we have a young visitor on our call today too.
- [00:02:42.870]So exciting, Katie.
- [00:02:44.518](person laughing)
- [00:02:45.351]I love it.
- [00:02:46.184]Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and share my screen.
- [00:02:51.150]Okay, is everybody seeing my slides there?
- [00:02:54.210]Okay, great.
- [00:02:55.991]Well, thank you all so much for having me.
- [00:02:57.450]As Katie mentioned, I lead
- [00:02:59.190]the Early Childhood Health Outdoors Initiative
- [00:03:01.260]at the National Wildlife Federation.
- [00:03:03.060]So I'm sitting today in sunny Denver, Colorado,
- [00:03:06.630]joining you from Denver.
- [00:03:08.084]Beautiful day, too warm for January, but I digress.
- [00:03:12.540]All right, so we will jump right in.
- [00:03:13.980]I'm gonna tell you a bit about our initiative,
- [00:03:16.020]the work we've been doing,
- [00:03:17.250]walk you through some examples of what our work looks like
- [00:03:20.640]and how we're increasing our impact in other states
- [00:03:25.470]as we continue to roll out our initiative nationwide.
- [00:03:30.990]Let's see, here we go.
- [00:03:34.170]Okay, so the National Wildlife Federation,
- [00:03:36.272]our mission is to unite all Americans to ensure
- [00:03:39.210]that wildlife thrives in a rapidly changing world.
- [00:03:42.120]And you might be wondering why a national conservation
- [00:03:44.760]organization that's been around
- [00:03:46.350]since the 1930s has an interest
- [00:03:48.780]in early childhood environments.
- [00:03:51.210]We really do have a strong history of engaging children
- [00:03:54.750]in gaining an appreciation for the natural world
- [00:03:58.380]and for igniting that conservation ethic in children.
- [00:04:02.460]And so in 2016,
- [00:04:06.330]we began a partnership
- [00:04:07.920]with the Natural Learning Initiative
- [00:04:09.540]out of North Carolina State University
- [00:04:11.790]to really think about how our work
- [00:04:14.520]impacts the youngest children.
- [00:04:16.140]So zero to five, zero to eight, in that range
- [00:04:18.748]because we had a lot of programming focused on K through 12
- [00:04:23.670]educational settings
- [00:04:24.990]and schoolyard habitat and things like that.
- [00:04:27.690]But we really weren't looking at that earliest demographic.
- [00:04:32.550]And you're probably familiar
- [00:04:34.163]with Ranger Rick, he's been around a while.
- [00:04:35.832]And so out of that partnership
- [00:04:37.860]with the Natural Learning Initiative grew ECHO
- [00:04:41.070]and ECHO is an acronym for Early Childhood Health Outdoors.
- [00:04:45.480]We began with a three year grant
- [00:04:48.330]from the Colorado Health Foundation to take a model
- [00:04:51.330]that was developed at the Natural Learning Initiative
- [00:04:53.580]called The Pod Model, an evidence-based design approach
- [00:04:57.300]to early childhood environments
- [00:04:59.100]and deploy that statewide across Colorado,
- [00:05:01.590]working with cohorts of childcare providers.
- [00:05:03.930]So I'll go into that a little further,
- [00:05:05.892]but we really see ourselves working nationally
- [00:05:08.640]in advocacy and providing design assistance
- [00:05:12.150]and professional development
- [00:05:13.650]to really engage young children outdoors.
- [00:05:18.480]So our mission
- [00:05:20.253]is that every young child experiences nature daily
- [00:05:21.840]for the health of our kids, communities and planet.
- [00:05:24.750]So we really see all of those factors
- [00:05:27.540]being important to this work.
- [00:05:28.920]It's not just about individual child health outcomes,
- [00:05:34.031]it's about the health of the planet overall.
- [00:05:37.980]And this is a great photo from one of our sites
- [00:05:39.900]of a little tricky to see,
- [00:05:41.400]but kids are looking at a frog that jumped out
- [00:05:43.530]of one of their planting beds here in Colorado
- [00:05:46.320]with one of their childcare providers.
- [00:05:47.820]So those are two really important ingredients
- [00:05:49.620]to our model is the adult engaged in that inquiry and wonder
- [00:05:54.330]and sense of discovery alongside children.
- [00:06:00.990]And as many of you know, this is no news
- [00:06:03.960]to folks in your world,
- [00:06:05.700]but the reason we're focused on early childhood
- [00:06:08.520]is because this is really such a critical time
- [00:06:10.740]of rapid development for all humans, right?
- [00:06:13.530]So we're building all of those neural pathways,
- [00:06:15.810]developing that competence in moving our bodies,
- [00:06:19.265]all of those great pieces of development
- [00:06:24.240]that are happening in this age range
- [00:06:25.920]makes this a very critical time
- [00:06:28.260]to engage young children outdoors.
- [00:06:30.150]On the flip side of that, we also know
- [00:06:31.950]that during this stage of development,
- [00:06:34.440]that young children are really susceptible
- [00:06:36.510]to the health impacts of exposure
- [00:06:38.640]to adverse environmental conditions like extreme heat,
- [00:06:42.750]air pollution, soil pollution,
- [00:06:44.730]water quality challenges and so forth.
- [00:06:46.590]So we really want to ensure that the environments
- [00:06:49.350]where our youngest ones like the babe that Katie is holding,
- [00:06:53.340]when they put everything in their environment,
- [00:06:56.838]in their mouth, when they're engaged in sensory experiences
- [00:06:58.710]outdoors, that those are healthy,
- [00:07:00.810]non-toxic environments for young children.
- [00:07:03.840]And that is not always the case in the settings
- [00:07:06.120]where young children spend time daily.
- [00:07:10.080]So we know that healthy environments
- [00:07:11.670]support healthy developments, responsive environments
- [00:07:15.240]where young children can have a sense of agency
- [00:07:18.000]in making a space reflect their inquiry.
- [00:07:23.130]Really responsive materials are really critical to this.
- [00:07:25.710]But we know that when we have these well-designed spaces
- [00:07:28.315]that we see improvements in the amount of physical activity
- [00:07:33.180]that children engage in, we see reduced
- [00:07:37.410]ADHD and ADD symptoms, improvements in self-regulation
- [00:07:42.240]and executive functioning.
- [00:07:44.280]We see graduated risk taking, so appropriate risk taking
- [00:07:46.775]that builds competence
- [00:07:49.320]and competence in outdoor environments,
- [00:07:52.650]enhanced creative problem solving with peers,
- [00:07:56.700]sometimes more collaborative engagement with peers.
- [00:07:59.670]And we also see re reductions in stress and illness.
- [00:08:02.640]And of course, this became a major topic
- [00:08:05.040]during COVID when many programs were moving outdoors
- [00:08:08.550]and really leaning into outdoor learning
- [00:08:10.740]because of the ability to buffer against the symptoms
- [00:08:15.450]of COVID outdoors and the the spread of COVID.
- [00:08:18.840]And so I did share in the chat,
- [00:08:20.610]and maybe we could reshare some of the evidence that,
- [00:08:24.000]oops, sorry, I'm gonna go back.
- [00:08:25.560]Some of the evidence that supports these bubbles,
- [00:08:28.110]I'm not gonna go deep into the literature with you here,
- [00:08:30.390]but we do have a research brief that brings in
- [00:08:33.360]a lot of the major studies
- [00:08:35.435]around these benefits that I'm happy to review.
- [00:08:41.610]And so another factor that comes into play
- [00:08:44.180]in our work and our approach to our work
- [00:08:46.080]is that we're very much rooted
- [00:08:47.550]in environmental justice
- [00:08:49.380]at the National Wildlife Federation.
- [00:08:51.450]And we know that these benefits of time outdoors
- [00:08:54.420]are not equitably available to all populations
- [00:08:57.363]in the United States.
- [00:08:59.282]We know that there's what's termed a nature gap
- [00:09:02.370]by the Center for American Progress.
- [00:09:04.770]You know, census tracks with large numbers of children
- [00:09:08.610]and families of color and those
- [00:09:10.830]of lower socioeconomic status typically
- [00:09:12.878]also another layer of that social ecological
- [00:09:18.270]system is that they have less opportunities
- [00:09:21.690]to access nature in those spaces and healthy environments.
- [00:09:25.320]And so we really see this as an environmental justice
- [00:09:28.830]and health equity strategy
- [00:09:30.630]where we are bringing nature opportunities to populations
- [00:09:33.600]that typically may not have the same level of access
- [00:09:36.480]as other populations.
- [00:09:40.950]So ECHO takes a multifaceted approach.
- [00:09:44.382]We have on our staff, both early childhood education
- [00:09:49.830]professional development providers,
- [00:09:52.151]as well as landscape designers and landscape architects.
- [00:09:55.572]And we also like to work in the advocacy space
- [00:09:58.110]as our whole organization does,
- [00:09:59.880]as the National Wildlife Federation.
- [00:10:01.740]And so we advocate for the rights of all young children
- [00:10:04.770]to access nature daily through policy briefs,
- [00:10:07.782]through signing onto legislation,
- [00:10:10.380]trying to move quality rating systems
- [00:10:13.830]for early childhood settings within states.
- [00:10:15.882]We work to empower the adults who spend time
- [00:10:19.560]with children daily to really confidently engage
- [00:10:22.260]with young children in nature.
- [00:10:23.940]We find that one barrier in our work
- [00:10:26.010]is that there are many adults who have not had
- [00:10:28.710]a lot of exposure to time outdoors.
- [00:10:31.110]And so their comfort level
- [00:10:32.820]in these spaces is sometimes limited.
- [00:10:35.151]They may not feel that they have the skills
- [00:10:37.710]or the knowledge to engage young children
- [00:10:40.170]outdoors in play and learning
- [00:10:42.840]that is kind of safe and developmentally appropriate.
- [00:10:46.140]And so we provide in addition
- [00:10:48.090]to our landscape design services, a lot of supports
- [00:10:51.030]for the providers and learning first of all the why,
- [00:10:54.657]why it's important for young children to be outside daily
- [00:10:57.540]and what those experiences can look like,
- [00:10:59.640]but also a lot around the how
- [00:11:01.620]and the practical aspects
- [00:11:02.940]of what that looks like on a day-to-day basis
- [00:11:05.190]for a childcare program and how to manage
- [00:11:07.350]and care for those spaces.
- [00:11:09.480]And then the third piece
- [00:11:10.680]of this is really transforming the physical environment.
- [00:11:13.170]So we, as I mentioned, provide design services.
- [00:11:17.340]We work in a participatory design model
- [00:11:21.120]with childcare providers where we workshop
- [00:11:24.300]over our drawings to develop visions
- [00:11:27.780]for what spaces can become based on best practice.
- [00:11:31.650]And then we work with providers to develop an action plan
- [00:11:35.220]for how they can incrementally implement the vision
- [00:11:38.640]for the spaces that they would like to see
- [00:11:41.070]to support their programs.
- [00:11:43.350]So a multifaceted in what we do
- [00:11:46.500]and how we engage, and then where we work.
- [00:11:50.550]So primarily we focus on licensed childcare programs,
- [00:11:54.810]and that for us includes both licensed childcare centers
- [00:11:58.086]as well as family childcare homes that are licensed
- [00:12:01.380]where people are caring for children
- [00:12:03.030]in their home environment.
- [00:12:05.130]And they're regulated by whatever entity,
- [00:12:07.920]overseas childcare within the state.
- [00:12:10.620]We also work with pre-K and elementary schools
- [00:12:13.958]kind of on an one-off basis if they approach us
- [00:12:18.660]and would like to work with us.
- [00:12:20.160]And we've also worked in a number of community
- [00:12:21.810]and public spaces like parks, children's museums, libraries.
- [00:12:26.400]We have a project right now in Albuquerque
- [00:12:28.440]with a wildlife refuge.
- [00:12:30.270]And so anywhere really where young children
- [00:12:33.570]will be spending time with adults in these situations,
- [00:12:38.370]in the outdoors where they'd like
- [00:12:39.630]to engage more fully in nature play and learning.
- [00:12:45.090]And so you might wonder why the laser
- [00:12:47.670]focus on licensed childcare programs.
- [00:12:50.130]So this is just one state
- [00:12:52.080]because we're here in Colorado,
- [00:12:53.910]this shows some of the data.
- [00:12:55.170]It's a little bit outdated at this point,
- [00:12:57.030]but there are approaching 240,000
- [00:13:01.455]childcare spaces in Colorado alone.
- [00:13:06.090]So think of all those children spending the majority
- [00:13:08.700]of their day in a childcare setting
- [00:13:11.723]that's licensed and overseen by the state.
- [00:13:14.790]We have a much smaller number in family childcare settings,
- [00:13:18.480]only 12,000.
- [00:13:19.770]But there are many programs
- [00:13:21.983]that are not licensed also
- [00:13:23.910]where young children are spending time with relatives
- [00:13:27.390]or friends or neighbors.
- [00:13:28.740]We call that family friend and neighbor care,
- [00:13:30.930]that are not as formalized,
- [00:13:32.640]but also outside of the home with a childcare provider.
- [00:13:35.988]And so when we look at our licensed childcare centers
- [00:13:40.290]in the state, there are nearly
- [00:13:41.280]5,000 licensed childcare centers.
- [00:13:43.320]So this is a very large population of children.
- [00:13:47.790]They are engaged in professional development
- [00:13:51.600]on a regular basis.
- [00:13:53.100]Many of them are working in the quality rating system
- [00:13:56.880]to increase their ratings.
- [00:13:58.170]And so we have an opportunity to influence the quality
- [00:14:02.010]of the outdoor environment for outdoor play
- [00:14:04.658]and learning by influencing the quality rating systems
- [00:14:07.380]that exist within each state.
- [00:14:09.600]And so, as you all probably know, childcare is a patchwork
- [00:14:14.670]of many different regulatory elements,
- [00:14:19.320]and it depends on each state what that looks like.
- [00:14:21.930]But that is one leverage point
- [00:14:23.820]that we've seen in the advocacy side,
- [00:14:25.620]that if we can advocate
- [00:14:26.970]for language in the quality rating systems
- [00:14:29.670]and in the licensing requirement systems
- [00:14:31.968]that really emphasizes quality outdoor environments,
- [00:14:36.780]the importance of having loose parts
- [00:14:38.490]and materials outdoors of having regular time outdoors
- [00:14:41.022]and of having a certain number
- [00:14:43.050]of square footage per child outdoors, then we can start
- [00:14:46.080]to push that envelope across this broader system.
- [00:14:48.875]And that is one area that is often kind of overlooked
- [00:14:53.790]in some of the green schoolyard work
- [00:14:56.250]and so forth, because many people don't engage outside
- [00:14:59.730]of the K through 12 kind of school district
- [00:15:03.240]environment in that work.
- [00:15:05.670]And so this is such a big population
- [00:15:07.560]that the CDC has identified
- [00:15:11.370]licensed childcare settings as one
- [00:15:14.160]of the 14 evidence-based community-wide in interventions
- [00:15:18.180]that can be leveraged to address the social determinants
- [00:15:20.700]of health and improve health and wellbeing.
- [00:15:23.160]And so we really see this as a space
- [00:15:24.780]where we can move the needle in terms of child health,
- [00:15:29.820]pre preventing obesity, improving mental health,
- [00:15:33.270]social emotional wellbeing, and all of those other factors.
- [00:15:38.280]And so kind of our core model of how we approach the work
- [00:15:42.090]with childcare programs is we tend to pass funds
- [00:15:46.410]through, we pursue funding from foundations,
- [00:15:51.720]state grants, other things like that,
- [00:15:53.670]and we form cohorts of childcare providers.
- [00:15:55.950]So in the state of Colorado
- [00:15:57.427]we've had many different grant cycles.
- [00:16:00.210]We tend to want to work with about five to 10
- [00:16:03.900]childcare providers
- [00:16:04.950]and a professional learning cohort
- [00:16:06.960]where they are receiving professional development trainings
- [00:16:09.759]as a group and then moving
- [00:16:12.750]through a collaborative design process with our designers
- [00:16:16.350]and receiving activation support for their environment.
- [00:16:19.560]And so the reason that we really wanna lean
- [00:16:21.540]into the cohort model
- [00:16:22.830]is because we want there to be a community of practice
- [00:16:25.800]that forms within a state around adopting outdoor play
- [00:16:28.827]and learning best practice
- [00:16:30.690]so that they can support one another when they need
- [00:16:33.300]to problem solve
- [00:16:34.290]around where to source a particular material
- [00:16:36.600]or how to manage a behavior
- [00:16:38.730]that's occurring in a certain type of activity setting
- [00:16:41.070]that maybe isn't ideal
- [00:16:42.840]or things like that they have one another
- [00:16:44.610]because we really value and lean in
- [00:16:47.910]to all of the great and deep embedded knowledge
- [00:16:50.910]that exists within our childcare provider community.
- [00:16:54.420]So we wanna meet everyone
- [00:16:56.850]where they are in terms of their point on the spectrum
- [00:17:00.690]of adopting outdoor play
- [00:17:02.307]and learning and help them move a little further
- [00:17:04.650]in their practice on that.
- [00:17:06.690]We also encourage community engagement around this work.
- [00:17:10.680]So we encourage providers to bring in their parent community
- [00:17:13.832]children into these conversations, others in the community
- [00:17:18.750]who might want to volunteer in these spaces
- [00:17:21.780]to build them or to give resources.
- [00:17:23.914]We really see the community as an extended part
- [00:17:26.632]of the network to support outdoor plan learning.
- [00:17:30.750]And so once we've prepared a conceptual design
- [00:17:35.370]or schematic design for the transformation of a site,
- [00:17:38.970]we continue with some training opportunities
- [00:17:41.250]on how to use and maintain those spaces.
- [00:17:44.790]We help scaffold volunteer engagement
- [00:17:48.570]and community build opportunities
- [00:17:51.270]where programs are interested in engaging in that model.
- [00:17:54.510]And we continue to provide technical assistance
- [00:17:56.760]because we find that some of the barriers
- [00:17:59.340]that childcare providers encounter
- [00:18:01.980]have to do with a lack of background
- [00:18:04.500]and experience in dealing with contractors
- [00:18:07.298]in sourcing materials all of those things
- [00:18:11.880]that are not part of the day-to-day
- [00:18:13.500]for a childcare provider.
- [00:18:14.820]We can help overcome some of those challenges
- [00:18:17.122]by providing a little bit of consultation
- [00:18:19.470]and technical assistance.
- [00:18:21.090]And we recognize that childcare providers are often working
- [00:18:25.500]above and beyond doing all the many amazing things
- [00:18:28.800]that they do to support children in our communities,
- [00:18:31.560]highly taxed and stressed population.
- [00:18:35.520]And so we try to be very mindful in everything that we do
- [00:18:38.276]with childcare providers to work in a way
- [00:18:41.010]that fits within their schedule,
- [00:18:42.508]that doesn't create another layer of demands that provides,
- [00:18:46.650]you know, additional burden on their time.
- [00:18:49.260]So we try to be very mindful of who we're working with.
- [00:18:54.000]And then, just to give you a sense, as I mentioned,
- [00:18:55.890]we started in 2017
- [00:18:57.960]with the statewide initiative in the state of Colorado.
- [00:19:00.450]And so much, many of our staff members are located
- [00:19:03.300]in Denver, the Denver metro area
- [00:19:05.430]in our Rocky Mountain Regional Center
- [00:19:07.800]of the National Wildlife Federation.
- [00:19:09.960]But we have partnered
- [00:19:11.460]with folks all over the country at this point.
- [00:19:13.830]We have worked
- [00:19:15.900]with our Great Lakes Regional Center
- [00:19:17.940]in the Detroit area and inner city Detroit.
- [00:19:20.018]We have a cohort of providers we're working with right now,
- [00:19:22.618]both a family childcare cohort
- [00:19:24.718]and a center-based cohort in metropolitan Washington, DC
- [00:19:26.574]We have work in Texas, New Mexico, et cetera.
- [00:19:30.585]And then our next great exciting announcement
- [00:19:36.600]is we just kicked off a new statewide initiative
- [00:19:38.970]with the state of South Carolina,
- [00:19:40.830]and I'll tell you a little bit more about that,
- [00:19:42.480]but it's called Grow Outdoors South Carolina,
- [00:19:44.820]and it's being funded by the state
- [00:19:46.950]through the Department of Social Services.
- [00:19:51.660]So with all of that in mind, we really lean into
- [00:19:56.550]best practice, a lot of which was developed
- [00:19:58.800]by our partners at the Natural Learning Initiative.
- [00:20:00.838]So it really is an evidence-based design model.
- [00:20:06.000]I think I provided the link in the chat
- [00:20:08.070]to the best practice toolkit.
- [00:20:09.810]This is provided by the Natural Learning Initiative
- [00:20:12.150]and has been developed
- [00:20:13.980]and refined out of a lot of behavioral mapping research
- [00:20:19.558]that they've done directly
- [00:20:21.750]with young children in settings that they've modified.
- [00:20:24.660]And they began their institute
- [00:20:26.940]in I wanna say 2006 now, so quite a number
- [00:20:32.550]of years of on the ground research monitoring activities
- [00:20:37.320]and changes in behavior
- [00:20:38.430]and activity based on changes in the environment.
- [00:20:41.850]And so while they began
- [00:20:45.090]focusing on preventing obesity,
- [00:20:47.400]because there was a lot of funding at that time,
- [00:20:50.070]Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- [00:20:51.450]and others around obesity prevention
- [00:20:54.180]and active living, their work also demonstrates
- [00:20:57.235]many other benefits to young children.
- [00:20:59.490]So some of the factors that I mentioned,
- [00:21:02.820]the social emotional development,
- [00:21:04.087]the mental health supports that can be provided
- [00:21:08.580]in outdoor environments, we find that
- [00:21:10.835]adverse childhood experiences are often something
- [00:21:14.742]that time and outdoor environments
- [00:21:18.660]can help mitigate a little bit
- [00:21:20.550]through trauma informed design as well.
- [00:21:24.570]And so some of the the best practice indicators
- [00:21:27.510]that have evolved out of the natural learning initiatives
- [00:21:31.410]on the ground research, this is what we deploy
- [00:21:33.810]in the settings that we work with.
- [00:21:35.490]So you might scan through these, there are a number of them,
- [00:21:38.910]but one of the main things is having a diversity
- [00:21:41.370]of opportunities for young children.
- [00:21:43.560]And I think, whoop, my lights went out in my office.
- [00:21:46.530]I think as many of you are probably familiar,
- [00:21:49.110]often the settings that are sort of status quo
- [00:21:52.080]for play environments outdoors are very singular in focused.
- [00:21:56.520]There might be one piece of play equipment,
- [00:21:58.926]pre-manufactured play equipment,
- [00:22:02.108]and kind of a sterile setting in which that is placed.
- [00:22:05.250]And so what we learned
- [00:22:07.080]through the research is what's really needed is a diversity
- [00:22:10.050]of rich play environments
- [00:22:12.630]and activity settings to provide a lot of variety and option
- [00:22:16.110]and constant new opportunities for engagement for children.
- [00:22:20.880]Some of these other elements you can scan through,
- [00:22:22.890]I won't read them all,
- [00:22:24.087]but a primary looping pathway is very critical.
- [00:22:26.790]It connects all of the elements
- [00:22:28.140]and keeps kids moving, lots of shade
- [00:22:30.990]both for environmental health,
- [00:22:32.850]but also to provide spaces
- [00:22:35.190]that are comfortable at different times of day,
- [00:22:38.040]loose parts and materials, lots of plant materials.
- [00:22:41.640]They also provide great loose parts
- [00:22:43.560]and an ever-changing environment.
- [00:22:45.900]That's one critical part of the best practice
- [00:22:48.270]is that when we have sterile
- [00:22:50.160]and fixed equipment, it's the same year round.
- [00:22:52.950]The experience doesn't change.
- [00:22:55.650]And we know that children, as their minds are,
- [00:22:57.760]as they're developing that many different experiences
- [00:23:03.090]and inputs and sensory opportunities are necessary
- [00:23:05.820]to really grow that bank
- [00:23:08.130]of hands-on engagement
- [00:23:11.589]so that they can begin to understand the world
- [00:23:13.860]around them better and master
- [00:23:15.750]all of those fine motor and gross motor skills.
- [00:23:20.670]So we work with providers walking through kind of a list
- [00:23:23.970]of potential activity settings that could be
- [00:23:25.980]provided in their environment.
- [00:23:27.510]And as I mentioned, a variety
- [00:23:29.670]of activity settings is really critical to this work.
- [00:23:32.130]So lots of options and diversity of play environments
- [00:23:36.690]and learning environments.
- [00:23:41.250]The loopy curvy pathway is one
- [00:23:42.840]of those best practice pieces.
- [00:23:45.300]And in this photo, this is actually
- [00:23:47.250]three different age groups.
- [00:23:48.720]This is a pretty new environment,
- [00:23:50.550]so it's not very lush at this point,
- [00:23:52.200]but on the right there's a pathway that's really just
- [00:23:55.290]for infants and new movers.
- [00:23:57.482]So it's a smaller scale with smaller mobility elements
- [00:24:02.723]and push toys.
- [00:24:04.206]And then to the left, this would be more
- [00:24:06.240]of a full trike path for the older preschool age groups
- [00:24:09.330]and kind of the tops in between, lots of diversity of shade.
- [00:24:14.310]So having different levels of enclosure, different feelings
- [00:24:17.610]of protection spaces where kids can retreat
- [00:24:21.540]to have solo time to read a book, to maybe just take a break
- [00:24:26.072]from all the big physical gross motor activity
- [00:24:29.190]that might be happening around them.
- [00:24:30.802]Lots of different types of settings for groups
- [00:24:34.200]of different sizes and numbers to gather and learn together.
- [00:24:40.230]Lots of loose parts super critical to our model.
- [00:24:43.590]I think a lot of times I try to convey
- [00:24:45.853]to early childhood care providers
- [00:24:50.010]that when we think about the outdoor settings,
- [00:24:52.482]it's really analogous to what's happening indoors.
- [00:24:55.110]So indoors, many people are familiar with the thought
- [00:24:57.228]of having lots of centers, having a blocks area,
- [00:25:01.140]having a dress up corner, having a reading nook,
- [00:25:04.980]all of the elements,
- [00:25:06.145]the craft station, all of those pieces
- [00:25:08.400]that we see in interior environments,
- [00:25:10.623]they're not just stagnant spaces that don't change
- [00:25:15.900]or get refreshed or have new materials.
- [00:25:18.180]The same applies outdoors.
- [00:25:19.590]We're really looking at having
- [00:25:21.390]almost like the indoor centers come outside,
- [00:25:24.030]where we can have loose parts
- [00:25:25.680]and materials that get refreshed
- [00:25:27.360]with the seasons that change out.
- [00:25:29.931]We like to see lots of storage options.
- [00:25:32.518]And part of the learning that happens there
- [00:25:35.100]is to gather the materials
- [00:25:36.390]and put them back where they belong.
- [00:25:38.160]Just like inside when kids are learning
- [00:25:39.972]some of those social skills of caring
- [00:25:42.960]for their materials
- [00:25:44.610]and cleaning up after themselves as well, there's also a lot
- [00:25:48.060]of great labeling that happens.
- [00:25:49.500]So bringing language into the outdoor spaces
- [00:25:52.358]around the materials that kids are using.
- [00:25:56.610]And another critical component that ties to a lot of work
- [00:25:59.940]that partners are doing in sort of the farm to ECE model,
- [00:26:04.470]really enhancing opportunities for nutrition.
- [00:26:06.998]We find that as children are exposed to different types
- [00:26:11.370]of fruits and vegetables and herbs
- [00:26:13.170]and things that they're able to grow themselves,
- [00:26:15.690]they become more receptive
- [00:26:17.010]to including those foods in their daily diet.
- [00:26:19.398]And so it's really critical that we have opportunities
- [00:26:24.150]for kids to have hands in soil
- [00:26:26.760]and to see where those foods come from and to be curious
- [00:26:30.270]and inquisitive around what is healthy food
- [00:26:32.370]and what does it look like when it's growing?
- [00:26:34.740]What does it mean for my body when I eat healthy foods?
- [00:26:38.160]And so having those opportunities
- [00:26:40.020]as well as fruiting trees
- [00:26:42.510]and other sources of food within the environment,
- [00:26:45.540]really critical to that health promotion piece of it.
- [00:26:50.010]And then lots of programming
- [00:26:51.180]and activation, just as I mentioned
- [00:26:52.980]that it's similar to the indoor centers,
- [00:26:56.239]the educators are a key and vital
- [00:26:59.250]and part of making these environments successful, of course.
- [00:27:02.370]And so we wanna see a lot of times at recess
- [00:27:07.320]or outdoor time, we see educators kind of retreat
- [00:27:10.830]and they see their role as just supervising for safety.
- [00:27:14.040]We wanna see educators on the ground
- [00:27:15.630]with kids looking at elements together.
- [00:27:18.060]What is that worm?
- [00:27:20.015]What does this rolly polly,
- [00:27:21.272]where did those leaves come from?
- [00:27:22.105]So we really see that activation piece on the part
- [00:27:24.660]of educators as key to the model.
- [00:27:29.910]All right, so as I mentioned we engage
- [00:27:33.390]in some statewide initiatives.
- [00:27:35.552]So I'm just going to talk a little bit
- [00:27:37.203]through our Colorado work
- [00:27:38.220]and then mention our South Carolina piece as well
- [00:27:40.920]and show an example of this model in action.
- [00:27:44.490]So since 2017 when the ECHO initiative started,
- [00:27:48.270]we've worked with over 80 childcare programs
- [00:27:52.920]impacting the lives of many children across the state.
- [00:27:56.730]We're also deeply engaged
- [00:27:59.322]with family childcare homes,
- [00:28:00.815]really bringing these best practices
- [00:28:03.000]into a slightly smaller setting
- [00:28:04.740]that of course is slightly different
- [00:28:06.030]because it's also the residents of the providers.
- [00:28:07.758]So there are a lot of different considerations
- [00:28:09.960]in the family childcare setting,
- [00:28:11.545]but many best practice factors translate as well.
- [00:28:17.190]We've reached most of the counties,
- [00:28:18.840]many of the counties across our state with our work.
- [00:28:21.690]And we've passed through just last year funding
- [00:28:24.420]to almost 100 different programs in one way
- [00:28:27.150]or another, whether they be mini grants
- [00:28:29.490]for implementing spaces
- [00:28:30.810]or professional development grants, things like that.
- [00:28:35.790]So I'm gonna talk a bit about one program we've worked
- [00:28:38.460]with over the past few years.
- [00:28:40.140]It's called Little Giants Learning Center.
- [00:28:42.120]It's just north of downtown Denver.
- [00:28:43.920]And a somewhat commercial,
- [00:28:46.500]I'd say light industrial zone of the city.
- [00:28:49.860]So a bit north of town in part
- [00:28:52.470]of Denver called Commerce City.
- [00:28:55.110]It's been operating as a childcare center for decades
- [00:28:58.140]out of an old church.
- [00:29:00.142]This picture here is from a couple of decades ago,
- [00:29:04.800]I believe, before we saw the center ourselves.
- [00:29:06.990]But this gives you a sense of how a lot
- [00:29:08.820]of programs that we work with evolve.
- [00:29:10.950]So they maybe started operating
- [00:29:13.257]in the seventies or eighties.
- [00:29:15.450]They inherited some old equipment that was out in a yard
- [00:29:18.300]that they're now using
- [00:29:19.200]as their outdoor learning environment.
- [00:29:21.270]They shared these photos with us
- [00:29:22.590]because they just are excited
- [00:29:24.840]about how far they've come over the years.
- [00:29:26.940]But some of this equipment still stands in a lot of places.
- [00:29:30.870]These old metal climbers, old metal slides,
- [00:29:36.000]things like that, that we know
- [00:29:36.930]are actually somewhat hazardous to children
- [00:29:39.000]because of how hot they become.
- [00:29:40.615]And of course none of this conforms
- [00:29:42.390]with any kind of current safety guidelines,
- [00:29:46.800]but just to give you a sense
- [00:29:48.518]of how far they've come.
- [00:29:49.650]So when we first started working
- [00:29:51.210]with Little Giants Learning Center, this was the state
- [00:29:55.080]of their outdoor learning environment.
- [00:29:56.940]It hadn't changed too much from that early photo.
- [00:29:59.310]They'd replaced the play equipment
- [00:30:00.750]with more modern play equipment,
- [00:30:02.400]but still a fairly sterile environment overall
- [00:30:06.240]with kind of this fixed element.
- [00:30:07.800]They had a few other settings they were starting
- [00:30:10.080]to implement, but in general, kind of a blank slate
- [00:30:13.740]with a large piece of play equipment in the middle.
- [00:30:18.270]And then we worked with them on developing a conceptual
- [00:30:21.150]design for their space that would diversify.
- [00:30:23.490]As I mentioned, one of the best practices provide
- [00:30:25.380]a lot of variety and different types of play settings,
- [00:30:28.388]incorporate that trike path for lots
- [00:30:31.410]of physical activity within the space.
- [00:30:34.148]Essential green area for large groups to gather
- [00:30:38.910]or to do parachute games or ball games, things like that.
- [00:30:43.200]They wanted to incorporate a vegetable garden
- [00:30:47.730]in the corner, a playhouse, a shaded outdoor classroom space
- [00:30:51.510]with lots of loose parts and opportunities for art
- [00:30:53.970]and crafts and tabletop activities along in here.
- [00:30:58.200]It's hard to see, but they have some water play elements,
- [00:31:01.860]a fairy garden, a nature discovery path
- [00:31:05.940]with more green space.
- [00:31:07.680]And so just really a lot,
- [00:31:09.752]a lot more opportunities for children.
- [00:31:11.820]And they do have, in this space,
- [00:31:15.450]this is primarily preschool,
- [00:31:17.700]they do have another infant toddler space to the side.
- [00:31:21.338]And you'll see just from the aerials
- [00:31:23.575]that from that kind of large swath of surface material
- [00:31:31.080]with limited play equipment in the center,
- [00:31:34.500]they've evolved to make this space
- [00:31:36.810]a lot more complex over time.
- [00:31:38.400]Adding those other outdoor play environments and settings.
- [00:31:41.058]So lots of activity settings
- [00:31:43.380]as they've incrementally implemented their vision,
- [00:31:48.600]just down to the right
- [00:31:50.070]of the building are some other smaller spaces
- [00:31:52.380]for their infants and toddlers.
- [00:31:56.910]And so they went from this kind of single opportunity
- [00:32:01.590]of this play equipment that kids saw day in and day out
- [00:32:04.440]and knew every inch of, I'm sure, to having a lot
- [00:32:07.248]of diversity and different options for play and learning.
- [00:32:10.140]And the photo on the right
- [00:32:11.808]is a more recent image from their space.
- [00:32:13.804]And I can walk through some images of other settings
- [00:32:17.055]within that that where kids are playing and engaged.
- [00:32:21.240]So lots of time on the trikes, on the looping path,
- [00:32:26.700]lots of different types of pathway opportunities
- [00:32:29.100]so kids are able to discover at different scales
- [00:32:31.860]with different materials, kind of learning those skills
- [00:32:36.360]to navigate their environment confidently,
- [00:32:39.120]which is such a big piece of the early walking
- [00:32:41.820]and early mobility time.
- [00:32:45.480]Kids are actively engaged on a regular basis in gardening.
- [00:32:49.500]So they've got lots of things in the ground.
- [00:32:51.802]This was, I wanna say these images
- [00:32:56.100]are maybe from March or April in Denver.
- [00:32:59.640]Similar to Nebraska, our growing season's
- [00:33:01.290]a little shorter than some southern locations,
- [00:33:04.590]but kids are out planting, harvesting,
- [00:33:09.330]tasting, I believe they incorporate
- [00:33:11.490]some of the foods in their meal plans as well.
- [00:33:15.120]Their snack times that they grow.
- [00:33:19.110]There's a lot of sensory play.
- [00:33:21.675]So water, sand and water, mud kitchen,
- [00:33:24.565]lots of manipulative elements
- [00:33:26.712]are yes, out in their environment.
- [00:33:31.410]And on this day they happen
- [00:33:32.610]to have some school aged children here as well.
- [00:33:35.580]I think this was in their afterschool timeframe
- [00:33:37.650]when they have a little bit older children
- [00:33:39.450]join in the afternoon.
- [00:33:42.960]This is their outdoor classroom.
- [00:33:44.550]So they have lots of different loose parts
- [00:33:47.156]stored here that kids can access.
- [00:33:50.145]There are lots of arts and craft materials out here,
- [00:33:53.790]a lot of blocks and other building elements.
- [00:33:57.060]Again, another nice shaded space where a lot
- [00:33:58.358]of children can be together in that environment.
- [00:34:02.370]If teachers are providing a lesson of some kind,
- [00:34:05.155]they also label a lot of their materials
- [00:34:07.770]in both English and Spanish.
- [00:34:09.060]It's a bilingual program and so they get
- [00:34:11.340]a lot of exposure to language
- [00:34:15.150]and labeling of elements to start to build that
- [00:34:19.650]early language knowledge as well.
- [00:34:23.938]Okay, here are some of the other settings.
- [00:34:26.790]There's a playhouse that simulates a home environment
- [00:34:29.398]with a lot of that dramatic play opportunity there.
- [00:34:33.060]So you know, preparing meals, inviting people in,
- [00:34:37.260]play acting in different scenarios, which is really critical
- [00:34:40.110]in that social emotional development realm.
- [00:34:42.840]And there's also plenty of space now
- [00:34:44.368]that the play equipment has been removed for ball play
- [00:34:49.200]and other types of open, other types of activities
- [00:34:53.880]that need a little bit more open space.
- [00:34:57.930]And in some of the practical elements
- [00:34:59.685]that I like to think about as a designer,
- [00:35:01.680]they're not the most glamorous, but it's really critical.
- [00:35:05.730]This program really loves having outdoor water sources,
- [00:35:09.150]both for kids to be able to stay hydrated
- [00:35:11.100]when they're in these spaces, but also to hand wash
- [00:35:14.580]and make sure that they're following good sanitation
- [00:35:18.078]practices and to water all of their great gardens
- [00:35:20.670]and to serve their water play.
- [00:35:22.890]And you'll see they have trash out here.
- [00:35:24.270]They have their little watering cans
- [00:35:27.450]hanging on the vertical surfaces.
- [00:35:29.610]That's another key in a lot of spaces where we work,
- [00:35:32.610]especially in the more urban environments like Detroit
- [00:35:34.950]and Washington DC, we really encourage programs
- [00:35:38.940]to take advantage of every inch of space that they have.
- [00:35:41.490]So vertical elements like fences
- [00:35:44.460]that are ubiquitous in our spaces can really be activated
- [00:35:47.539]with additional opportunities for play as well.
- [00:35:50.490]So on the right, this is kind of like a water trough
- [00:35:55.530]play element that they've custom built on their fence
- [00:35:59.100]and on the left they've made planters in their classrooms
- [00:36:02.370]and decorated them and then planted spring flowers in them
- [00:36:06.360]as a, a way to engage kids in some gardening activity.
- [00:36:11.790]And then this is off of their website actually.
- [00:36:13.980]They do a lot of community celebrations in their space.
- [00:36:17.670]And without that large piece of play equipment
- [00:36:19.440]that was dominating their environment previously,
- [00:36:21.512]they're able to host community fairs and festivals.
- [00:36:24.138]They're able to bring their parent community in.
- [00:36:26.472]And so that's been a really key piece of what they see
- [00:36:31.410]as the benefit of this to their program,
- [00:36:33.438]especially during COVID when they did want to have guests
- [00:36:37.200]inside the environment,
- [00:36:38.460]they felt that they could gather safely outdoors.
- [00:36:41.130]And this really provided the opportunity for that.
- [00:36:45.540]And then we have been working with Texas Tech,
- [00:36:47.610]I believe you'll have speaking at your next session,
- [00:36:53.280]developing some virtual tours of our spaces.
- [00:36:55.680]And I will do my best to share this link.
- [00:36:58.380]I did, I neglected to put it in the chat,
- [00:37:00.690]but we have a link to a program called Matterport
- [00:37:03.870]where you can go through a virtual tour of this space
- [00:37:06.300]and see all of those elements
- [00:37:07.710]and link to different resources on our website
- [00:37:09.930]that explain why those elements are important
- [00:37:11.695]factors in that environment.
- [00:37:14.130]So I'll share that afterwards.
- [00:37:17.670]And then just to touch on our next big adventure,
- [00:37:20.340]which is Grow Outdoors South Carolina.
- [00:37:22.740]So we've just kicked off in the fall a five-year partnership
- [00:37:26.160]with the state of South Carolina, led by the Department
- [00:37:29.220]of Social Services, which is their licensing
- [00:37:32.160]and quality rating entity for childcare in the state
- [00:37:35.700]of South Carolina in partnership with the Department
- [00:37:38.610]of Health and Environmental Control.
- [00:37:40.800]And we are going to be working,
- [00:37:42.935]we just selected our first 20 programs
- [00:37:45.960]that we'll be working with this year in our cohort model
- [00:37:48.682]going through professional development,
- [00:37:50.938]design assistance, activation support.
- [00:37:53.847]Each program will receive a $20,000 implementation grant
- [00:37:57.810]from the state to begin to activate
- [00:38:00.236]and implement their design vision.
- [00:38:03.245]And then in subsequent years,
- [00:38:05.250]we'll be working with 40 sites per year.
- [00:38:08.970]So our impact will broaden a bit,
- [00:38:11.758]but we're incredibly excited about this work
- [00:38:14.370]and that the state has been the one to invest
- [00:38:18.150]in this and to invest federal dollars in it as well
- [00:38:21.076]because they really see this as a health equity approach
- [00:38:26.460]for their young children in their state.
- [00:38:29.190]There are many who are challenged with obesity,
- [00:38:33.186]with setting healthy behaviors from a very early age,
- [00:38:37.748]becoming more open to healthy fruits and vegetables
- [00:38:42.060]and all of the things that are needed
- [00:38:43.470]to sustain a healthy lifestyle.
- [00:38:46.380]So stay tuned for more announcements out of that.
- [00:38:50.160]We are hiring, we actually just hired four new employees
- [00:38:53.340]to be on the ground in South Carolina
- [00:38:55.260]to deploy this, this new initiative.
- [00:38:57.660]So very exciting for our our organization.
- [00:39:02.370]And then just to touch, I'm going oh, okay.
- [00:39:06.330]Just to touch a little bit on some of the other things
- [00:39:08.400]that we provide our professional development
- [00:39:11.010]and resource creation side of our team.
- [00:39:13.740]So we provide a lot of trainings.
- [00:39:17.490]We work with folks nationally,
- [00:39:21.480]we provide a monthly webinar that anyone can join.
- [00:39:24.000]And so we have people join us from all different states
- [00:39:27.300]and countries to learn about different topics
- [00:39:29.520]around activating outdoor spaces.
- [00:39:31.822]And we have worked with educators, families,
- [00:39:35.700]community organizations, really all folks who engage
- [00:39:38.850]with young children daily.
- [00:39:41.340]I wanna touch a little bit on another model
- [00:39:43.530]we've leaned into that we think is really critical
- [00:39:46.710]for that systems change piece that we're looking for,
- [00:39:50.130]which is our early childhood coaches
- [00:39:52.320]and technical assistance provider training.
- [00:39:54.720]So in Colorado we have a model
- [00:39:56.340]where folks are certified early childhood coaches
- [00:39:59.940]and so they coach early childhood care providers
- [00:40:03.210]in improving quality in their educational practices,
- [00:40:08.820]you know, classroom management, all of those other skills
- [00:40:12.120]and professional development spaces
- [00:40:14.940]where early childhood providers can continue to grow.
- [00:40:18.102]And so we've worked with coaches
- [00:40:20.070]and a train the trainer model
- [00:40:21.810]where we're building their knowledge
- [00:40:23.760]and skill around consulting
- [00:40:25.500]with the programs they support on outdoor play and learning.
- [00:40:29.490]In addition to the professional development pieces,
- [00:40:32.058]they've walked through how to analyze
- [00:40:35.400]a site from a design perspective
- [00:40:37.773]and to consider which elements might go first,
- [00:40:41.490]how to build on what's already in a childcare setting
- [00:40:45.300]and enhance the quality of that space.
- [00:40:47.718]And so they've practiced some of those design skills
- [00:40:51.060]and now are working to consult
- [00:40:53.618]directly with childcare providers
- [00:40:56.340]who they already have trusted relationships with.
- [00:40:58.950]So that's really an important piece is if you're hearing
- [00:41:01.950]from the coach that you work with
- [00:41:03.660]and other educational realms
- [00:41:05.472]and health promotion realms about this work,
- [00:41:08.595]then it goes part and parcel with the rest of your program.
- [00:41:11.460]It doesn't feel like a separate thing
- [00:41:13.830]that you're delving into that's outside
- [00:41:15.420]of your typical professional development.
- [00:41:19.920]We also have, as I mentioned, monthly trainings online.
- [00:41:24.780]You're welcome to visit our website
- [00:41:26.482]and take a look at those.
- [00:41:28.860]We have lots of how-to guides for folks who want to self
- [00:41:33.810]implement some of the activity settings
- [00:41:37.500]that we often recommend in our spaces.
- [00:41:40.290]We have a great guide called Nature Play at Home
- [00:41:42.450]that's really more focused on the parent community,
- [00:41:45.360]but it can also be applied
- [00:41:46.770]to smaller childcare settings like family childcare homes.
- [00:41:50.370]And these resources are also available
- [00:41:52.500]in Spanish on our website.
- [00:41:54.930]We're trying to improve our language justice
- [00:41:58.170]around our materials.
- [00:41:59.738]In Colorado, we partnered
- [00:42:01.890]with the Natural Learning Initiative
- [00:42:03.180]to develop playing by the rules.
- [00:42:05.400]We find that one of the barriers that many
- [00:42:07.860]of our childcare providers face is understanding
- [00:42:10.380]what's allowed within their licensing regulations.
- [00:42:13.075]They have to comply with many different regulatory
- [00:42:17.760]pieces of information.
- [00:42:18.840]And so cross-cutting through all of those requirements,
- [00:42:22.440]iters, eckers, estate requirements, et cetera,
- [00:42:27.330]we've helped to simplify that so they can see
- [00:42:29.820]what each of those pieces of guidance says about say,
- [00:42:32.970]a sand and water environment,
- [00:42:35.506]what they need to comply with there.
- [00:42:36.690]So this has been a great resource.
- [00:42:38.340]We're in the process of updating it
- [00:42:39.780]as the state has recently updated
- [00:42:41.760]some of their licensing regulations.
- [00:42:46.920]And you're welcome to visit our website
- [00:42:48.390]for lots more information about what we're up to,
- [00:42:52.110]upcoming events, trainings, et cetera.
- [00:42:55.920]Feel free to contact me
- [00:42:57.120]or our general ECHO email
- [00:43:00.035]if you have questions following our presentation.
- [00:43:03.572]And then I think that's all I have in terms of presentation.
- [00:43:08.310]I'm happy to open it up to any questions you all have.
- [00:43:18.870]Right, thank you very much.
- [00:43:22.967]I have a question, I know you've worked
- [00:43:27.720]with programs all over Colorado.
- [00:43:30.281]Have you noticed any difference in working
- [00:43:33.180]with like rural versus more urban programs?
- [00:43:38.700]Yeah, in some cases there's an assumption
- [00:43:42.690]that if someone lives in a rural environment,
- [00:43:45.420]they have more access to natural settings,
- [00:43:47.757]which is what we've learned to be a little bit
- [00:43:50.100]of a misunderstanding about how that works.
- [00:43:53.282]Because what we've found,
- [00:43:55.196]and this I think is played out in research
- [00:44:00.060]is that in a lot of rural environments
- [00:44:01.950]there are fewer public amenities
- [00:44:03.720]that are supported because of tax base
- [00:44:06.420]and rural environments is different, right?
- [00:44:08.610]And the in terms of park and recreation districts
- [00:44:11.178]and public funding for play opportunities
- [00:44:14.878]is a little bit different.
- [00:44:17.190]And so often people have to travel pretty far distances
- [00:44:19.830]to get to public settings
- [00:44:21.120]that support young children or children in general.
- [00:44:23.975]That can be a big barrier.
- [00:44:25.770]Sometimes that active transportation,
- [00:44:28.800]the safety of the road network
- [00:44:31.110]can be challenging for young children
- [00:44:32.820]or children in general to start
- [00:44:34.650]to take on independent mobility
- [00:44:36.690]because a lot of things have to be driven to
- [00:44:39.057]in a rural environment, just kinda the nature
- [00:44:41.850]of the land development.
- [00:44:44.280]And so what we find is that for very young children
- [00:44:49.318]where their world is small,
- [00:44:51.654]these spaces, if they're in care on a daily basis,
- [00:44:56.910]these spaces are still their whole world in some ways.
- [00:44:59.670]So there might be other cultural
- [00:45:03.510]or social factors that a program
- [00:45:04.905]would want to lean into in a rural environment.
- [00:45:07.560]Like bringing in, oh, we have a lot of parents
- [00:45:09.990]who are in agriculture and we really wanna highlight
- [00:45:12.840]that that's a great resource in our community.
- [00:45:14.544]Or you know, say we're in an urban environment
- [00:45:17.700]that's a Latino community, they may want
- [00:45:19.590]to bring in great art
- [00:45:21.090]from the Latino community reflected in that space.
- [00:45:23.250]So we really encourage programs to reflect
- [00:45:28.110]and engage with their community
- [00:45:29.790]around what kinds of cultural connections
- [00:45:31.630]and values they want to work
- [00:45:33.882]with their children on understanding
- [00:45:36.266]through art, through experience.
- [00:45:39.000]But in terms of the day-to-day opportunities
- [00:45:43.560]for a two-year-old and their learning environment,
- [00:45:46.830]not too many differences really from rural to urban
- [00:45:49.860]in terms of what people ask for.
- [00:45:53.280]Okay, thank you, other questions?
- [00:45:59.850]I had a question about the cohort groups.
- [00:46:02.535]How do you recruit people for that?
- [00:46:06.600]And then when they move on to the design portion,
- [00:46:10.350]is there funding available for them
- [00:46:12.300]or how do they fund their spaces?
- [00:46:15.780]Yeah, great question.
- [00:46:16.613]So it really depends on what we're able to leverage.
- [00:46:19.080]So we are an entirely grant funded subset
- [00:46:23.864]of the National Wildlife Federation for the most part,
- [00:46:26.430]grants and contracts.
- [00:46:27.750]And so we pursue funding from foundations
- [00:46:30.810]to run a grant program
- [00:46:32.640]and then we communicate that out
- [00:46:33.900]to the early childhood community.
- [00:46:37.140]A lot of our communication
- [00:46:38.490]goes through our early childhood councils
- [00:46:40.320]because Colorado's organized in regions with councils
- [00:46:43.068]that are in direct communication with providers.
- [00:46:45.990]And so we put it out there as a grant opportunity
- [00:46:48.930]that they can apply to,
- [00:46:50.482]we put the application out as broadly as we can
- [00:46:53.414]and then we use equity metrics really
- [00:46:56.970]to select which programs
- [00:46:59.130]we always have more applications than we can possibly serve
- [00:47:03.000]because people are very interested in this work.
- [00:47:05.149]But we really try to focus our grant making in communities
- [00:47:08.228]where there are not other opportunities for outdoor play
- [00:47:11.670]and learning when there are other social
- [00:47:14.310]and economic factors
- [00:47:15.390]that may be impacting health in the early childhood space.
- [00:47:19.830]And so we then select those programs
- [00:47:23.070]and they become part of this whole process.
- [00:47:25.290]So they start with the professional development,
- [00:47:28.140]really learning why this is an important piece
- [00:47:31.170]of an early childhood experience
- [00:47:33.330]and then they move into working with our designers.
- [00:47:35.910]For them it doesn't really feel like a different process.
- [00:47:38.790]They're just moving
- [00:47:39.623]from different staff members within ECHO.
- [00:47:42.180]And a lot of times our educators are part
- [00:47:44.370]of our design workshops with them as well.
- [00:47:46.140]So there's continuity in that process.
- [00:47:48.346]And then depending on what funding we're able
- [00:47:52.710]to receive, we're able to often pass
- [00:47:56.610]through a seed grant in Colorado.
- [00:47:59.250]Our grants were typically like a $5,000
- [00:48:01.920]seed grant to get started with.
- [00:48:03.600]And then a lot of support
- [00:48:06.180]around community built elements.
- [00:48:09.180]So helping folks
- [00:48:11.340]think about how to go out and get wood
- [00:48:16.440]from their arborists in their community
- [00:48:19.200]and build some stump seating for an outdoor classroom.
- [00:48:22.800]You know, a lot of that Grassroots kind of implementation
- [00:48:27.792]and, and depending on what we find,
- [00:48:29.520]which is really neat is that depending on the community
- [00:48:32.418]where these programs are located, often there are parents,
- [00:48:36.390]we hear parents who are seldom
- [00:48:39.072]attending things like a parent learning night
- [00:48:44.130]at the school.
- [00:48:45.210]But once there's an opportunity to come
- [00:48:46.648]and use a hands-on skillset, like building something
- [00:48:51.450]that will benefit their children,
- [00:48:53.250]it leverages this whole different sense of investment
- [00:48:55.905]in the parent community.
- [00:48:57.510]So sometimes they'll put a call out
- [00:48:59.040]for like, we're gonna do a planting day.
- [00:49:01.140]And we've had our providers tell us there are parents
- [00:49:03.810]who show up that they've never met before,
- [00:49:05.790]but they're very interested and invested in
- [00:49:08.152]and have a lot of skill in building things
- [00:49:12.840]or in planting things.
- [00:49:14.100]They want to have that hands-on impact
- [00:49:16.110]in their children's environment,
- [00:49:18.810]even though a classroom activity
- [00:49:20.010]wouldn't really appeal to them.
- [00:49:21.210]So we find that resources sometimes come out of the woodwork
- [00:49:25.680]once they have a conceptual plan that they can talk
- [00:49:28.845]to people about, about what the big vision is.
- [00:49:31.805]They can go to Home Depot and ask for resources
- [00:49:35.820]and materials with that conceptual plan.
- [00:49:38.310]They can look for grants
- [00:49:40.350]within their community, that kind of thing.
- [00:49:42.750]So we're setting them up for additional fundraising.
- [00:49:45.060]But yeah, there's never enough funds
- [00:49:48.780]to do it all typically.
- [00:49:52.065](person laughing)
- [00:49:52.898]But we do have some trainings on low cost environments
- [00:49:56.130]because some of these things are not
- [00:49:57.821]exorbitantly expensive,
- [00:50:00.300]it's kind of scaffolding the act activity.
- [00:50:04.050]So bringing loose parts, collecting loose parts
- [00:50:06.300]that you could play with outdoors
- [00:50:08.280]that's a pretty low hanging fruit way
- [00:50:09.780]to start doing some of this.
- [00:50:13.045]Or you know, taking kids out
- [00:50:14.422]to do a walk in the neighborhood
- [00:50:15.330]and observe what they're hearing and seeing
- [00:50:17.820]and smelling even beyond the boundaries
- [00:50:20.610]of their own play environment.
- [00:50:23.102]So it's starting that thinking process,
- [00:50:25.350]sometimes certain directors just get the bug and they go big
- [00:50:30.608]and they ask everybody for money
- [00:50:32.608]and the next time you talk to them,
- [00:50:33.441]they've done everything in their plan.
- [00:50:35.370]And then others are on a more of a slow journey,
- [00:50:39.960]but incorporating things over time.
- [00:50:46.920]So I just had a.
- [00:50:49.195]Oh, go ahead Nick.
- [00:50:50.190]Oh, thank you.
- [00:50:51.773]I just had a quick follow up on that.
- [00:50:53.430]So it's an interesting model.
- [00:50:56.140]ECHO would receive basically the grant
- [00:51:03.165]and then they would administer it to community applicants,
- [00:51:09.360]childcare centers and all that.
- [00:51:10.890]And does ECHO monitor
- [00:51:13.320]the progress on those individual grants?
- [00:51:15.900]Or I guess how do you justify that
- [00:51:18.487]to the to the funder?
- [00:51:21.240]To the funder.
- [00:51:22.862]Yeah, good question, so depending on the funding source,
- [00:51:25.200]we have different types of evaluations.
- [00:51:27.540]So with this big initiative in South Carolina
- [00:51:29.790]that's state funded, we're partnering
- [00:51:32.190]with the Natural Learning Initiative
- [00:51:33.789]for a lot of elements of it.
- [00:51:35.730]But there's a whole evaluation piece
- [00:51:37.830]that includes sub sampling with behavior mapping
- [00:51:40.650]for pre and post implementation,
- [00:51:43.620]overseeing where the funds,
- [00:51:47.055]most of our grant agreements or sub-grant agreements
- [00:51:51.090]to the programs they commit to using these dollars
- [00:51:53.370]for their outdoor environment.
- [00:51:54.750]So we check in with them on an annual basis about,
- [00:51:58.050]they don't necessarily, depending on the funder,
- [00:51:59.970]have to provide us receipts for everything
- [00:52:01.740]they've purchased and everything.
- [00:52:03.841]But we do a check-in for new images
- [00:52:06.150]of how they've implemented things in their space
- [00:52:08.220]and we do a survey around what kinds
- [00:52:11.400]of things have they noticed in terms of behavioral change,
- [00:52:14.459]you know, what sorts of things are they implementing
- [00:52:18.270]with different age groups and things like that.
- [00:52:19.860]So we do regular kind of check-ins
- [00:52:22.890]via gathering some of that qualitative information
- [00:52:27.915]about how they've observed
- [00:52:29.790]differences in their child population.
- [00:52:33.300]There are a lot of factors we would love
- [00:52:34.710]to study more deeply.
- [00:52:37.920]You know, for instance, we hear a lot about,
- [00:52:40.470]and this is such a big topic in early childhood
- [00:52:42.555]about what's appropriate behavior
- [00:52:45.740]in early childhood settings?
- [00:52:47.976]And there's a whole challenge
- [00:52:49.650]around kids being expelled from preschool,
- [00:52:52.500]which is, for many people realizing that that's probably
- [00:52:57.810]age appropriate behavior that's maybe misdirected
- [00:53:00.150]or not being well managed
- [00:53:02.100]or there's not enough opportunity being provided.
- [00:53:05.063]So we've heard anecdotally, I don't know
- [00:53:07.530]that we have all the data to support this,
- [00:53:10.350]but that there are fewer kind of behavior management things
- [00:53:14.160]happening in outdoor spaces
- [00:53:15.720]where there's more opportunity
- [00:53:16.920]because there's a lot more chances to redirect.
- [00:53:19.320]So if kids are fighting over who gets to go down the slide
- [00:53:22.680]because there's one slide in 20 kids
- [00:53:26.040]and there's nothing else to direct them to do,
- [00:53:27.895]then it's really hard to keep all kids engaged
- [00:53:31.020]and in a copacetic situation.
- [00:53:33.870]But if there are more opportunities
- [00:53:36.060]and you can say, hey, I know you wanna go on the slide,
- [00:53:38.190]why don't you play in the play kitchen
- [00:53:39.720]for a little while and then it'll be your turn
- [00:53:41.700]and we'll manage that.
- [00:53:43.653]What we hear from providers is that they're having
- [00:53:47.730]a lot fewer behavioral challenges
- [00:53:50.700]to deal with in environments that provide
- [00:53:52.938]more developmentally appropriate opportunities for kids.
- [00:53:57.000]And it so happens that the natural environment
- [00:53:59.472]with its richness and changeability
- [00:54:03.150]and diversity is one piece of what makes those spaces
- [00:54:07.898]engaging and diverse
- [00:54:09.240]because it's not the same over the seasons
- [00:54:13.680]or any day there's something new to kind of get to observe
- [00:54:16.680]or to manipulate in the outdoor environment,
- [00:54:21.300]which is awesome.
- [00:54:24.180]Thank you, yeah, I appreciate that, Sarah, you had.
- [00:54:28.770]Yeah, sure, hi Rebecca, thanks so much for joining us.
- [00:54:31.560]I just love all the work that you guys are doing,
- [00:54:33.870]I have two questions.
- [00:54:35.550]One is sort of a big picture grand challenge question,
- [00:54:39.030]the other's more design specific.
- [00:54:42.315]So I'll go with the design specific one first.
- [00:54:45.988]Okay.
- [00:54:47.235]How do the best practices change
- [00:54:48.068]when you're working with like tribal nations?
- [00:54:51.540]Good question.
- [00:54:52.620]Yeah, I mean I think certainly
- [00:54:56.190]we try to bring perspective
- [00:55:01.350]of cultural responsiveness
- [00:55:02.910]and appropriateness to all of our projects,
- [00:55:06.150]because they're participatory design workshops,
- [00:55:09.480]there's nothing that ECHO's ever requiring
- [00:55:11.082]in an environment.
- [00:55:13.380]It's like providing a lot of opportunities for people
- [00:55:16.650]to bring forward their own values and knowledge
- [00:55:20.010]and ways of seeing the world.
- [00:55:21.810]And so I would say that whatever elements
- [00:55:27.690]feel comfortable to a given program
- [00:55:30.060]or community are incorporated.
- [00:55:32.423]We haven't really seen any challenges
- [00:55:36.360]specifically with like that those best practice elements
- [00:55:41.340]can't be modified
- [00:55:42.750]based on what people's priorities are.
- [00:55:45.270]We are working with one tribal community
- [00:55:48.960]in northern New Mexico right now.
- [00:55:51.540]We're both at a wildlife refuge called Via Oro
- [00:55:57.000]in Albuquerque and then the San Juan Pueblo, sorry,
- [00:56:04.170]the Santa Clara Pueblo near Taos in northern New Mexico.
- [00:56:07.530]And I think it's just a different way of approaching
- [00:56:11.105]and valuing elements of the environment to some degree.
- [00:56:15.570]I mean depending on the community,
- [00:56:17.700]there can be imagery and things
- [00:56:19.560]that are uncomfortable for folks or pieces like that.
- [00:56:25.050]But I think everything's pretty flexible
- [00:56:27.720]in terms of how it hits the ground
- [00:56:29.520]and what sorts of activities
- [00:56:31.080]and program elements come into play for scaffolding
- [00:56:34.200]that engagement with the environment with young children.
- [00:56:37.278]I know that with the Santa Clara Pueblo,
- [00:56:39.870]a big focus is on reclaiming indigenous language
- [00:56:43.950]and reclaiming and understanding
- [00:56:45.780]and knowledge of traditional plants
- [00:56:47.310]and medicines that come from the land.
- [00:56:49.950]And so they're looking to incorporate
- [00:56:52.260]a lot of those into their spaces
- [00:56:53.820]so that they can teach young children
- [00:56:55.140]about these valuable elements
- [00:56:57.720]that have been part of their culture
- [00:56:59.250]that maybe have not had that thread
- [00:57:01.650]through all of the generations of their communities.
- [00:57:06.026]And naming those things.
- [00:57:08.280]So that's a big piece, retaining that traditional knowledge
- [00:57:13.230]of the indigenous language,
- [00:57:15.210]which is disappearing in their community.
- [00:57:17.280]So helping children be able to name those elements
- [00:57:21.180]as well, and then what's the?
- [00:57:25.680]Yeah, it's like how does Nebraska
- [00:57:27.360]become the next South Carolina?
- [00:57:30.328]That's a great question for Katie.
- [00:57:31.890]How do we do that, what do we need?
- [00:57:34.500]Yeah, we've been working on it,
- [00:57:36.540]chipping away on it a little bit.
- [00:57:38.070]I think it's really finding those champions
- [00:57:43.080]in the state who are open
- [00:57:46.650]to evidence around the impacts.
- [00:57:50.460]So when we think about like the cost of healthcare,
- [00:57:53.502]you know, really embedding healthy behaviors
- [00:57:57.810]in early childhood, we can avoid
- [00:58:01.680]some of those lifelong health impacts
- [00:58:04.500]that cost our states a lot of money.
- [00:58:06.930]And so I think it's making the case
- [00:58:09.542]to the right people within the state
- [00:58:12.870]that hold some of the dollars
- [00:58:16.067]and see this as really beneficial,
- [00:58:18.420]not only for young children in the moment,
- [00:58:20.160]but over the life course of an adult.
- [00:58:22.020]You know, as they become an adult,
- [00:58:23.550]that those behaviors are really critical.
- [00:58:26.280]And we think about, I mean,
- [00:58:28.667]I think about the mental health crisis
- [00:58:29.970]in our teen communities now and our adult communities.
- [00:58:33.548]A lot of the strategies that people utilize
- [00:58:38.040]for overcoming stressors
- [00:58:39.630]and trauma in their daily practice
- [00:58:44.220]are things that can happen outdoors, right?
- [00:58:46.590]Go take a walk, reflect on this,
- [00:58:48.960]connect with living things,
- [00:58:51.245]countering depression
- [00:58:53.310]and other challenges like that.
- [00:58:54.660]And so building that connection from such an early age
- [00:58:57.900]that the outdoor environment can serve your needs
- [00:59:00.360]in many ways, both physically.
- [00:59:02.714]I mean, I think changing that mindset
- [00:59:05.160]from recesses about running off your energy
- [00:59:07.620]so that you can sit again inside
- [00:59:09.540]and more about recesses, about building all of the skills
- [00:59:13.440]you need to be a thriving
- [00:59:14.610]and healthy person that time outdoors is critical
- [00:59:18.510]to all of those domains of your development.
- [00:59:21.300]I think changing language around that is really key.
- [00:59:25.320]And so we've started in some cases
- [00:59:28.200]with just changing language in the licensing rules
- [00:59:31.830]and regulations, so trying to change the language
- [00:59:34.350]from playground to outdoor learning environment,
- [00:59:38.259]even that shift in how people think
- [00:59:40.650]about what these spaces are
- [00:59:42.210]and what they're meant for starts to shift,
- [00:59:44.885]what dollars can go there,
- [00:59:46.710]how do we regulate the spaces, what's allowed outside?
- [00:59:48.872]So, yeah, it's a good question.
- [00:59:53.460]And I didn't know, Katie, if you wanna share any of the work
- [00:59:56.280]because we've been chipping away at some programs
- [00:59:59.527]and and such in Nebraska and partnering a bit.
- [01:00:03.780]Yeah, sure.
- [01:00:05.552]So we've had a partnership with ECHO
- [01:00:08.850]since 2019, I think.
- [01:00:12.198]And a lot of our work originally
- [01:00:15.120]was with very small programs, privately owned,
- [01:00:18.780]scraping by trying to get some type of funding at all.
- [01:00:22.860]And then COVID hit
- [01:00:24.090]and we kind of weren't sure what was gonna happen.
- [01:00:26.100]A lot of the grants that we had previously
- [01:00:28.350]been pursuing were no longer in existence,
- [01:00:30.840]and now we actually, we continue on
- [01:00:32.760]with a lot of those private programs.
- [01:00:34.170]That funding has been a real trick to find.
- [01:00:37.710]But then we do have quite a few programs here
- [01:00:39.720]that are part of the Communities for Kids
- [01:00:43.050]initiatives across the state.
- [01:00:44.700]And so most of those ones that we're working with,
- [01:00:47.580]they are either building new sites
- [01:00:49.470]or remodeling existing buildings,
- [01:00:54.240]but it's mostly starting brand new programs.
- [01:00:56.385]So they have a budget, hopefully,
- [01:01:00.900]for an outdoor space.
- [01:01:02.670]Unfortunately with the high construction costs,
- [01:01:05.285]that a lot of them have a budget for an outdoor space.
- [01:01:10.320]And then as the construction costs rise,
- [01:01:12.270]that is the first place extra money comes out of.
- [01:01:16.170]So we've had kind of some variations on that,
- [01:01:18.780]and we work with Sarah a little bit too,
- [01:01:20.970]but part of it's just, again, it's the funding
- [01:01:24.295]and it's happening
- [01:01:26.700]that we've got quite a few started across the state,
- [01:01:29.760]and it's a slow process as it should be.
- [01:01:31.710]It's shouldn't happen like
- [01:01:34.260]bringing in the construction crew
- [01:01:36.159]and have it done overnight.
- [01:01:37.380]So yeah, it's just,
- [01:01:38.490]but that's part of why I have this great team
- [01:01:40.080]of people you see on the screen now
- [01:01:41.220]that are hopefully helping
- [01:01:43.103]make this happen Nebraska wide.
- [01:01:44.220]'cause for a long time it was just me
- [01:01:46.020]working on that with our folks.
- [01:01:47.610]Well, I think as we can share out, I think
- [01:01:53.310]as we share out the lessons from South Carolina,
- [01:01:55.260]I mean I've had people in South Carolina say,
- [01:01:57.510]if we can do this here, people could do this anywhere.
- [01:02:00.390]Because if they could change hearts
- [01:02:01.560]and minds in South Carolina,
- [01:02:02.790]which is kind of a deeply entrenched political system
- [01:02:05.460]and so forth,
- [01:02:07.135]then they feel like this can happen for other states.
- [01:02:09.270]So we'll be excited to share out lessons learned,
- [01:02:12.342]trying to do some of that at national conferences
- [01:02:15.510]and things to get other states
- [01:02:16.890]thinking along the same lines.
- [01:02:18.971]But of course, dollars are needed.
- [01:02:21.780]They're leveraging federal relief
- [01:02:23.340]dollars and things like that.
- [01:02:24.420]So continuing to advocate
- [01:02:26.820]and of course dollars are needed
- [01:02:27.930]in our childcare systems overall.
- [01:02:30.475]So it's a major challenge in one piece of the puzzle,
- [01:02:34.110]but such a critical piece.
- [01:02:39.712]All right, we're actually at time
- [01:02:42.900]if everyone has, I guess I should say Dr. Colbert,
- [01:02:47.010]do you have a couple minutes yet,
- [01:02:48.600]for question or two?
- [01:02:50.850]Okay, but if anybody needs to leave, please feel free
- [01:02:53.640]to go ahead, but we'll just take a couple more minutes.
- [01:02:57.900]Thank you, I have to run
- [01:02:59.940]for a meeting, but thank you so much.
- [01:03:04.208]Thanks, I've enjoyed it.
- [01:03:05.041]And I'm gonna just share the link to our 3D tour.
- [01:03:08.340]Oh yes, please do.
- [01:03:10.145]And I mentioned, when he comes
- [01:03:12.720]on your lecture series will share more
- [01:03:15.900]about that technology that they're using.
- [01:03:18.660]Rebecca, could I ask one quick question before you go?
- [01:03:21.750]Yeah.
- [01:03:22.583]I noticed like there's so much support
- [01:03:24.510]for early childhood education.
- [01:03:27.930]Like there's a lot of statistics for the zero
- [01:03:30.900]to five and the environmental impact
- [01:03:32.820]on children of that age.
- [01:03:34.890]And I'm trying to find support for elementary level.
- [01:03:38.610]So once the kids opt out of
- [01:03:40.740]or move on from a preschool,
- [01:03:43.957]I'm trying to find information and support
- [01:03:47.550]and resources for elementary
- [01:03:49.590]like a through third grade, fourth grade.
- [01:03:54.510]And I'm having a difficult time finding that.
- [01:03:56.326]So like is it that the brain development
- [01:03:59.970]and function aren't as heavily impacted
- [01:04:02.100]by the environment of that age?
- [01:04:03.810]Or is it just a lack of a resource
- [01:04:06.180]or a lack of interest in a nature school
- [01:04:10.530]or outdoor education programs
- [01:04:12.420]in elementary or full-time school?
- [01:04:15.750]Yeah, I mean I think it's a lot of factors.
- [01:04:17.999]I mean I think it's still a really critical time
- [01:04:21.180]for out to play and learning
- [01:04:22.320]for children in that age range.
- [01:04:24.060]And certainly we as a country
- [01:04:29.130]have been focused on academic learning
- [01:04:33.300]and that early elementary age range
- [01:04:36.953]where play is really still super critical,
- [01:04:39.510]especially for kindergarten.
- [01:04:41.207]And so there are there are a lot
- [01:04:45.090]of movements towards green schoolyards.
- [01:04:47.798]It's overcoming a lot of our challenges
- [01:04:50.280]around resource in the K through 12 systems
- [01:04:53.172]and kind of that district-wide thinking.
- [01:04:56.580]I think of everybody has the same
- [01:04:59.452]set carbon copy school footprint of what is goes in there,
- [01:05:06.660]but I think there's still a lot of emphasis.
- [01:05:08.250]I would look to Green Schoolyards America
- [01:05:13.020]out of California.
- [01:05:14.520]They've been actually pushing
- [01:05:15.390]a lot of national legislation around Green Schoolyards.
- [01:05:20.640]Sharon leads that initiative
- [01:05:23.790]and she's been in this a long time
- [01:05:26.760]and so I think they would probably
- [01:05:28.440]have some great resources for you.
- [01:05:30.450]The National Wildlife Federation also has
- [01:05:32.130]a schoolyard habitat program that's a little different.
- [01:05:35.040]It's more on the conservation side of things,
- [01:05:37.868]but we try to support programs that want to engage
- [01:05:43.290]in nature play in the K through 12 space as well.
- [01:05:46.470]And then the piece that we always forget is that adolescents
- [01:05:50.970]desperately need time outside as well,
- [01:05:54.150]maybe more than some other children.
- [01:05:56.130]And yet as we go up in the grades, there tends to be less
- [01:05:59.370]and less and less for children to do outside,
- [01:06:02.100]beyond organized sports.
- [01:06:04.080]And so it's a piece of that mental health puzzle
- [01:06:09.480]that I think we haven't quite come
- [01:06:11.130]around to yet as a country
- [01:06:13.980]that everybody needs some deep breaths and time outside.
- [01:06:17.790]And we think about that too with our providers as the adults
- [01:06:20.730]who are in these highly stressful situations.
- [01:06:23.490]I mean, it's a lot to be with a class
- [01:06:25.260]of two year olds all day long needing that time
- [01:06:29.670]for themselves to be outside, to get a little fresh air,
- [01:06:32.755]to connect with the natural world
- [01:06:35.910]is kind of a work equity question, right?
- [01:06:40.560]Like the workforce conditions
- [01:06:42.390]that people are under opportunities to for stress relief
- [01:06:45.870]and mental recovery in those spaces too.
- [01:06:49.020]So I say it's particularly our focus
- [01:06:53.040]on like the one Katie's holding,
- [01:06:55.590]but I think that over the life course,
- [01:06:59.001]that time outside it remains so critically important.
- [01:07:03.270]Thank you.
- [01:07:09.420]Well, thank you.
- [01:07:11.115]Are you in Nebraska?
- [01:07:12.300]Are you in Nebraska?
- [01:07:13.628]I'm Nebraska, Iowa.
- [01:07:15.870]I'm right on the cusp.
- [01:07:17.830]I work on Iowa.
- [01:07:19.440]Okay, I'll put my email in the chat too.
- [01:07:21.676]If you wanna email me, I can connect you
- [01:07:23.048]some local resources as well, so.
- [01:07:27.960]Well thank you very much for presenting
- [01:07:29.907]and thanks to everyone who's come.
- [01:07:33.030]This was great, it was super helpful to me
- [01:07:37.209]and I'm sure to our group as we think about
- [01:07:38.042]what we're gonna be doing here in Nebraska.
- [01:07:40.140]So, thank you.
- [01:07:42.346]Thanks so much.
- [01:07:43.594]Happy to kick you off and I'm excited
- [01:07:44.842]for the rest of your lectures.
- [01:07:46.089]You've got a great lineup, so enjoy.
- [01:07:48.007](person laughing)
- [01:07:49.255]We're excited as well.
- [01:07:50.700]Thanks all, bye.
- [01:07:53.637]Bye everyone.
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