Kids reclaim the great outdoors

In an island of green near 90th Street and West Dodge Road, a handful of children poked sunflower seeds into the soil of a bare flower bed.

The seeds eventually will grow into a sunflower tunnel for the tots to run through. Nearby, raised beds awaited the other seeds and seedlings -- growing indoors until the danger of frost passes -- that will yield nutritious snacks and lunches for the children.

Three-year-old Harry Yeager diligently watered the sunflower bed with a spray bottle. Nearby, teacher Sara Dale showed a centipede to a classmate. “You see it? Look, Olivia.”

“Ewwww,” said Olivia Carlson, 4½. Over Dale's shoulder, 3-year-old Mason Cody chimed in, “Can I have it?”

A little dirt, a few seeds, a lot of learning.

That's the aim of the Early Childhood Center at First Covenant Church and a growing number of child care centers, nature centers and other settings that are creating outdoor classrooms that incorporate nature and play.

The center was one of the first in the Omaha metro area certified through the Nature Explore program, a collaboration of the National Arbor Day Foundation and the Lincoln-based Dimensions Educational Research Foundation.

The Child Saving Institute near 46th and Dodge Streets, which finished its nature play area in 2008, celebrated a belated certification Thursday. Bellevue's Gifford Farm and the Bellevue Public Schools' Early Childhood Program round out the list of nature-certified classrooms in the metro area.

They are among 10 in Nebraska and approximately three dozen across the United States. In addition, about 50 spaces across Nebraska and an estimated 125 nationwide are working on certification, said Chris Kiewra, Dimensions' outreach liaison.

Researchers, educators and conservationists say many children today are missing the opportunity for unstructured play and exploration in nature. The Nature Explore program helps centers design outdoor spaces, train staff to use them to full advantage and get families involved.

Dimensions has its own certified classroom in Lincoln, where it conducts research.

“A disconnect with nature is a growing phenomenon worldwide,” Kiewra said. “This is the first generation of parents who are parenting without having the benefit of playing outdoors themselves. They may not know how.”

That's not to say, however, that certified classrooms are the only ones offering nature education. A number of schools in the metro area and beyond have planted gardens or created nature areas. For example, students at the Primrose School of Legacy, near 175th Street and West Center Road, grow their own vegetables, donating the excess to an area food bank.

The Early Childhood Center opened last August after congregants renovated space in the building that was idle much of the week, said Charlie Deffenbaugh, the center's chairman.

The church itself sits on three acres, he said, so there was plenty of space for an outdoor classroom. The property was a golf course before the church building was built in 1957.

Now babies play in a large, shaded sand area. Toddlers pound rocks on a bench near a dry creek bed in a drainage area. The outdoor classroom also features a raised fort, nature sorting tables under a large tree and a building area with logs to sit on and lengths of wood to stack.

“The nice thing about this play area is it does its own teaching,” said Kayla Plotz, the center's interim director. “The teachers are just supervisors.”

Raised garden beds and a 10-foot wooden teepee that supports climbing gourd, bean and pumpkin vines produce organically grown vegetables. A chef prepares lunches using produce grown on site when available.

One of the center's focuses is to combat childhood obesity, Plotz said. Last summer, the children picked green beans off the vines to snack on.

Kristina Carlson, Olivia's mom, wasn't looking for a nature-based program when she enrolled her daughter. She was drawn to the center's Christian-based instruction.

But the nature focus has proven a bonus, she said. Her parents had a large garden, and she has fond memories of picking and eating peas with her sister. She has wanted to recreate that experience for her children, but she hasn't had time to plant a garden at home.

Last summer, Olivia told her what she'd picked every day. One day it was zucchini. The next day, they helped make zucchini bread.

“She was so proud of being able to bring home this little loaf of zucchini bread,” Carlson said. “She got to share it with the whole family.”

Child Saving Institute officials were looking for a way to expose children to nature in the city when they decided to give the center's new playground a nature focus, said Judy Kay, chief operating officer.

They wanted children to see natural processes seeds growing into plants, maturing and producing seeds and then dying. “It's life lessons we're able to teach the children as they play in the yard,” Kay said.

The playground serves not only children in CSI's child care center but also those it works with in the child welfare system. Children from the center's shelter use it at night and on weekends.

The playground includes muddy areas where children can play with blocks, a sandy area where they can run through sprinklers in the summer, an old-fashioned pump where children can pump water and watch it carry away bits of wood, an outdoor stage for performances, outdoor marimbas for music-making and garden areas for growing things. Last year, children cooked with herbs and held a watermelon party using produce grown on site.

“It's a realization that for too long we've allowed children in the inner city to be without those softer spaces,” Kay said.

Contact the writer:

444-1223, julie.anderson@owh.com

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