BETHESDA, Md. 鈥斅燭here鈥檚 no need for a desk full of pencils, notebooks and glue sticks: This fall, some young students will be going back to school in the woods and trails that wind through Montgomery County鈥檚 Cabin John Regional Park.
Nature Explorers, a new preschool program from Montgomery Parks, is different from traditional preschools. It鈥檚 nature-based, meaning most of the learning takes place outside the classroom. 聽
鈥淭he goal of the program is to have kids outside playing, exploring, imagining 鈥� just having fun outside in nature, which, unfortunately, a lot of kids that age don鈥檛 get to do anymore,鈥� said Rebecca Wadler, a naturalist at Locust Grove Nature Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
鈥淣ature provides so many opportunities for young children, vital for their development 鈥� emotional, social, academic.鈥�
The 3-to-5-year-old kids enrolled in Nature Explorers will have the opportunity to build forts made from sticks, walk wooded trails to look at wildlife, and catch fish and frogs down by the stream at Locust Grove.
Wadler says it鈥檚 all about being a kid and doing what kids do best: learning through play.
鈥淚 bet a lot of your memories from your childhood stemmed from being outside. It鈥檚 not necessarily that trip to Disney World that sticks out in your mind; it鈥檚 those times in your backyard, finding things and collecting things and learning outside,鈥� she said.
Nature-based schools are not a new concept 鈥� countries like and Austria have been teaching this way for ages 鈥� but they are becoming in the U.S., in an era when outdoor play is on the decline.
For two days each week, the young students at Nature Explorers won鈥檛 hang their things in a cubby and report to a desk. Learning to care for the center鈥檚 snakes and turtles will trump the ABCs. And their play won鈥檛 be limited to a static steel structure for 30 minutes at a time.
鈥淭hey have the opportunity to change and move and explore and use all their senses,鈥� Wadler said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all going to be exploring the woods around us. Just turning over rocks and seeing what鈥檚 out there.鈥�
Wadler says she has always wanted to start a nature preschool, and hopes that this fall鈥檚 program (offered in two five-week sessions: Sept. 13 to Oct. 13 and Oct. 18 to Nov. 17) will be a success so she can teach more throughout the year.
Montgomery Parks offers a similar 12-week school at Black Hill Nature Center in Boyds, Maryland, and other organizations, such as the and the , offer nature-based learning programs.
With the start of the new school year, Wadler says she鈥檚 looking forward to unleashing that continuous curiosity and sense of adventure that little ones have when they鈥檙e not contained by four walls. 聽
鈥淲hen you go outside and you give them some toilet paper binoculars and they look for robins, and they have this amazing, 鈥極h my gosh it鈥檚 a robin!鈥� I love seeing that excitement; I love that new sense of discovery and wonder, and turning over new things and seeing things for the first time. It鈥檚 exciting.鈥�
Enrollment for Nature Explorers opened Aug. 15. Registration is available on ; the cost is $275 a session.
