Nature Explore Classroom

It is no secret that I am proud of my yard. I have the Golfers Green, come year throughout the spring and into the early fall to fertilize and make sure I have no bugs or weeds and to maintain a pretty green yard. Then I have T's Landscaping come every week for that same time period so I can focus on other things rather than lawn care. Plainly speaking I want a nice yard without the work, but I still want the children to have fun. However in doing that it still makes for a lot of work on my part because I have to move all their equipment every night off the lawn. 

I wouldn't do this if I had some way of making sure the grass under the equipment didn't get worn down or if I had padding under the equipment to make it safe. State licensing states that if the grass around play equipment is worn down then the ground is hard packed and therefore I would be out of compliance and I would be wrote up.

So, why am I telling you all this? Well as you are also aware of all that information then you are also aware that IF I could figure a way to make my yard into the classroom I would want it to be then I wouldn't have to worry about everything being out. But I worry about the permanence of something and then the children not liking it. I want to be able to change it to what they want yet still leave it the way I want. Basically like I have inside but just do it outside. Sound familiar huh? What we do outside we do inside? Yes that's right, why didn't I think of this sooner? 

I was in class in Salt Lake and the instructor was Ilse Wilson. Ilsa is on the cover of TYC, Teaching Young Children/Preschool she is also the chapter President for Family Childcare Association, and she is the ONLY family childcare provider in Utah that has a Certified Outdoor Nature Explore Classroom. When she explained what this kind of classroom was I just knew this is what I was waiting for. This is the outside classroom I want, I want the children in my care to experience this kind of activity, adventure and excitement that I have. 

A Nature Explore Classroom does not happen over night or even over a few weeks, it may take me over a year but I will be certified. I am going to have to draw up plans, change some things in my yard move some of my sprinklers and remove some of my grass. I am also planning on making a mud kitchen and a few more thing but all this is just the beginning. 

If anyone does Pinterest I am always posting new ideas on my board there for when I actually get started on the building stage. and also you can follow the link to actually see and read about Nature Explore Classrooms below. http://natureexplore.org/classrooms/