Taking Kindergartners Outdoors: Documenting Their Explorations and Assessing the Impact on Their Ecological Awareness

Initiated by a team of educators and academics, the only full-day nature kindergarten program in British Columbia started operations in September 2012 at a local elementary school. Following the model of forest schools in Scandinavian countries, the nature kindergarten provides young children with large amounts of time in natural outdoor settings where they can play, explore and experience natural systems and materials. In this paper, we describe the creation of the nature kindergarten and the pedagogical principles on which it is based. We also illustrate children's experiences outdoors. Finally, we report preliminary findings of our research evaluating the effects of being in nature on children's nature relatedness and their environmentally responsible behavior.