The Nature Explore Classroom at

Evans Family Childcare is located in Northern California. We have been in business since 2004. There is nature all around us as we are nestled right between the wonderous Redwood forest and the magestic Pacific ocean.

Our transformation started once we became an Early Head Start Family Childcare Partnership provider. Over the years participation in this program has helped our childcare improve our learning environments and teaching techniques. One major change was when the EHS-CCP contracted with Transforming Early Learning. As a part of the program, Lisa Daly and Cheri Quishenbery visited our facility and helped us re-design our outdoor play area. Transforming Early Learning worked with us one on one to implement a nature-based, loose-parts outdoor classroom.

We took out all our bright plastic traditional play structures and play equipment and left all the natural wood and nature elements. Transforming Early Learning helped us designate play areas and provided loose parts to enhance each area. To be honest, I kept all our playstructures in the begining as I was skeptical of completely changing the enviornment…I mean the children needed to have the purple plastic catapillar to crawl on right? I was amazed at the quality of play that transpired after our transformation. It was amazing how the children were interacting and playing with one another.

Seeing the vast improvements, we ended up tossing out all our plastic play equipment…including the purple catapillar, and have never looked back. Over the past few years we have made more improvements to our play areas. I have been able to also purchase outdoor equipment myself through stipends I have received from being a participant in our local Humbold First 5’s Impact and QRIS programs. We absolutely love out outdoor classroom area and appreciate all the help we have had along the way.

Address

1329 Lynnea Court
McKinleyville, CA 95519