The Nature Explore Classroom at
Flowers Early Learning-Millburg Campus
In spring 2024, after a year of planning and collaboration, Flowers Early Learning proudly purchased our first school building — the Millburg Campus. This new location features eight inviting classrooms for preschoolers and infants/toddlers. But what truly sets it apart is the surrounding eight acres full of possibility.
As a Head Start program, our funding is carefully allocated to essential services, leaving limited flexibility for large-scale projects. While we were thrilled to invest in our new home, transforming a traditional playground into a nature-based outdoor classroom remained a dream. Previously home to a charter elementary school, the outdoor area included a standard play structure in an open, mostly unshaded space. Yet beyond that, we saw enormous potential: a garden, a chicken coop, and a landscape rich with mature trees.
Guided by the 10 Principles of the Nature Explore program for Nature-Based Early Childhood Education—and with virtually no budget—we leaned on creativity, community, and commitment.
Thanks to generous partners, we received tree cookies and stumps, shaped a berm using on-hand materials, turned donated tires into play elements, and gathered fallen limbs for fort-building.
To celebrate our new campus, we hosted a Grand Opening, inviting families, community members, and local leaders to explore our reimagined indoor and outdoor classrooms—free of traditional playground equipment. With excitement and a bit of nervousness, we shared our vision. To our delight, it was embraced wholeheartedly. Children and families held baby chicks, built forts, rode scooters, and found quiet moments beneath the shade trees. It was a celebration not only of a new space, but of a shared belief: that connection, curiosity, and joy flourish in nature.
Shortly after, we received the Carolyn’s Kids grant through the Berrien Community Foundation. This generous funding brought many dreams to life, including our outdoor building area—a covered deck offering a shaded, flat surface for construction and imaginative play year-round. We expanded our
garden with pollinator-friendly plants and installed two rain barrels to support sustainable water use. Plans are underway to register the space as a certified Monarch Waystation Habitat. A shaded sand pit invites digging and exploration, while our outdoor art area, nestled between two pine trees, encourages creativity in a peaceful setting.
Support from partners like the Benton Harbor Sunrise Rotary continues to be instrumental. Together, we’re developing a community trail through our woods, featuring a gathering area, a StoryWalk®, and interactive elements that promote literacy, movement, and nature connection.
Looking ahead, we’ve applied for a community development grant to build a large garden with a greenhouse, raised beds, orchards, composting systems, and a produce stand. Our vision is to provide access to fresh, local food—grown by the children—and to give students hands-on experience with planting, harvesting, and sharing. Through every step, we’re reminded that great learning doesn’t require plastic playgrounds—it blossoms in community, creativity, and the natural world.
