Gretchen’s House at Highscope

We have a large outdoor classroom here at Gretchen’s House @ Highscope! The preschoolers enjoy
searching for insects, sledding down the hill, digging in the sand, riding bikes around the path, and using the different Nature Explore areas.

We expanded our playground last year to add the bike path and larger garden. Over the past year, our outdoor classroom has continued to grow! We added a marimba to our music and movement area and relocated it to the other side of our playground to make more space for gardens. We added a mud kitchen to the sand and water area where the children dig rivers, make creations, and mix up foods. We added a hammock in a shady location for children to use.

Much of our time this spring has been spent on our gardens. We partnered with a parent of one of our preschoolers who has helped us create a flourishing garden space. We started seeds indoors for vegetables and flowers that we were able to transplant outdoors. The green bean plants that one classroom started did so well that we constructed a cone-shaped structure for them to climb up! The preschoolers have been helping water and prune the garden and have enjoyed peas, beans, lettuces, strawberries, and herbs so far
this season! We are waiting for tomatoes, watermelons, and pumpkins to ripen.

We are excited to see how are outdoor classroom will be used and how it will grow over the upcoming
year!

 

 

 

Learn more about this classroom on their certification page!