The Nature Explore Classroom at
Paddington Station Preschool
Our Story
At Paddington Station Preschool, our Outdoor Classroom is where childhood comes alive. Originally designed in collaboration with Dimensions Educational Research Foundation, our Nature Explore Classroom in the heart of Denver is woven into every school day — children spend time outdoors twice a day, year-round, in rain, snow, and Colorado sunshine.
A Place to Say “Yes”
We set out to create a space where the answer is “yes.” Yes to running, yes to rolling, yes to water and mud, yes to building, yes to exploring, yes to dances and plays, yes to discovery. The result is an environment where children are trusted to take healthy risks, follow their curiosity, and learn through doing.
Designed Around the Whole Child
Our space is organized into activity areas that invite different kinds of play and learning: gardens, gathering spaces, a stage for student-led performances, places to create with natural materials, paths for wheeled toys, climbing and balancing elements, and a mud kitchen. Mature trees offer shade and climbing branches, and a grassy knoll becomes a sledding hill in winter. Tucked throughout are pieces of art that invite curiosity and quiet wonder — a working art bike sculpture children love to discover, and a bird sculpture that offers a small reprieve for the imagination. We are also a Certified Wildlife Habitat through the National Wildlife Federation, supporting native plants, animals, and invertebrates.
A Curriculum All Our Own
Paddington’s outdoor curriculum was built by our teachers, for our children. Our Outdoor Ambassadors developed curriculum bins filled with lesson plans, materials, literacy components, and differentiated extensions — all rooted in the emergent interests of Paddington students. The bins travel easily between indoor and outdoor spaces, and teachers continue to add to them year over year, ensuring the curriculum evolves alongside the children who learn here.
A Community That Lives Outside
Our Outdoor Classroom is more than a place children visit; it’s where everyday life happens. Daily snack times, classroom parties and celebrations, Library and Science lessons during warmer months, and countless impromptu gatherings all unfold in this space. Children participate in caring for the garden beds and plants. Families show up for clean-up days, garden work, and community events held in our outdoor spaces, and the Paddington Family Association supports the work through fundraising and volunteerism.
Looking Forward
“We all learn through our senses, but perhaps especially in the early years when every color, scent and texture is new. The garden abounds with things to look at, touch, and smell.” — Cathy James, The Garden Classroom
That spirit guides our path forward. We are committed to deepening our outdoor curriculum, growing our gardens, expanding family education around nature-based learning, and continuing to invest in the durable, beautiful, living elements that make our Outdoor Classroom a place children will remember for the rest of their lives.
