Spring Hollow Early Learning Center

Along with many schools across the country and the globe, our Spring Hollow staff spent extensive time researching the appropriate and safe way to reopen schools in August of 2020. We are thrilled with the results of that plan: a preschool in which children spend the vast majority of their day outdoors, fully engaged in all that the natural world has to offer. We have all been reminded that children are capable of hard things, and in fact thrive, with the challenge.

After observing and documenting the children as they use the space, we have introduced even more loose parts than in years past – stumps, buckets, baskets, planks and boards, sticks, and a more expansive water play system. We have planted corn, beans, herbs, tulips and blueberry bushes, and learned about native edible plants. We have created quiet, cozy spaces on covered porches and brought our meeting times outdoors.

The children’s Big Ideas are driven by the world around them, and recently we have explored ideas such as the wind, flowing water and ice, bridges and obstacles, and Leave No Trace principles.