St. David’s Center for
Child and Family Development

Over the past year, the utilization of our Outdoor Classroom has flourished. Our preschoolers and toddlers love this space, and the teachers are continually exploring ways to nurture early childhood learning in an outdoor environment.

We included more trainings for our staff this year that focus on learning in outdoor spaces. We have also had opportunities to highlight what early learning in an outdoor space can look like, such as the press conference held with our state’s governor. In addition, as a leadership team, we are being more intentional about highlighting some of the cool things teachers are doing to inspire other teachers.

Our ECE program is incredibly fortunate to have multiple access points to nature. We have gardens for children to plant and harvest, mud kitchens on the playground, tress that support climbing, and our DNR certified School Forest. Our agency supports many programs in addition to Early Childhood Education: including therapeutic programs, children’s mental health, and an ever-growing autism day treatment.

Having the Outdoor Classroom provides easy access to nature available to all programs, especially for those with greater mobility issues. We are so excited to continue to develop the Outdoor Classroom space and nurture children’s love for outdoor spaces.