University of California Irvine
Extended Day Center
This year, much of our outdoor learning has been focused on small moments and unexpected discoveries. As we got to know a new group of kindergarten children, several of whom had special needs, we discovered that the best way to help them learn to work together was by exploring the outdoors. Most of the pictures reflected in our updates were of children working together in our mud area and dry creek bed. Children also spent many weeks digging and creating ponds that they hoped would attract frogs. In the end, they had to be satisfied with plastic frogs, but these proved to be fodder for lots of imaginative play. We had some unexpected gardening discoveries this year: a crop of potatoes that grew from a single sprouted potato planted many months before, and ten small pumpkins, both white and orange, whose vines must have grown from a seed in our compost because we did not plant pumpkins this year!
Parents know that when they pick up their children, they usually find them outside and are always happy that this is the case. When we have parent events, including potlucks and performances, these are always done outside in our outdoor classroom. Families are happy to spend time in the space their children love so much, and children are excited to show their families things they have discovered. We include photos and documentation about our outdoor classroom in newsletters and panels on the wall so that children and parents can revisit what they are learning outside. When we take children on outdoor field trips during the summer, we share photos and information about where we went to inspire parents to revisit these spaces with their children.
Our time spent in nature is such a part of our program that sometimes we don’t even remember that it is unusual for an after-school program. We are very grateful for this journey that we have been on!
