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Did you know there are preschools that are held entirely outside? Snow? Rain? Shine? All outside?! In the United States around 1927, there was an outdoor area purchased and built for learning about the forest by Wakelin McNeel and H.L. Russel in Wisconsin called The Laona Forest School. The first official modern forest school, as we know outdoor preschools to be, was started in 1996. Tender Tracks was located in a park in Fairfax, California in which families would drop their children off for a day of circle time, exploring, snacks, etc. No matter the weather, the children would be outdoors. From 1927 to 1996 and now, outdoor preschools have expanded drastically to more than 500 around the United States. Washington state is to become the first in the United States to license outdoor preschools. This has been a program that started in 2017 but discussed far before then. This can help families who want to enroll their children in these programs but do not have the funds to do so and can apply for support from the state.  The principles that outdoor preschool’s follow are not exact, there may be some programs that focus more on one or two aspects mostly while another focuses on all aspects equally.
***Does this topic interest you?*** You could enroll in our new course titled Outdoor Preschools for Children for 2 clock hours. Click here to enroll. Comment one part of an outdoor preschool that makes you nervous.
Here is mine: I am always worried about losing children. I would do name-to-face counts all of the time in a classroom so I can't imagine being in a forest. I can also see that if I show trust to the children about the boundaries, they are going to to be more likely to follow them. If they wander further, it's a great opportunity to find out why and what interested them and to go with them to see!
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