Online Sessions List
Browse the list of accepted live, on-demand, and poster sessions.
On-demand and poster sessions will be available starting in June. Live sessions will be scheduled for June 24-26.
Sessions are subject to change.
Live Sessions
The Ground Beneath Behaviour: Rethinking Children’s Emotional Development Through Outdoor Play
Presenter: Lukas Ritson
Imagine if children’s behaviours were understood not as problems to be managed, but as communications of need, connection, and environment. In this session, play specialist Lukas Ritson invites educators to reimagine behavioural challenges through the lens of nature-based play. A founder of Wearthy, an Australian organisation with international experience, designing and building nature-rich playgrounds and professional learning programs, Lukas explores how the outdoor environment can be both the “third teacher” and a mirror for children’s emotional worlds. Through stories from real-world projects across early learning centres and schools, participants will discover how thoughtfully designed natural spaces can support regulation, resilience, and belonging. The session blends research, practical strategies, and reflective discussion, guiding educators to see how the sensory and social affordances of nature reduce behavioural stressors and nurture wellbeing.
Everything Is Connected: Hands-on Human Ecology for Young Learners
Presenter: Teresa Razo
The first law of ecology is that “everything is related to everything else.” Understanding cause-and-effect connections in nature can help elementary students explore how people’s actions shape the Earth’s landscapes and affect ecosystems in our own backyards and across the globe. In this hands-on session, discover lively, interdisciplinary activities on the human ecological footprint and the challenges of sharing finite resources. Build math, literacy, and critical thinking skills while fostering global and civic awareness, and meeting content standards for several disciplines. The activities in this inquiry-based session will begin with questions such as “How are different species and resources interconnected in a forest?”, “What types of land (biomes) can grow food?”, and “What causes air pollution and climate change?”. Activity formats include interactive stories, role-playing simulations, data gathering and analysis, and more.
Imagine If Learning Grew Like a Tree: Making Inquiry, Art, and Seasonal Science Visible
Presenters: Jade Ratliff, Abbey Finn
This presentation shares a replicable, year-long model for phenomenon-driven, nature-based early learning made visible through a student-created “Layers of Seasonal Learning Around a Tree.” The tree serves as a visual assessment tool, documenting children’s inquiry, language development, artistic processes, and scientific thinking across seasons. Grounded in NGSS-aligned inquiry, developmentally-appropriate practice, and eco-social theory, this case study demonstrates how children’s noticings and wonderings—rather than predetermined outcomes—co-create curriculum. Through images of student work, inquiry dialogue, and seasonal documentation, participants will examine how art functions as both a mode of thinking and a record of learning. Attendees will gain strategies for using student-created artifacts to assess learning, foster agency, and support environmental literacy, while honoring multiple ways of knowing and lived experiences.
Creating Outdoor Spaces That Connect Children to the Natural World
Presenter: Nancy Striniste
Nature play can awaken children’s senses, challenge their bodies, inspire their imaginations, and build self-confidence. To grow up healthy and happy, children need abundant, unstructured time to play and explore in the natural world, but today’s children rarely have the opportunity to roam free outdoors. Bringing nature to the places where children spend their time is an answer. Well-designed nature play spaces are inviting and endlessly engaging for children AND good for the planet. With rich, inspiring images from around the world, detailed DIY project instructions, and an abundance of themed lists of child-friendly plants, including many North American natives, author, educator, and landscape designer Nancy Striniste explains why and how to bring the beauty, adventure, and sustainability of nature play to backyards, schoolyards, churchyards, neighborhood parks, early childhood settings, and more.
Age-Appropriate Climate Change Education: Insights From Early Childhood Professionals
Presenter: Karen Acton
This presentation advances the conversation on climate change education in early childhood. Research findings highlight critical gaps in climate education in early years programs. Participants will learn how early childhood professionals perceive climate education, including their beliefs, knowledge, and confidence, and gain insight into systemic barriers. Key findings reveal strong commitment, but low confidence, and untapped potential in outdoor learning. The session introduces a practical, age-appropriate framework grounded in inquiry-based learning: fostering care for nature, encouraging sustainability behaviors, and integrating climate concepts into everyday practice. Attendees will leave with actionable strategies and recommendations to move from intention to action. This evidence-based session equips educators, leaders, and policymakers with tools to empower young learners and position early childhood education as a catalyst for climate literacy and positive change.
Floorbooking 101: Creative Documentation in an Emergent Curriculum and Nature-Based Setting
Presenter: Raven Casey
Documenting the learning in a classroom has many reasons why it's important. Not only does it let our licensors know what our children are learning in a child-led setting, but it also can be a tool for deep reflection, scaffolding, connection, and creativity inside the classroom. Originally, Claire Warden coined the practice of using floorbooks to capture children’s learning in a collaborative way. However, in today’s presentation, I will share my personal journey with documentation and how Claire Warden's approach inspired me to find my own floorbook practice for my preschoolers in an emergent curriculum and nature-based setting. Using floorbooks to document children's learning transformed my teaching practice by making space for more creativity and connection in my Vermont classroom.
Increasing Equity by Bridging Medical and Educational Models in Forest School: A Case Study of Little Fern Forest
Presenters: Emily Bryce, Kimberlee Kelly
My co-presenter and I are both AuDHD ourselves and run a program that utilizes my OT background to both support the ND kids in our program and also bill their medical insurance for their schooling. Thus increasing both efficacy in their experience at school and equity for families. This model has been tested in many ways over the last 4 years at our schools, and we hope to spread the word to help other schools make the most of our broken educational and medical systems to best support their families and businesses.
Walking With Purpose - Imaginative Ecological Education
Presenter: Jade Berrill
Engaging Imagination in Ecological Education (IEE) illustrates how to connect students to the natural world and encourage them to care about a more sustainable, ecologically secure planet. Cultivating ecological understanding can be more challenging for teachers than simply imparting knowledge of ecological issues; it requires reimagining the human world as part of, not apart from, nature. I will share principles from Dr. Gillian Judson's Imaginative Ecological Education learning approach, designed for use with any curriculum to give students opportunities to engage their bodies, emotions, and imaginations in the world around them, thereby making learning meaningful. IEE is taught on simple, local walks, and we will also look at how imagination and storytelling show up in different learning pedagogies and practices from different Indigenous/First Peoples perspectives, and how we can connect imagination and our own cultural knowledge to learning.
Nature and Neurodiversity
Presenter: Kara Ketter
Time spent in nature brings many benefits, particularly to those who are neurodivergent! In this session, learn from an autistic educator about how the natural world supports learning and regulation for neurodivergent (ND) children (and adults), and how to ensure your nature-based experiences are inclusive and accessible. Together, we'll explore how to help ND children develop their ecological identity and how to advocate for nature-based experiences for all!
Imagine If Learning Took Root: Nature, Literacy, and Belonging in an Urban School
Presenter: Kyra Stephenson
Imagine classrooms where learning takes root in relationship with nature, peers, and place. Anna Murray-Douglass Academy School #12, a nature-based learning program in its fourth year, has produced measurable gains in literacy, including rising ELA scores, while strengthening prosocial behavior, collaboration, and belonging. This session presents an equity-centered framework that supports all learners, including students from underserved communities, newcomers, and students with disabilities, through accessible, culturally responsive, nature-based routines. Participants will explore replicable strategies from our school for diverse urban settings and learn how school-community partnerships can sustain these practices.
Did You Hear That? Turn Up the Volume With Nature Sound Exploration
Presenter: Taunya English
The hoo-hoo of pigeons. The plink-plink of rain. Forest sound in the city is a powerful tool for deepening nature connections. This presentation invites educators to “turn up the volume” during explorations with K-2 students. Nature sounds are building blocks for phonological awareness. When kids tune in, their attention is a ladder toward language and literacy skills, such as responding to rhyme or breaking words into syllables. The session uses bird language as an anchor for science concepts: cause-and-effect, pattern recognition, and animal communication. Participants will gain confidence to weave sound into outdoor play, including activities accessible for hard-of-hearing learners. Foot stomping, drumming with sticks, and yelling into a dense forest to hear your echo all teach vibration and soundwave basics. Nature sounds are an abundant resource to support learning. The cacophony is always there; our work is to plan routines that unlock its meaning.
Imagine If Story, Song, and Movement Became Children’s First Bridge to Nature
Presenter: Tulika
This session explores how nature-based storytelling, songs, movement, and simple hands-on activities can become young children’s first bridge to the natural world. Drawing from Waldorf-inspired, holistic, and low-waste practices, I demonstrate how story and rhythm create calm, connection, and imagination in early childhood classrooms. Participants will see how nature songs support transitions and emotional regulation, while movement inspired by elements like trees, wind, animals, and water helps children embody what they learn. The session also shares easy, low-material activities—leaf impressions, seed mandalas, nature props—that deepen the sensory experience of a story. This approach is non-competitive, nurturing, and adaptable for diverse settings, including programs with limited outdoor access. Educators will leave with ready-to-use stories, songs, movement ideas, and tactile invitations that bring nature into children’s daily rhythm, indoors or outdoors.
Making Sense of Climate Action in Early Childhood Education
Presenters: Cheryl DeWelt, Heather Davis
Time in nature helps children develop capacities for creativity, problem solving, critical thinking, social-emotional growth, and intellectual development. Madison Children’s Museum worked with other cultural organizations to publish “The Climate Action Playbook” (CAP), an innovative guide for caregivers and professionals to support young children in a warming world. The Playbook features original content written and edited by experts in childhood education, climate education, early childhood psychology, and climate action. The CAP shares ideas that support young children and the adults who love them in building compassion and empathy, climate knowledge, agency, and hope for a bright climate future. This session will connect early childhood professionals, families, and caregivers to resources and activities that support young children’s intimate connections with nature and foster resilience and nurture empathy.
On-Demand Sessions
Stories in the Sticks: Nature Books Spark Imagination and Inquiry
Presenter: Heather Montgomery
Unlike stale nonfiction of the past, today’s nonfiction takes creative approaches to facts through interactivity, inspiration, and just plain fun! Gorgeous illustrations, innovative designs, and engaging language–all with an eye toward diversity, equity, and inclusivity–work together to ignite listeners’ curiosity about nature, encourage play, and spark discovery. Via video clips and a book list, diverse authors will share their books that literally bridge the read-aloud to outdoor experiences. We will demonstrate mindful approaches to welcoming exploration, experimentation, and scientific concepts—all through the lens of curiosity and play. These invitations will include: inquiry lessons, movement, plus art and science projects. Additionally, we will examine how books may exclude some individuals and share strategies for adapting longer books as read-alouds. It’s an exciting new world in children’s nonfiction. Let’s use books to inspire the next generation of environmental stewards
Decolonizing Pedagogy in Land-Based Education: Early Findings From a Multisite Qualitative Case Study
Presenters: Audrey Fergason, Sarah Caligiuri
This session presents early insights from a multisite qualitative case study exploring how educators at Land-based programs engage in the work of decolonizing pedagogy, practice, and praxis. Drawing from interviews, documents, and observations across 4–6 schools in the U.S. and Canada, we highlight emerging themes about how educators conceptualize Land as a relational partner in learning, how they navigate tensions within institutional and settler-colonial structures, and what supports or constrains their decolonizing commitments. The session shares patterns in how educators integrate Indigenous epistemologies, articulate responsibilities to Land, and enact pedagogical decision-making grounded in reciprocity and relational accountability. Participants will gain a synthesis of educator perspectives across diverse sites and an understanding of the conditions that shape decolonizing work in nature-based early learning.
Guided Play in Nature: Strengthening Proprioception and the Vestibular System Using Outdoor Loose Parts
Presenter: Omar Vigo-Gonzalez
This session investigates how purposeful outdoor play with loose materials enhances children's balance and body awareness. It is based on research on child development and play, highlighting how guided play can balance children's freedom with effective teaching through age-appropriate methods. The audience will learn how natural surroundings and materials—such as logs, planks, stones, and crates—facilitate movement, problem-solving, inclusiveness, and developmentally appropriate risk-taking in exemplary early care practices, and how they enhance proprioception and the vestibular system.
Creating the Next Wave of Water Defenders
Presenter: Sheila Anderson
Imagine if all waterways were clean and safe for humans and wildlife. Imagine the next wave of water defenders making their impact across the United States (and beyond). You, as an early learning educator and environmental advocate, have the power to start the next ripple of change. You will receive resources, including hands-on activities, ideas for partnerships, ways to overcome potential obstacles, and realistic action steps.
The Wild Path Home: How to Raise Children Who Care for the Earth
Presenter: Jacob Rodenburg
It takes a village to raise an Earth Steward. The Wild Path Home and the Pathway to Stewardship & Kinship offers a tested and proven framework that weaves nature connection, belonging, and early stewardship into children’s lives from birth through high school. The Pathway’s Landmarks outline simple, developmentally aligned experiences for the early years, regular outdoor time, sensory play with natural materials, positive encounters with animals, and repeated visits to familiar outdoor places. These child-led, play-based experiences nurture curiosity, empathy, confidence, and a deep sense of comfort in nature. Grounded in local ecosystems and supported by caring adults, the approach helps young children develop the foundations of stewardship long before formal instruction begins. The Wild Path Home book and documentary bring these ideas to life, combining practical activities with a guiding philosophy for raising the Earth Stewards of tomorrow.
What Math Lives Here? Investigating Mathematics Outdoors
Presenter: Janice Novakowski
During this session, I will share a range of approaches to learning mathematics outdoors and the benefits to each approach, drawing upon current research and practice. I will focus on the foundational math concepts of number, pattern, shape, size, and symmetry to consider mathematics in the world around us. Key outdoor pedagogical practices such as sit spots, nature journaling, land art, and looking closely will be explored with a mathematical lens, highlighting classroom stories and experiences with K-3 students.
Supporting Infants and Toddlers in Risky Play
Presenter: Joanna Spotts
Many conversations about risky play focus on preschoolers, but infants and toddlers also benefit from developmentally appropriate opportunities to explore challenge and movement. This session examines what risky play looks like for our youngest learners and how educators can safely support it both indoors and outdoors. Grounded in research on sensory development and motor learning, the presentation offers practical strategies for designing infant- and toddler-friendly risky play invitations and for communicating effectively with families about the value of healthy risk in early development.
Calling Shotgun: Boundaries in Weapon Play
Presenter: Kate Lasher
As adults, it can incite fear and anxiety. Yet, for children, it is a common and developmentally appropriate play schema. In this talk, we’ll examine the purpose of weapon play, practice creating boundaries for safe choices, and learn when to intervene. Our conversation will be tailored to the needs of children ages 3 through 7 and include current research and prompts for a “best practices” brainstorming session.
Nature-Based Early Learning in Preservice Education: For Educators, Children, and the Planet
Presenter: Victoria Carr
A disconnect from nature and the global polycrisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, inequality, and public health threats constitutes an urgent need for educator preparation focused on pedagogies that foster children’s understanding of their changing world. Nature-based early learning (NBEL) embodies an approach for doing so. College students who embrace nature connectedness and act on sustainability issues for the planet often receive little NBEL exposure in early childhood preservice education (ECE). However, now in its fourth year, the growing University of Cincinnati’s ECE online NBEL curricular option has been refined to reflect this need, integrating NBEL and sustainability-focused content into the general ECE curriculum. This presentation will highlight the replicable, applied design-based research used to create the degree, educational theory that underpins the program, coursework required for both the associate and bachelor’s degrees, and the shift in preservice teachers’ views on NBEL.
Imagine If Education Were Kinder: A Framework for Self-Directed, Forest School Learning That Honors Children and Sustains Teachers
Presenter: Justine Wilson
Imagine an early learning environment where children feel powerful, safe, and self-directed, and teachers feel grounded and emotionally supported. This session offers a practical framework for nature-based and microschool educators seeking more autonomy, intention, and relational trust in their programs. Participants begin with a self-assessment, explore the foundations of self-directed education, and clarify the educator’s role as guide and co-regulator. The session introduces concrete regulation strategies from The Adult Work, along with supportive conflict resolution and repair practices that build belonging. We close with a blueprint for creating a program culture rooted in regulation, communication clarity, and trust. Attendees leave with usable tools and a renewed vision for kinder, more sustainable learning environments.
Strengthening Practice Through Virtual Nature-Based Learning Professional Development and Community of Learners
Presenter: Katie Krause
This session highlights a year-long initiative supporting early childhood educators through asynchronous online professional development and a facilitated Community of Learners (CoL). Building on last year’s guidebook-based approach, this year’s PD series combines flexible online modules with collaborative learning opportunities to strengthen educators’ confidence and skill in nature-based teaching. Participants will explore how the program engages educators, fosters reflection, and promotes sustained professional growth. Attendees will also learn how to join the PD series, connect with the CoL, and bring these strategies back to their own programs. This session offers practical insights and real-world examples of effective online professional development that builds community and supports meaningful change in early childhood education.
Where to Begin: Nature Routines as a Framework for Outdoor Learning
Presenter: Lauren MacLean
Starting your outdoor learning journey can feel exciting but uncertain — where do you begin, and how do you plan for growth? This hands-on workshop offers a simple framework to help you get started with confidence. We’ll explore four foundational nature routines — the Nature Walk, Nature Journal, Circle, and Sit Spot — and connect them to the Spirals of Inquiry Framework as a guide for intentional planning and reflection. Together, we’ll experience each routine outdoors while discussing how they support connection, curiosity, and belonging. Through this experiential session, educators will learn how to ground their outdoor practice in routine and reflection; scaffold learning across the year using the Spirals of Inquiry; and incorporate inclusive, UDL-informed approaches for all learners. Participants will leave with a clear starting point and practical ideas for building an outdoor learning practice that is responsive, reflective, and rooted in inquiry.
Seven Key Practices for Climate Change Education in Early Years
Presenters: Marie Fargo, Lindsey Kirkland
We will introduce research-based practices of early childhood and elementary climate change and climate justice education. Climate Generation's new K-2 resources, Healthy Habitats and Food Solutions, were co-developed by elementary educators with these practices at the forefront, and will serve as examples. Both resources were recognized in the UW-Madison Positive Youth Development Division of Extension’s list of five exemplary elementary climate change education resources. Although the curricula are standards-supported for K-2, preschool, and 3rd grade practitioners will also find it applicable. The curricular activities are appropriate for indoor and outdoor spaces; emphasize developing empathy for living beings; and engage students in opportunities for age-appropriate climate action and environmental stewardship. Viewers will leave with the confidence to start exploring climate change with their learners, and knowledge of two teacher-developed resources to get them started!
Stronger Together: Cross-Sector Approaches to Scaling Outdoor Learning in Early Childhood
Presenters: Brooke Larm, John Vincent, Caleb Carlton, Lisa Marckini-Polk
In May 2025, Michigan became one of the first states to formally adopt Outdoor/Nature-Based Child Care Licensing Rules, following two years of collaboration with MiLEAP (Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential), NAAEE's Natural Start Alliance, and regional partners. This session offers a case study of Michigan’s journey, beginning with early stakeholder engagement and continuing through rule drafting, public comment, provider advocacy, and cross-sector collaboration. Presenters will share tools, documents, and strategies developed to support implementation, including the new Michigan Early Childhood Outdoors (MiECO) Hub, a statewide connector for professional learning, licensing guidance, community building, and advocacy. Participants will engage in discussions on rule design, field implementation, workforce supports, equity considerations, and ideas to inspire states or organizations pursuing similar efforts.
Outside Is for Everybody: Nature-Based Playgroups for Infants and Toddlers With Disabilities in Early Intervention
Presenter: Chantelle Fehlandt
Infants and toddlers receiving early intervention often have limited access to nature-based learning, despite strong evidence that outdoor play supports sensory regulation, communication, motor development, and caregiver confidence. This online session shares a practical, replicable model for an inclusive nature-based playgroup designed for babies and toddlers with disabilities. Participants will learn how occupational therapy strategies, universal design, and caregiver coaching can transform outdoor spaces—parks, backyards, trails, or childcare settings—into accessible learning environments. Using photos, brief video clips, and virtual demonstrations, the session offers real examples of sensory-friendly pacing, adaptive equipment, and activity routines that support participation for diverse learners. Attendees will leave with tools they can apply immediately in early intervention, early childhood special education, or nature-based early learning settings.
Imagine If... Nature Play Was Standard: A Public School K-3 Integration Model
Presenter: Colleen Christman
This presentation details the replicable implementation structure of a successful outdoor learning pilot within a public school kindergarten system. Moving beyond the "why," we focus entirely on the "how"—addressing and solving the core barriers (logistics, documentation, time, and administrative alignment) that prevent sustained K-3 outdoor play across diverse site types. We utilize qualitative feedback from teacher collaborators to showcase how we solved implementation challenges, promoted literacy connections via "storybook springboards," and leveraged our integrated learning framework. Preliminary data on student gains (self-regulation, executive function, group dynamics) will be shared. Attendees will gain proven tools, implementation checklists, and strategies for expanding nature-based education using existing school resources, ensuring the model is fiscally sustainable and adaptable to any environment.
FLORA Child Preschool and Educator Academy
Presenters: Daniel Ramirez, Denise Ramirez
FLORA (Foundations for Learning Outdoors, Resilience, and Awareness) Child Preschool and Educator Academy is a nature-based, in-home early childhood education model designed to expand equitable access to high-quality outdoor learning for children ages 3–5. Rooted in child development research, biomimicry thinking, and existing state licensing frameworks, FLORA bridges the gap between forest schools and traditional family childcare by showing how nature-rich learning can thrive in everyday residential settings. This session explores how FLORA supports children’s cognitive, social-emotional, and physical development through daily nature play, while also empowering educators as entrepreneurial stewards of place. Participants will learn how in-home nature-based programs can operate safely, meet regulatory requirements, and strengthen family and community connections—without requiring access to large forests or dedicated campuses.
Say "Yes!" to Kids with Disabilities: Stories and Strategies for Including ALL Kids
Presenters: Hannah Gallagher, Liz Bullard, Kate Chen, Leiney Gamache
Imagine: 'Yes, let's!' All children have the right to play and learn. Yet, far too often, children with disabilities are excluded from play activities, such as participation in environmental education programs. It is critical to keep children with disabilities at the forefront of our planning and programs. Doing so reduces adverse instances of isolation and exclusion and creates meaningful places of belonging in our community. This interactive workshop teaches participants, through stories and strategies, how to best include children with disabilities in nature-based youth programming. We will also touch on how to integrate play-based and child-directed learning practices into nature-based programs meaningfully. Specifically, we will focus on how to best promote connection, friendship building, and meaningful participation for youth with Autism, Down syndrome, ADHD, Cerebral Palsy, among other types of physical, intellectual, medical, and social and emotional disabilities.
Outdoor Learning for Sustainability
Presenters: Henry Mathias, Carolyn McFarlane
This session shares how an outdoor learning provision in Scotland is responding to the climate and nature crisis. We look at what Scotland’s Learning for Sustainability approach and curriculum mean in practice for early childhood services and schools. We will consider how outdoor play and learning spaces can be designed and managed to minimise our carbon footprint and mitigate the impact of rising temperatures, floods, and storms. We will also consider how educational settings can ensure sustainable action in all practices: play and learning materials, food and other consumables, and how we care for the spaces and land around us. The presentation will also look at how we engage with children about climate change. As leaders and practitioners, we can help children understand what’s happening and empower them to take care of the environment and all the creatures we share it with.
Inspiring Deep Play With Intentionally Designed Natural Outdoor Classrooms
Presenters: Kirsten Haugen, Clara Hatch
As Jim Greeman said, “Space speaks to us.” Intentionally or not, the spaces and materials we offer outdoors profoundly impact children's play and all that unfolds from it. When spaces and materials honor children’s rights to belonging, agency, wonder, and challenge, deep play unfolds, activated by children’s own imaginations, explorations, and transformations. Let’s dig into what we’ve learned from a group of educators convened by Nature Explore’s research team to analyze what materials they offered and how they were stored, organized, and cared for in their natural outdoor classrooms. Combined with prior research — and our lived experiences — we’ll discuss what we learned and how research affirms and expands the ways we support children’s play. We’ll try out a simple research survey during the session, and report back to you on the strategies, challenges, and vision you share.
The Nature of Emotions: Playful Pathways to Emotional Literacy
Presenter: Tania Moloney
In this session, we'll explore how nature can be a gentle and powerful teacher to help children notice, name, and navigate their emotions. Through linking children’s emotional experiences to the elements, rhythms, and patterns of the natural world, participants will explore practical, nature-based experiences that support children’s emotional literacy and their social and emotional development.
EarthStorytelling for Early Learners: Using Local Nature Narratives to Build Environmental Curiosity
Presenter: Victor Ayegba Mathew
This session explores EarthStorytelling Outdoors, an innovative approach that blends local storytelling with outdoor environmental education to build early environmental curiosity. Drawing from my work with EarthStorytelling Clubs across northern Nigeria, the presentation demonstrates how educators can use natural objects, outdoor play areas, weather patterns, animals, and seasonal changes as story elements to strengthen children’s connection to the natural world. Participants will learn how outdoor spaces—whether school gardens, playgrounds, courtyards, or nearby trees—can become storytelling stages that enhance sensory learning, creativity, and environmental awareness. The session also highlights how this method supports equity by providing low-cost, culturally grounded nature experiences for under-resourced early childhood programs. Practical outdoor storytelling activities and an adaptable planning guide will be shared.
Roots of Collective Care: Nature-Based Early Learning Through Community-Led Public Space Transformation
Presenters: Maria Claudia Lira, Maria Paz Raymondi, Gianella Huaman
Roots of Collective Care is a community-led intervention in Nueva Rinconada, a hillside neighborhood in Lima, Peru, where unsafe mobility, environmental degradation, and limited basic services affect children’s development and caregivers’ well-being. The project transformed a dumping site into a safe, accessible public space that supports early childhood care, outdoor learning, and collective well-being. Through participatory design, lightweight urban infrastructure, art, and collective memory, the intervention improved access to a community nursery (Cuna Más) and a grassroots early learning space (Escuelita). Public space is reclaimed as an extension of the classroom, fostering learning through play, movement, and contact with nature. This project shows how nature-based early learning can emerge from community stewardship, safe mobility, and care-centered placemaking in underserved urban areas, offering a replicable model at the intersection of childhood, equity, and climate resilience.
Ubuntu: Hope for All Our Futures
Presenter: Mina Lombard
Imagine if....teaching outdoors allows you to offer a space for learning, delight, compassion, inclusion, and safety, where children and teachers really SEE and understand each other, have a positive shared experience, and in the process inspire nature stewards and foster hope for all our futures. Using the African concept of Ubuntu–I am because we are–we blend this humanist philosophy with nature-based emergent curriculum and incorporate kindness, courageous conversations, inclusion, culture, self-esteem, and more, because we ARE all connected. As Baba Dioum says, "We conserve what we love, love what we understand, and understand what we are taught." Coming from the Zulu proverb “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu,” it means “a person is a person through other people.” We are biodiverse, and the relationship we have with ourselves, others (children/teachers), and nature, shapes who we are and vice versa. So how can we have this as a lived experience for our children and ourselves?
Nature Play for Everyone: Cultivating Equitable Access and Inclusion in Your Program
Presenters: Sarah Thornbrugh, Kelsy Allan, Renée Lopes-Pocknett
Our team would love to share our collective experience and current work to cultivate welcoming, culturally-responsive, and accessible nature-play programming, with a focus on some of the unique barriers to access here in the northeast U.S. In addition to our own individual portfolio of work and program development, we are core members of a leadership team launching a new non-profit nature-play program on Cape Cod on the land of the Wampanoag. Sharing the program specifically, as well as the administration-level details of how we continue to build an inclusive and accessible program and business, would also be part of our sharing. We would like to include some practical and actionable ways that other nature-based educators and play facilitators can integrate principles of equity, inclusion, and restorative justice into their programs in whatever way they can.
Tots in the Forest: A Nature-Based Program for Children Ages 15 Months to 3 Years Old and Their Caregivers!
Presenter: Carlie Davis
Nature-based education can begin in the earliest years. This session introduces the FOREST TOTS Program, a 12-week caregiver-child model for toddlers 15 months–3 years. The program supports the whole child through play-based, relationship-centered learning outdoors. Participants will explore how caregiver education, weekly child development topics, and guided challenges build adult confidence and responsiveness, while supporting toddlers’ social-emotional growth, self-regulation, and emerging independence. Led by a Forest Tots Guide, caregiver-child pairs engage in sensory play, nature walks, music, movement, mindfulness, tea time, and early peer socialization. The session includes a sample lesson plan, supply list, and favorite routines, giving attendees practical strategies and a replicable framework for high-quality, inclusive nature-based programming.
Sensory Seasons: Following Nature’s Rhythms to Support Neurodivergent Learners and Integrate the Sensory System
Presenter: Emily Bryce
I will share concrete ideas on supporting students' sensory integration each season, with information about each sensory system, accommodations for different student profiles, all with a place-based, radically child-led mindset/format.
Children Using Environmental Experience, Emotions, Reflection, and Story-Sharing as Ingredients for Action in the Galapagos Islands
Presenter: Amelia Farber
Children in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, grow up within a National Park, a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site, and more immediately, a small, safe, and highly unique environment. Surrounded by dozens of endemic animals and plants, children often have daily interactions with these species verging on the magical, especially as local fauna have not developed an aversion or fear of local humans, who have been present on the islands for just under 200 years. I present some of the insightful things I learned from children on two islands during research conducted with 9 and 10-year-olds. Children illuminated that they had frequent and impactful experiences in their local environment that often generated powerful environmental emotions. They then showed how they reflected on these experiences and emotions by sharing stories of them with their peers and me. These ingredients were used by and supported children to develop emphatic environmental values and engagement with environmental action.
Nature Boxes: Playful Encounters With Nearby Nature Across Brazil
Presenter: Ana Carolina Thomé Pires
Caixas da Natureza (Nature Boxes) is a playful exchange in which groups of children share experiences with the nature around them, sending and receiving boxes filled with natural materials, stories, and discoveries. Since 2017, the project has reached more than 80,000 children across all Brazilian states, fostering curiosity and connection to local environments.
Beyond its scale, the initiative invites deeper reflection on how educational contexts shape children’s relationships with nature and how everyday encounters can be enriched. By placing nature into children’s hands—both their own and that of distant peers—the project strengthens the quality of daily experiences and highlights nature as an essential dimension of childhood and education. Participating in the exchange also becomes a formative journey for teachers, encouraging them to look more closely at their territories, rethink pedagogical choices, and deepen the experiences they create for children with and in nature.
Imagine If Every Outdoor Space Invited Belonging: Designing Inclusive Learning Environments Through the 4 Types of Teaching Gardens
Presenter: Victoria Hackett
Imagine outdoor spaces intentionally designed to nurture belonging, curiosity, and cultural identity. This session explores the 4 Types of Teaching Gardens as a powerful design framework for creating environments where every child feels seen, valued, and inspired to learn. Participants will examine how garden design directly influences children’s play, relationships, and sense of self. Using an equity lens, attendees will assess their current outdoor spaces, explore real-world examples of inclusive garden features, and sketch ideas for transforming any space—urban, rural, or in-between—into a dynamic, child-centered learning environment.
Playful Learning through Playful Zoology at the Dallas Zoo
Presenter: Anna Lewis
This session will cover how the Wild Earth Preschool, a Texas-licensed preschool located at the Dallas Zoo, uses its in-house designed curriculum, Playful Zoology, to create meaningful and playful learning experiences that meet and exceed licensing requirements and the Texas Pre-Kindergarten Guidelines in an outdoor environment through child-led play. Playful Zoology uses three-week units that investigate a social-emotional concept inspired by a local backyard animal.
Leveling Up Your Risk Benefit Assessments: Practical Ideas to Scaffold Risky Play
Presenter: Kelsey Zuiderveen
Risk-Benefit Assessments (RBAs) are vital for supporting risky play, yet misunderstandings around risk mitigation and scaffolding can leave educators frustrated and limit their use. This session addresses common pinch points—such as overly wordy formats, lack of developmental scaffolding, and limited educator engagement—and offers practical strategies to “level up” your RBAs. Learn how to simplify language, incorporate visuals, and embed scaffolding techniques to make assessments more accessible, responsive, and effective for guiding risky play across diverse ages and skill levels.
Creating a Nature Space in an Urban Setting
Presenters: Cynthia Hill, Ann Phillips
In this engaging, hands-on workshop, educators will explore practical and inspiring ways to bring nature-rich experiences into an urban learning environment. All children can benefit from meaningful interactions with the natural world—and educators can create inviting, nurturing outdoor spaces with creativity, intentionality, and a child-centered approach. Throughout this session, participants will engage in lively discussions, collaborate with peers, and take part in hands-on activities that will model nature-based learning strategies. We will examine how to design, implement, and sustain nature spaces that foster curiosity, sensory exploration, and environmental stewardship—no matter the size or location of your space. Teachers will leave with concrete ideas, actionable tools, and renewed confidence in their ability to transform small or unconventional urban areas into thriving pockets of nature that support children’s development and play.
Parents Play Too: How to Invite Parents In
Presenters: Jay Johnston, Camrie Thompson
As family engagement becomes a critical component of children’s development, this interactive session offers practical tools for creating play programs that meaningfully involve parents and caregivers and communicate their importance in child development. Through guided discussion, we will open a conversation about risky play, loose parts, and big-body movement, as we explore ways to transform any environment into a “yes” space. Participants will also learn how to plan and facilitate a pop-up event, start to finish, including pre-event activities and resource preparation, and how to emphasize reflective practices post-pop-up. By the close of this session, attendees will be better equipped to confidently guide parents in embracing play. They will leave with practical vocabulary, observation tools, and intervention strategies that empower families to say “yes” more often, helping them join children more fully in the joy and learning of play.
Little Ones Can Do It Too! (Infant and Toddler Nature Curriculum)
Presenter: Sierra Wilkes
In this training, participants will learn how to design and implement a nature-inspired curriculum that supports exploration, sensory experiences, and cognitive growth. We will discuss practical strategies for outdoor activities tailored to infants and toddlers, emphasizing the benefits of unstructured play in natural settings. Key topics include: understanding the developmental benefits of nature play for infants and toddlers; creating safe, enriching outdoor environments that encourage exploration; incorporating sensory activities that promote discovery and learning; and tools and resources for seamlessly integrating nature into daily routines and activities. Through interactive discussions and hands-on demonstrations, attendees will leave with actionable ideas and resources to enrich their programs, learn the transformative power of nature, and inspire their classroom community to cultivate a lifelong love for the outdoors!
Imagine If STEAM Learning Starts Under a Tree: Research Findings From a Nature-Based Preschool
Presenter: Nazia Afrin Trina
This session presents a case study of the Will Smith Zoo School in San Antonio, Texas, to prove the hypothesis that an outdoor learning environment designed with appropriate landscape elements for children (ages 3-5) with diverse play and learning affordances can effectively support STEAM concept development and learning. Using Video Observation and Behavior Mapping Data, researchers analyzed how children are deliberately engaged in meaningful STEAM-related behaviors in settings that offer varied and flexible affordances, such as sand and water play areas, loose parts play, and places with diverse natural topography. This highlights the crucial role of policymakers and educators in shaping the future of outdoor play spaces. This case study represents the value of less structured, affordance-rich natural environments as a way of providing diverse STEAM learning experiences and increasing the flexibility of settings for children.
What If Every School Had an Outdoor Education Specialist?
Presenter: Mariah Waters
Imagine if outdoor learning were not an occasional enrichment, but a regular and intentional part of every child's school week. This session shares the design and implementation of a K-5 Outdoor Education Specialist's role within a private elementary school in Houston. Structured as a weekly "special", alongside art, music, and Spanish, the role creates space for outdoor learning to become an essential part of the school experience. The session explores ways educators, especially those working in non-formal settings, can collaborate with schools, support regular outdoor learning, and connect classroom concepts to real-world learning in place. Drawing on examples grounded in phenology, sensory learning, and child development, the session highlights key lessons and student impact. Participants are invited to rethink how outdoor learning can live within school structures and envision how similar roles or partnerships might take shape in their own communities.
Cultivating Global Connections: Building Nature-Based Early Learning in Serbia Through Partnership
Presenters: Patricia Darby, Dijana Kocić
This presentation highlights a multi-layered international collaboration to develop and implement nature-based ECE programming in Belgrade, Serbia. Through a combination of in-person training in the United States, virtual mentorship, and community engagement, the project aims to establish local capacity for sustainable, high-quality outdoor learning for young children. I will work closely with Dijana to design a series of outdoor, place-based early learning programs in Serbia. Support includes virtual consultations focused on curriculum development, pedagogical design, and program planning drawn from the U.S. nature schools. In March 2025, I plan to travel to Serbia to provide hands-on training, lead PD sessions, and facilitate workshops. These sessions will introduce nature-based learning, demonstrate inquiry-driven teaching strategies, and explore educational possibilities beyond the public school system—including the potential development of a charter-style nature-based school.
Outdoor Learning Environments for Infants and Toddlers: Reimagining the Design of Nature Spaces Through the Lens of Play Schema
Presenter: Beth Edwards
Infants and toddlers learn with their whole bodies through repetitive behaviors known as play schema. (Chris Athey, 2009) These behaviors lay the foundation for brain development and STEAM learning. When outdoor learning spaces are designed with schema in mind, infants and toddlers are supported in this important play. They engage more deeply, explore more confidently, and construct knowledge of how the natural environment works. This session invites participants to reimagine what outdoor learning looks like for infants and toddlers when the nine schemas are central to the planning and design of the outdoor space. Through real examples, discussions, and activities, we will explore how simple nature-rich design elements and materials support schema work and infant and toddler development. Takeaways for participants include practical design strategies and activities, connections to developmental theory, and ideas to enhance their infant and toddler outdoor environments.
Growing Together: A Journey in Nature Immersion
Presenters: Cindi Catlin-Gaskins, Sandy Stout, Melanie Valdez, Christopher DeLeon
We invite participants to discover the evolving journey of staff and educators as we transitioned from a traditional early childhood program to a nature-immersed learning environment serving infants through school-age children. Presenters will share their collective journey, practical strategies that supported this transformation, and lessons learned as they reflect on the challenges and successes along the way, while embracing the outdoors as a vital classroom.
Citizen Science Curriculum Designed for Pre-K through 5th
Presenter: Ryan Bowers
This session is designed for environmental educators, classroom teachers, administrators, and curriculum developers interested in curriculum ideas and ways to integrate nature-based learning into their classrooms, specifically for Pre-K and Elementary students. Citizen Science is a project-based, small-group learning class with a curriculum designed to inspire younger students. Curriculum ideas for Pre-K students include "Leave No Trace," "Humans for Hibernation," and "A Real Bug's Life," all the way to 5th graders, "Foraging Top Chef," "Upcycling Flea Market," and starting their own vegetable garden. This session is ideal for anyone seeking to transition from occasional nature-based activities to a structured, regular, and impactful outdoor curriculum for their youngest learners. Be ready to share ideas and leave with some amazing ideas to begin transforming your program.
From Fringe to Framework: Integrating Outdoor Learning Into Public Schools Without Losing Its Heart
Presenter: Erica Hermsen
Imagine if nature-based education wasn’t an "extra,” a field trip, or an afterthought, but a core strategy for supporting student wellbeing, equity, and learning within public schools. As interest in outdoor learning grows, nature-based educators and organizations are being invited to partner with public schools. Yet the path from forest school philosophy to school-day implementation is rarely easy. Educators often face tension between preserving the integrity of nature-based pedagogy and meeting the realities of school schedules, standards, and administrative expectations. This session explores practical, replicable models for integrating outdoor learning into public K-3 settings without diluting its core values. Drawing on case studies from the National Outdoor Learning Alliance, participants will examine multiple approaches, like contract services, in-school programs, hybrid models, and nonprofit-district collaborations, and the strategic decisions that make them successful.
Color Outside the Lines: Nature Reads for Representation, Identity, and Belonging Outdoors
Presenter: Deb Tamez
Stories shape how children see the world and whether they see themselves in it. In this session, we’ll explore how diverse children’s books can be powerful tools for fostering representation, affirming identity, and cultivating a deep sense of belonging in outdoor spaces. Featuring bilingual books, Indigenous authors, and nature stories with kids of all colors, this session equips educators with practical strategies and inclusive book recommendations to enrich outdoor learning. Together, we’ll challenge narrow narratives of who “belongs” in nature and learn how to color outside the lines—because every child deserves to feel at home under the open sky.
Engaging Young Learners' Natural Curiosity Through a Sensory Adventure
Presenter: Tina Harte Ballinger
Join us for an engaging look at a nature-based learning model established around the natural curiosity of young learners as they use their senses to discover the world around them. Whether it is a deep dive into the magical realm of the forest, an exploration of the mysteries within the soil beneath our feet, or a sensory adventure into the mystical world of macro-invertebrates, participants will experience a holistic approach to learning that encourages imagination, creativity, and critical thinking through direct engagement with natural materials and the environment. Through a series of hands-on activities designed to allow children the opportunity to explore and direct their own learning in response to natural opportunities, participants will discover how they can help their learners build a deeper sense of place and connection to the natural world.
Imagine if Early Childhood Educators were Empowered with Nature-Based, Real-Life, and Community-Rooted Environmental Learning
Presenter: Archana Panicker
Imagine early childhood classrooms where children experience how nature and communities are deeply interconnected. A Web of Life approach to sustainability and climate education in early years nurtures systems thinking and an understanding of interdependence in nature. It equips educators to transform everyday neighbourhoods, local ecosystems, and lived experiences into rich learning environments—where children discover nature through play and understand community roles through real interactions. CEE's pedagogy is grounded in the belief that young children learn best through direct experience. This pedagogy blends nature exploration, community engagement, and connecting concepts to children’s own surroundings. This session introduces CEE's practice-based framework, offering concrete hands-on lesson plans and community projects that build educator skills for enabling classrooms to become living spaces for learning, care, and action.
Posters
Cultivating Young Naturalists: Using Children’s Literature to Spark Wonder in the EC–4 Classroom
Presenter: Ashley Campbell
Sharing biographies with children about naturalists has the potential to inspire their love for the outdoors. In this poster session, teachers will learn about Beatrix Potter, Wilma Dykeman, Ynes Mexia, Charles Parker, and John Muir. The following children’s books will be highlighted: 1) Beatrix Potter, Scientist; 2) Of Words and Water: The Story of Wilma Dykeman; 3) Queen of Leaves: The Story of Botanist Ynes Mexia; 4) Rooting for Plants: The Unstoppable Charles S. Parker, Black Botanist, and Collector; and 5) John Muir Wrestles a Waterfall. In addition, activities related to the work of these individuals will be shared. Teaching young children about these naturalists and sharing related activities may spark wonder, as well as inspire them to learn more about nature and the world around them.
Hopeful Hearts: Nature Engagement and Reflective Skills in Youth Programming
Presenter: Erika Hogan
In a hyper-connected world where young learners may navigate digital landscapes more often than natural ones, outdoor play is more important than ever. Often, STEM skills are at the center of nature-based programming for preschool learners, but the natural world also provides a source of relief and respite from technology and the hyper-surveillance common in urban environments. This poster features resources and techniques to approach nature programs as ways to cultivate creativity, self-awareness, and pro-social skills to foster care, empathy, and empowerment in response to climate anxiety.
From Training to Transformation: Reimagining Professional Learning Rooted in Reciprocity
Presenters: Claire Underwood, Julie Ernst
In response to growing calls for culturally sustaining pedagogy (Alim et al., 2020) and the affirmation that Indigenous education benefits all children (Restoule, 2011), this poster and short audio presentation share key learnings from a multi-year Community of Practice in Duluth, Minnesota. Guided by Indigenous mentors, early educators engaged in sustained, relational, professional learning that reshaped their understanding of empathy, land-based learning, and relational ways of knowing. Participants reported shifts not only in their instructional practices, but in their professional identities and relationships with families, community partners, and the land. This session highlights how equity-centered, culturally grounded professional learning can strengthen educator professional development, deepen community collaboration, and build capacity to support inclusive, land-honoring nature-based programs.