{"id":66168,"date":"2022-10-18T19:59:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T23:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/?post_type=bu-article&p=66168"},"modified":"2023-09-19T13:30:30","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T17:30:30","slug":"dirty-hands-happy-kids","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/wheelock\/magazine\/articles\/2022\/dirty-hands-happy-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Dirty Hands, Happy Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDirty Hands, Happy Kids\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Sarah Besse and Shela Sinelien want to expand nature-based education with their Boston Outdoor Preschool Network<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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October 18, 2022<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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On a sunny Friday morning in April, a group of preschool kids bang sticks against a downed tree. Others balance on a wobbly log or mix wood chips in a bowl or climb rocks<\/strong>. Their teacher, Teri Torchia, stands nearby. She answers questions and makes suggestions when needed, but mostly she watches her 11 kids explore their surroundings. For almost three hours, they scramble around the top of Hemlock Hill in the center of Boston\u2019s 281-acre Arnold Arboretum. And they\u2019ll be back again on Monday, rain or shine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Torchia teaches one class in the growing Boston Outdoor Preschool Network (BOPN), a three-year-old nature-based preschool founded by Sarah Besse (\u201917), Shela Sinelien (\u201919), and Sara Murray. Their concept is simple: immerse kids in the outdoors and nature will provide the curriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nature immersion has grown popular in Europe over the past 70 years. Germany alone has more than 1,500 waldkitas, or forest kindergartens. While more traditional preschools may introduce kids to reading and arithmetic, it\u2019s possible that just going outside to play is the best preparation of all for school. Studies have linked time spent outdoors to improved confidence, cognitive function, and academic performance and reductions in obesity and symptoms associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Even bullying decreases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nature-based education has been slower to catch on in the US, but that\u2019s changing. According to the North American Association for Environmental Education, there were 585 nature preschools in the US in 2020\u2014up from fewer than 50 a decade earlier\u2014and anecdotal evidence suggests that the pandemic only increased interest. BOPN, which opened with a single nine-child class in 2019, now serves more than 100 at two sites, in Boston and Wellesley, with 15 teachers and about two dozen interns, fellows, and youth workers. And the founders have ambitious goals to expand even further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Shela Sinelien (left) and Sarah Besse (right) started Boston Outdoor Preschool Network with kids\u2019 curiosity about nature at the center. \u201cEvery time the children come to school, they discover something that wasn\u2019t there the day before,\u201d Sinelien says.

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\u201cWe\u2019re part of a trend now,\u201d Sinelien says. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of time before we see people really understanding that we should take our kids outdoors. Even at public schools, children can spend time outdoors every week. BOPN and other organizations are shaping that for families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Teachers Without Borders <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Besse and Sinelien\u2014who received Young Alumni Awards in 2021\u2014met while studying at BU Wheelock, then taught together in a Cambridge public school in 2018. Sinelien was working with children with high needs and noticed a pattern: \u201cWhenever they were outside, they were just happier and all of the behavior [problems] decreased,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besse had seen the same thing, but the two teachers had to follow the school\u2019s rules and schedule, which included limited time outdoors. So the two friends began dreaming. \u201cWhy don\u2019t we build our own school? Then no one would tell us not to take the children outside,\u201d Sinelien recalls saying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how BOPN started.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Midyear, Besse quit her job to look for a site. \u201cA lot of people thought I was completely insane,\u201d she says. But she knew of other programs doing what they wanted to do\u2014Tiny Trees Preschool, based in Seattle-area parks, was a major inspiration\u2014and believed there was demand in Boston. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She spent time staring at Google Maps and driving to green spaces that might agree to host a class. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a lot of reaching out and getting \u2018nos\u2019,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was so lonely.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, in September 2019, BOPN opened its first class at Arnold Arboretum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Natural Curriculum<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A class with no classroom still seems like a radical idea to many, but the questions are mainly logistical\u2014What if it rains? What if it snows? The benefits and the learning opportunities of outdoor play are pretty intuitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BOPN classes meet rain or shine. A dangerous combination of temperature and windchill might lead to a canceled or shortened day\u2014that\u2019s a rarity. Thirteen degrees and sunny? They\u2019re outside. Fifty and rainy? No problem. Teachers and kids dress accordingly, with BOPN providing gear for families who can\u2019t afford it. Full-day classes also have an indoor base to return to in bad weather\u2014and for naptime\u2014but the half-day classes are always outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seasons provide teachers with a constantly changing backdrop to inspire their classes. \u201cEvery time the children come to school, they discover something that wasn\u2019t there the day before,\u201d Sinelien says. Kids become curious about worms when they emerge after a rainstorm. They ask about leaves changing colors in the fall and flowers blooming in the spring. They can smell pine needles and touch tree sap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinelien grew up in Haiti, where time outdoors was a given. \u201cI grew up around a farm. I learned in nature,\u201d she says. \u201cIf it was<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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a lesson relating to flowers, I didn\u2019t want to learn that indoors\u2014bring me out, show me the flowers. It\u2019s a better way to teach children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The elimination of classrooms has other benefits. The kids don\u2019t have to change clothes to go outside or move from room to room. And they can play with mud, rocks, and sticks as much as they want. Melissa Sinclair, the mother of four-year-old Marcus, watches her son play. She is tagging along with Torchia\u2019s class today to help celebrate his birthday. \u201cInside, you hear \u2018no\u2019 so much. I love that he doesn\u2019t hear \u2018no\u2019 all day.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lu Agosti and Vanessa Niro teach at the Arboretum as well. Their class is playing on the side of Peter\u2019s Hill, about a quarter mile from Torchia\u2019s group. They pull their supplies in a three-wheeled wagon. It carries stuffed birds that sing when squeezed, nature guides, yoga cards, and Pantone color swatches in a spectrum of natural colors, as well as first aid supplies and extra clothes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They watch as kids invent their own games. One group sweeps pine needles into a mound, then takes turns running and leaping into it. Then they take a break to pretend that a tree is a rocket, about to launch. Agosti watches the activity and quotes one of her mentors: \u201cNever rush a curious child.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meeting a Need, Equitably<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From one class the first year, BOPN expanded to eight classes at two sites\u2014adding the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in Wellesley\u2014in year two when the pandemic hit and interest really exploded. \u201cWe knew there was a need,\u201d Sinelien says. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think parents knew there was a need until COVID. Then families realized, \u2018There\u2019s nowhere to go but outside.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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BOPN now offers a mix of half- and full-day classes for kids as young as 15 months, and they plan to add an infant class in Wellesley soon. The founders are hoping momentum from the pandemic helps them reach more kids in more locations\u2014and reach their goal of making nature-based education accessible to families regardless of their financial resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow that we\u2019ve established a reputation in the community, it\u2019s time to focus on equity,\u201d Besse says. Thus far, BOPN has been funded mostly by tuition, but they\u2019ve filled out an administrative team that should now have the bandwidth to start writing grants. \u201cNature-based education is very upper class and white,\u201d Besse says. \u201cHere we are in Boston\u2014we should be able to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Becoming a universal prekindergarten provider is one way to make that happen. Boston provides free preschool for every four-year-old in the city and BOPN wants to partner with the city in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinelien and Besse are also looking into ways to partner  directly with schools located near outdoor spaces. BOPN staff could help them facilitate weekly outings, a trend known as Forest Fridays. \u201cWe\u2019d love to do what we do with every four-year-old classroom in the city of Boston,\u201d Besse says, then pauses. \u201cThat\u2019s a little ambitious.\u201d But the teachers and principals she knows are excited by the idea, she says. \u201cPeople get it. They just need logistical support.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Teachable Moment<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Back on Hemlock Hill, Torchia asks her class to collect the large circle of orange cones that have marked the perimeter of today\u2019s outdoor classroom. As the kids scatter, she packs books and musical instruments into a rolling suitcase. Then the kids slip on their backpacks and prepare for the short hike downhill to meet their parents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besse focuses her attention on one boy, Theo. He wants to take a big stick with him and starts to get upset when he\u2019s asked to put it down. Besse picks up her own stick and quickly defuses the situation. \u201cCan I show you my routine?\u201d she asks him. \u201cI like to hide my stick in a special spot.\u201d Theo is listening. Besse tucks her stick up against a tree, just off the trail, and Theo immediately copies her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten minutes later, the group arrives at the bottom of the hill for pickup. Parents, kids, and teachers mingle, talking about the day\u2019s adventures before heading home. Theo, near tears just a few minutes earlier, looks up at a man there to pick him up, and says, \u201cI went to Hemlock Hill and it was so fun. I want to go again!\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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