Natural Learning Initiative (NLI) website.
All downloadable & viewable resources.
Early Childhood Best Practice Virtual Field Trip.
Wanda Davis, Director. “Outdoor Learning Environments and Farm to Childcare” 3 min.
Robin Moore. Seven short explanatory clips. 20 sec.
Robin Moore. “Participatory Design Community Process” 3 min.
Kim Shaw, Owner. “We change the Culture here” 3 min.
Interactive Virtual Tour
The Interactive Virtual Tour (in collaboration with Texas Tech University, TTU) offers a free form exploration of a model outdoor learning environment with embedded information along the way. The objective is to train child care professionals, policy makers, and leaders to create diverse, healthier early childhood environments
Preschool Best Practice Toolkit (2nd Edition). Download
Digital booklet. Includes 13 illustrated best practice indicators.
Childcare Outdoor Learning Environment Quality Tool (COLEQT). Codes
Assessment based on the 13 illustrated best practice indicators from the Preschool Best Practice Toolkit.
Gardening with Young Children. Guide and Resources download. Videos
Twelve-step guide and associated resources.
Growing Up Green: Naturalization as a Health Promotion Strategy.
Conceptual framework article.
We’re all in this together! Outdoor play and learning. COVID Support pages.
Resources supporting outdoor play and learning.
Growing Up Green: Naturalization as a Health Promotion Strategy.
Robin Moore, & Nilda Cosco. (2014). Growing Up Green: Naturalization as a Health Promotion Strategy in Early Childhood Outdoor Learning Environments. Children, Youth and Environments, 24(2), 168–191. Preventing Obesity by Design (POD) is presented as a step-by-step, system-wide, cost-effective health promotion strategy, implementing a naturalization approach to improve the quality of outdoor play & learning environments in childcare facilities.
NLI Newsletters.
Sign-Up page
Effects of a Childcare Gardening Intervention on Physical Activity
Publication – Nancy M. Wells, Nilda Graciela Cosco
Childcare Gardening Effects on Fruit and Vegetable Identification, Liking, and Consumption
Publication – Nilda G. Cosco, Nancy M. Wells, et al.
Research Design, Protocol, and Participant Characteristics of COLEAFS
Publication – by Nilda Graciela Cosco
Effects of Childcare Hands-On Gardening on Preschoolers’ (3–5 Years) Physical Activity in Semi-Arid Climate Zone
Publication – Muntazar Monsur, et al.
Increasing Physical Activity in Childcare Outdoor Learning Environments: The Effect of Setting Adjacency Relative to Other Built Environment and Social Factors
Publication – William R. Smith, Robin Moore, Nilda Cosco, et al.
Childcare outdoor renovation as a built environment health promotion strategy: evaluating the preventing obesity by design intervention
Publication – William R. Smith, Robin Moore, Nilda Cosco