North Carolina Division of Child Development Early Education

In 2011, Creating a Supportive Network was successfully implemented in North Carolina as a collaborative project of the North Carolina Division of Child Development Early Education (NC-DCDEE) and the Natural Learning Initiative (NLI). More than a decade later the need to relaunch and expand the supportive network model is required to engage new DCDEE staff, to increase awareness of the physical and socio-emotional health benefits of nature-based child development, and to incorporate innovative advances in best practices. The project contains the following components:

• Relaunching the network to support extension of nature-based best practices for outdoor play and learning environments in North Carolina.
• Creating a visioning framework for nature-based programs and spaces in North Carolina child care facilities.
• Developing professional training courses, resources, and technical assistance for increasing outdoor time, play, and learning in:
  • NC child care facilities.
  • NC child care homes.

The goal is to increase the knowledge and confidence of child care consultants, assessors, and providers to support the creation, programming, and safe use of physically diverse, naturalized outdoor play and learning environments for young children in North Carolina child care facilities.