15. Sand Play Settings
Infosheets NLI 15. Sand Play Settings Download the PDF - English Sand play is a universal, early childhood activity from toddlerhood through the early school years. The manipulable quality of sand stimulates endless play sequences combining imaginative, social, and...
16. Multi-Purpose Lawns
Infosheets NLI 16. Multi-Purpose Lawns Download the PDF - English Multi-purpose lawns provide a soft surface for active play such as ball games, parachute play, and group activities, as well as a place for quieter activity such as story-time. Undulating ground...
17. Acoustic Play Settings
Infosheets NLI 17. Acoustic Play Settings Download the PDF - English Acoustic play settings provide opportunities for “making music” and enjoying beautiful sounds. Settings can be created from recycled/re-purposed items such as pots, pans, and pipes, or manufactured...
18. Making Newspaper Seedling Pots
Infosheets NLI 18. Making Newspaper Seedling Pots Download the PDF - English Newspaper pots are great containers for starting seeds, allowing you to transplant seedlings straight into your garden at the start of the growing season. With a few easily found items, you...
19. Starting Veggies Indoors
Infosheets NLI 19. Starting Veggies Indoors Download the PDF - English Spring is coming! It’s time to start seeds indoors to prep for the growing season– and bring gardening fun to school, home, or a childcare center! If you live in a cooler climate, starting veggie...
20. Indoor Plants for Homes and Classrooms
Infosheets NLI 20. Indoor Plants for Homes and Classrooms Download the PDF - English Indoor plants provide numerous benefits to both classroom and home environments, including a reduction in stress levels, improved concentration, and improved air quality. Children...
21. Creating Terrariums
Leaflets NLI 21. Creating Terrariums Download the PDF - English Terrariums are a fun and attractive way to bring nature indoors. Using easily found and inexpensive materials, you can create a small world of wonder for children and adults alike. With figurines, plants,...
22. Decks, Stages, & Porches
Infosheets NLI 22. Decks, Stages, & Porches Download the PDF - English Deck/stage settings provide dry, off-the-ground, multipurpose places for informal play, gathering, and classroom activity. Settings can be constructed of dimensioned or composite lumber, with...
23. Straw Bale Planters
Infosheets NLI 23. Straw Bale Planters Download the PDF - English Straw bales are a flexible and affordable option for starting a gardening program in an outdoor learning environment (OLE). They can serve as a temporary solution while permanent beds are installed or...
24. Early Childhood Fruit and Vegetable Gardens
Infosheets NLI 24. Early Childhood Fruit and Vegetable Gardens Download the PDF - English Children’s fruit and vegetable gardening can be supported by several garden types. If prior experience is lacking, container gardening is a great, confidence-building...
25. Harvesting Water with Rain Barrels
Infosheets NLI 25. Harvesting Water with Rain Barrels Download the PDF - English A rain barrel is a container that captures and stores rainwater from roof downspouts. Barrels usually range from 50 to 80 gallons. Smaller rain barrels may be explicitly repurposed. All...
26. Wildlife Gardens
Infosheets NLI 26. Wildlife Gardens Download the PDF - English Creating habitat for wildlife in an outdoor learning environment (OLE) provides countless opportunities to teach children about environmental stewardship. Watching and observing wildlife encourages STEAM...
27. Attracting Birds to Outdoor Learning Environments
Infosheets NLI 27. Attracting Birds to Outdoor Learning Environments Download the PDF - English Watching birds is a wonderful way for children to connect with nature. Whether observing them in trees or simply listening for songs, children delight in searching for...
28. Plants for Outdoor Learning Environments
Infosheets NLI 28. Plants for Outdoor Learning Environments Download the PDF - English Plants are a critical outdoor learning environment (OLE) best practice. Different species can provide shade, visual screens, wind barriers, and enhance seasonal play opportunities....
30. Tire Planters
Infosheets NLI 30. Tire Planters Download the PDF - English Tire planters are universally available and inexpensive, making them a great addition to any low-cost outdoor learning environment (OLE) naturalization. Used tires can be found at almost any local car repair...
31. Fire Ant Prevention and Treatment
Infosheets NLI 31. Fire Ant Prevention and Treatment Download the PDF - English Fire ants are a destructive pest that increasingly threaten native species of ants and, as their name implies, can leave painful, itchy “stings.” Although more common in the...
33. Earth Play Settings
Infosheets NLI 33. Earth Play Settings Download the PDF - English Earth play stimulates dramatic play and provides children with opportunities to dig and sculpt. Enclosed by logs or rocks and filled with a prepared “earth play mix,” earth play settings may contain...
34. Mud Kitchens
Infosheets NLI 34. Mud Kitchens Download the PDF - English Mud kitchens (cafés or labs) allow children to experiment with simple natural materials in infinite combinations, providing endless opportunities for nature-centered play and learning. By combining scientific...
35. Natural Construction Settings
Infosheets NLI 35. Natural Construction Settings Download the PDF - English Natural construction in the outdoor learning environment (OLE) supports open-ended, creative, and free play using diverse natural materials such as sticks, tree limbs, large leaves, and...
36. Dry Stream Beds
Infosheets NLI 36. Dry Stream Beds Download the PDF - English Dry stream beds are swale-like depressions lined with smooth river rocks. Children may play with the rocks, turn them over to find critters beneath, and explore the plants living between them. Dry stream...
40. Water Play
Infosheets NLI 40. Water Play Download the PDF - English Water offers endless, multi-sensory, interactive play and learning opportunities like floating leaves and other “floatables,” manipulating flow with movable stones, pouring from containers, splashing, “painting”...
42. Loose Parts Settings
Infosheets NLI 42. Loose Parts Settings Download the PDF - English Loose parts settings support a broad range of open-ended play and learning activities in a defined space, prompted by items that are small enough to be easily manipulated by preschoolers. Potential...
45. Stormwater Management
Infosheets NLI 45. Stormwater Management Download the PDF - English When soils are compacted, comprised of heavy clay, and/or drainage is insufficient, excessive water may gather in the outdoor learning environment (OLE) after a rain storm or during rapid snow-melt,...
NLI Newsletter – December 2020
The Shape NC 3 project has been completed!
Shape NC 3 is an initiative promoting healthy development in NC’s young children with a focus on healthy eating, active living, and outdoor environments.
10 Essential Ways Trees Help Our Planet
Newly Released InfoSheets!
Save The Date For The 20th Anniversary NLI Design Institute
The Early Childhood Outdoor Learning Environments certificate course
Natural Learning at Home® December
Enjoying Nature’s Bounty
Happy Holidays! 2020
Happy Holidays from the Natural Learning Initiative! Join us as we celebrate nature play and learning with our holiday postcard.
Land of Learning Child Care
Shape NC NLI Land of Learning Child Care Land of Learning Child Care in Wilson, NC added a large primary pathway loop onto an existing entry pathway and loop in their preschool area, to give children more opportunities for physical activity with a double looped...
Foundations Academy
Shape NC NLI Foundations Academy Foundations Academy in Raleigh, NC has made their toddler and infant space more easily accessible by adding a low, multipurpose deck as a transition space between their building and outdoor learning environment. They also added a...
Early Preschool and Learning Center
Shape NC NLI Early Preschool and Learning Center Early Preschool and Learning Center, located in Raleigh, NC, has transformed their large outdoor area into an outdoor learning environment that promotes physical activity, outdoor play and learning, and healthy eating. ...
A Safe Place Early Learning Center
Shape NC NLI A Safe Place Early Learning Center A Safe Place Early Learning Center, located in Raleigh, NC, replaced an existing gravel pathway with a double looped concrete pathway with sensory elements throughout. They also added a wheeled toy storage area, a...
NLI Newsletter – November 2020
Save The Date!
The 20th Anniversary NLI Design Institute has been officially rescheduled for March 25-26, 2021.
New Healthy Starts for Infants and Toddlers Webpage!
Outside is the Healthy Place to Be (New Research)
Newly Released InfoSheets!
The Early Childhood Outdoor Learning Environments certificate course
Natural Learning at Home® November
Making Cities Child-Friendly in the Post Pandemic World
Enjoying Nature’s Bounty
ABC Academy
Shape NC NLI ABC Academy ABC Academy, located in Black Creek in Wilson County, has installed a large, double looped primary pathway to organize their large outdoor learning environment. They have always gardened with the children, and they have installed a larger...
Early Childhood Outdoor Play and Learning Space (ECOPALS): Achieving Design Quality
Publications NLI Early Childhood Outdoor Play and Learning Space (ECOPALS): Achieving Design Quality Authors: Cosco, Nilda & Moore, Robin Download the PDF - English Introduction Child care has become an essential part of everyday life. In 2011, more than half of...
Creating Inclusive Naturalized Outdoor Play Environments
Publications NLI Creating Inclusive Naturalized Outdoor Play Environments Authors: Cosco, Nilda & Moore, Robin Download the PDF - English Introduction Outdoor play in naturalized environments has a positive impact on children’s development and physical health,...
Areas De Juego Naturales / Natural Playgrounds
Publications NLI Areas De Juego Naturales Authors: Moore, Robin Download the PDF La niñez es un proceso holístico, diferente para cada niño. A parte de la escuela, muchos niños necesitan ambientes prácticos y alternativos de juego y aprendizaje que se ajusten a sus...
Play and Public Place: Making Cities Child Friendly in the Post Pandemic World
Happy Earth Day! Check out these activities that you can do at home to celebrate.
Kid’s Country of Clayton
Shape NC NLI Kid’s Country of Clayton Kids Country of Clayton has transformed their outdoor areas into an engaging outdoor learning environment (OLE). They reduced large use zones in their preschool/afterschool area to add a large, curvy double-looped primary...
Imagination Learning Center, Inc.
Shape NC NLI Imagination Learning Center, Inc. The large hillside slide at Imagination Learning Center, located in Benson, NC, now takes children down to a looped primary pathway, where a large shade structure was once located. It was relocated to maximize the...
Johnston Community College Child Development Center
Shape NC NLI Johnston Community College Child Development Center Johnston Community College, located in Smithfield, NC, diversified their outdoor learning environment by adding two primary pathway loops, one in their preschool area and one in their toddler area. An...
