LEARNING WITH NATURE: An Educational Imperative

Planning, Designing & Managing Naturalized Montessori School Grounds

Planet Earth, our home in the universe, is in crisis. Montessori school communities (parents, students, educators, supporters) are centrally positioned to lead a global revolution in school-based outdoor education – supporting the next generation of planetary lifeguards who understand the universe, educated to lead as adolescents and adults in caring for the Earth. From the beginning, Maria Montessori emphasized the broad scope of natural learning. Great urgency now summons the clarity of her thought to drive action.

Robin Moore and Nilda Cosco began working with Montessori schools more than 25 years ago and almost as long with NAMTA (North American Montessori Teachers’ Association). Children and teachers at more than 30 schools have benefited from NLI’s design thinking to make school grounds and indoor-outdoor transitional spaces (as Dr. Montessori herself demonstrated), into vital nature play and learning places.

NLI’s carefully curated resources are offered to inspire nature-based action to increase biodiversity, to make it playfully accessible – hands-on yet protected – along with other play and learning settings – fixed and loose, natural and manufactured – necessary to meet best practice standards across the Montessori planes of development. The current focus is on early childhood (primary / Children’s House) and childhood (lower and upper elementary). Resources for Infant/toddler and adolescent spaces will be added soon.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW EXAMPLES of NLI best practice, community-based, design projects with selected Montessori schools.

(more coming soon!)