05/09/2026
Four of Little Inspirations' team members participated in the "Inspired by Nature: Beyond the Fence" early childhood education conference last weekend in Dodgeville, WI with Reggio Chicago.
During this conference we had the luxury of learning from experts Dr. Sandra Duncan, Dr. Rachel Larimore, Amy Ewaldt, Billie Joe Scharfenberg and Claire Rietz. We sang about dandelions and played like children, letting nature guide our day while constructive curiosity curated hands-on artistic creations with natural materials that lifted our spirits! We dabbled in many important aspects of nature play - using all of our senses for exploration and discovery, experimenting with loose parts, using technology to dive deeper and notice details and documenting what we see in nature, all while learning how we, too, are natural beings learning to coexist.
The importance of nature in children's understanding of our world is undeniable. From developing attention span and attunement to developing resilience and perseverance, honing self-awareness and awareness of others, developing emotional regulation and compassionate communication, nature is here to inspire and support our learning!
Be sure, that's not to ignore the cognitive development that also comes with time outdoors - wondering , hypothesizing and finding answers to questions, identifying shapes and pattern recognition, fine and gross motor skills, balance and proprioception... the list of learning goes on. So many preschool and life skills essential for a successful life of learning can be connected to learning in nature!
This experience helped us embrace the life giving aspects of experiencing life as a natural human being so we can pass it on to our future generations! Thanks to Dasia, Delesha and Jameelah for joining me in this adventure and taking healthy risks and trying some new things this week! Special thanks to Heidi Duran, also, for her excellent organizing and facilitation! We had a blast and are really excited to share all of our learning with our fellow teachers and students at Little Inspirations!
