Take a moment to envision a three year old. This person is probably full of energy and exuding curiosity. Their hands are on everything, tuning into the world with their senses. Their excitement, energy and curiosity are contagious. This small human is developing on a massive scale. They are creating neural connections faster than at any other point in their development. They are learning about th
e world, and their curiosity knows no bounds. They are also learning about themselves and how to interact with other humans. Now envision a preschool with those energetic, curious thre -year-olds at the Fiddleheads Forest School, Seattle's first entirely outdoor preschool developed by Kit Harrington and Sarah Heller at the UW Botanic Gardens' Washington Park Arboretum. Those small, curious hands look for bugs in the leaf litter of our forested areas. Their eyes and ears are fine-tuned by looking and listening for birds in our wetlands, their noses by smelling flowers in our Winter Garden, their taste buds by tasting ripe huckleberries in the Woodland Garden and their imaginations by laying in the grass along Azalea Way looking for cloud shapes. Here at the Fiddleheads Forest School we support the growth of the whole child through attention to their social and emotional development, self-regulation and physical development.
