Creating an Early Childhood Nature-Based Play Space—A Success Story

Abstract

This article chronicles the successful expansion of an existing play space, filled with commercial play equipment, to include a nature-based area for the young children attending an early childhood program in a Canadian First Nations community. This change was sparked by the centre director’s participation in a one-hour workshop focused on the importance of children being in nature. The subsequent process the director went through to provide a nature-based space is described here. The responses of the children and the early childhood educators to the new space are reported. Concluding thoughts about why this particular director might have been inspired and able to effect this change are offered.