Discovering Preschool Partnerships
by Priscilla Woyke, Director of Early Childhood Development

Returning from vacation full of excitement and enthusiasm, 4 year old Charles exclaimed, "I love rolling over logs and climbing on our rocks." Lily says she loves "picking up acorns and collecting leaves and seeing the frogs in the Nature Center ponds." "Sledding down "silly hill" (the hill behind the Greenhouse) in the snow" is Amanda's favorite thing to do this time of year.

Children like this in the Beginner's Nature Program have unique experiences with the natural world every day. On daily nature walks throughout our 40 acres of diverse habitats, children explore and discover their natural environment.

As we walk through the woods we see a fallen tree. What lives under the dead log? We explore and see grubs and worms. We pass by a pond, partially frozen with winter ice. In the spring it will come back to life. What creatures will appear in our ponds in the spring? We can see tadpoles wiggling in the brown spring waters.

We wander through freshly fallen snow. What animals have left tracks or other signs of their night visits in our wood? We see the markings of rabbits and deer. We meander past a gnarled tree. What animals live in the holes in our trees? We see rustling squirrels darting through snow-dusted fallen branches.

Yes, our trail walks offer our children priceless resources for exploring nature. They are places of wonder and awe for young minds. They are wonderful laboratories for teaching our 2, 3, 4, and 5 year olds the beauty of nature and to respect our natural environment.

Sadly, not all young children have this wonderful opportunity, but we would like to make these nature experiences available to as many children as we can. Recently we invited 4 classes of 4-year olds from Stamford's William Pitt Child Development Center to join our 4-year olds for the day. Similar to the Nature Center's LINKS programs for 4th and 5th graders, our preschool LINKS program is also a partnership with children from Stamford and New Canaan. Stamford preschoolers joined our children for a nature walk, stories, songs, art experiences, snack and a live animal visit with Nature Center teacher/naturalists.

Mary Fox and Joyce Ragusa, Instructional Coordinators for the Stamford School Readiness Program at the Stamford site wrote:

"It was such a wonderful experience for all of us to visit your school. Not only for the children - but for the staff as well!!! We all felt so very welcomed and included. Sad to say, but for the most part our children do not have the exposure to experiences that your children do. How will they ever be able to comprehend when they read about the woods and mud and fields and trails if they have not experienced them? The children just could not stop talking about the time we spent in your classrooms and the nature walk that we shared. They finally had a common frame of reference and something upon which to develop a friendship. Thank you so very much for sharing your school and hopefully we will be able to continue to nurture our friendship."

The values and attitudes about nature that children learn when they are young will last a lifetime. These experiences with nature become even richer when they are shared with others. We hope to continue our partnership with our new Stamford friends this winter and spring with more visits. These visits enhance the lives not only of the children who visit us, but ours as well.

For information about openings in the Beginner's Nature Program preschool and Nurturing Nature, contact Mrs. Woyke at 966-9577, ext 16.