Outdoor Classroom

"Healing the broken bond between our young and nature is in our self-interest, not only because aesthetics or justice demand it, but also because our mental, physical, and spiritual health depend upon it." —from "Last Child in the Woods," Algonquin Books

With hardy banana plants, a grape arbor and the sorts of plants that attract butterflies and give shelter to birds, IPCP’s Outdoor Classroom is more than just a playground — it’s a place where “kids can learn that carrots don’t just come in packages.”

The preschool purchased the 8,000 square foot Outdoor Classroom space across Waddell Street from its main building in 1995. In the years since, parental sweat equity, vision and commitment have turned a vacant lot into a blossoming garden of edible and ornamental shrubs, trees, vines and perennials.

Now that the hardscape of a beautiful garden is in place, the preschool has turned its attention to bringing the “outdoors” into its indoor curriculum, giving students, from the youngest one-year-old to the most energetic multi-ager, the opportunity to learn about their larger world through nature. Through weekly sessions supervised by IPCP’s Outdoor Classroom Educator Brandi Clark, students learn science, math — and those childhood favorites, creepy-crawlies — at the same time as they examine their immediate environment. IPCP is committed to making school greenspace a learning environment, and the Outdoor Classroom is now a certified National Wildlife Federation Backyard Habitat, using national guidelines that insure habitat —water, food and shelter — to animals and birds.

Studies show that social, physical and environmental constraints may be creating our first generation of “indoor children” who are largely disconnected from nature. Educators, children’s advocates, policy makers and parents are beginning to realize that because of the structured, urban upbringing many of our children experience, familiarity with nature may not actually come naturally.

Studies also show that having an Outdoor Classroom positively influences a school’s whole curriculum. IPCP hopes to stand at the vanguard of the new movement to “leave no child inside.” IPCP fundraising activities, including a one-day partnership with Whole Foods in 2005, allowed the school to hire its first formal Outdoor Classroom Educator. In addition, classes use the Outdoor Classroom for a variety of projects, ranging from special events such as Spring and Fall Planting Days and planning and installing class garden plots to holding the Inman Park Festival’s annual Caterpillar Ball for children.

Studies show that children as young as three who garden a half-hour per week maintain good nutritional habits. Growing edibles teaches them about the importance of a good diet and the cycle of life. Being in an outdoor learning space teaches kids of all ages about the world around them in a way that can only strengthen their learning in the more traditional classroom setting. “A comfort with plants and animals makes it easy for kids to want to steward our planet,” parent and 2004 Outdoor Classroom Chair Polly McKinney said for a September 2004 article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The Outdoor Classroom is the coolest way to help this happen."