Leveraging nature as an ideal environment for early learning and growth. 🌵When did we decide children belonged indoors? 🍄‍🟫For most of human history, childhood happened outside. In dirt and grass and weather and wonder. Children learned by moving through the natural world: touching, climbing, observing, experimenting with the living environment around them. 🐝Now we schedule outdoor time. We limit it, closely supervise it, and treat it as a reward or a break rather than as a legitimate learning environment. We have built early childhood programs around four walls and fluorescent lighting and ask children to thrive there. ⚡They deserve better. 🌈Nature is not a backdrop for childhood. It is one of its most powerful teachers. Outdoor environments invite the kind of open-ended, child-led exploration that no worksheet or structured activity can replicate. They support physical development, emotional regulation, curiosity, and connection in ways that indoor environments simply cannot. 🐞Reclaiming nature as a learning environment is an act of resistance, and a gift to children. If you believe children belong outside, then Free to Teach = Liberated to Learn is your community. Scan the QR code to join!

IPA USA Porch Play Chat with Denisha Jones The Play Revolution Porch Play Chats are just one way IPA USA advocates for the Child's Right to Play. Joining me on the Porch today is Denisha Brown https://youtu.be/qkUYhL_fPi4 For the last 4 years, Dr. Denisha Jones has been the Executive Director of Defending the Early Years and the Founder and CEO of D. Jones Consultant. She has over 20 years of experience as a professor of teacher education, preschool director, and kindergarten teacher. She offers keynotes, workshops, and communities of practice to support early childhood educators in fostering optimal whole-child development grounded in pedagogies of play, joy, and liberation. Her research on the teacher’s role in play-led environments, global approaches to play, and fostering healthy identity in the early years informs her scholarship and consulting work. She has published numerous articles and book chapters and is an accessible and highly sought-after public speaker. My Patreon Community: https://www.patreon.com/cw/freetoteachliberatedtolearn Mini-Reflective Courses: https://www.djonesconsultant.com/courses-mrc Reflective Practice Immersions: https://www.djonesconsultant.com/courses-rpi Subscribe to my blog: https://www.djonesconsultant.com/subscribe Deb Lawrence is the Facilitator of Porch Play Chats. To learn more about IPA USA, please visit our website at IPAUSA.org