Early Childhood Nature Connections Toolkit
Cities Connecting Children to Nature
How to Bring Nature’s Benefits to Young Children in Your City
Our friends at National League of Cities and Children have created an initiative with Nature Network known as “ Cities Connecting Children to Nature (CCCN)”. Recently, this initiative has created a new toolkit titled “Early Childhood Nature Connections.” This toolkit provides cities with tangible ways to achieve multiple city goals aligned with nature access, particularly for young children, ages 0 - 5.
Download the Early Childhood Nature Connections toolkit to access:
1. Research for early childhood nature connection
The research consists of an annotated bibliography of research studies showing the benefits of early childhood nature connections.
2. Case studies
Case studies that introduce how some cities achieved their goals around early childhood nature connection. It features San Francisco, CA Austin, TX, Madison, WI, and more.
3. The benefits of early childhood connection infographic
The infographic helps visually explain the research-backed benefits to young children from regular time outdoors. It can be used to help make the case for early childhood nature connections strategies.
4. Pathways to early childhood nature connections
CCCN completed a national landscape scan to evaluate how cities are currently bringing nature’s benefit to young children. The landscape scan provided the following practices, called “pathways.” The overview of the pathways document explains how the pathways work together to support early childhood nature connections.
5. Photos and videos
Visual Tour and San Francisco Children and Nature photos in early childhood centers.
Check out Early Childhood Nature Connections Toolkit and let us know what you think!