The Nature Explore Classroom at Union Preschool

The Children's Garden at Union Preschool in St. Louis, MO is celebrating their 3rd year as a certified Nature Explore Classroom.

Throughout the year, Union Preschool finds many ways to celebrate each season. On a beautiful spring day, the children conveyed to their families and to the whole neighborhood their excitement in the outdoors, spring, flowers and nature. A Spring Flower parade was held as onlookers watched flowers, butterflies, caterpillars, turtles and bumble bees make their way through the neighborhood.

A raised garden and pumpkin patch is being added this year after the children played for months with pumpkins acquired on a field trip. They carried these wonderful orange squash around the classroom, lined them up, piled them up in wheel barrows and pushed them around.

Many wonderful additions have enhanced the classroom this year, including new musical items, colorful tree house fabrics, a simple outdoor hand washing station, a weaving fence and a 10’ umbrella to provide needed shade in the summer sun.

Parents receive activities from the Environmental Action Kit for Families found on The World Forum Foundation Web site (www.worldforumfoundation.org) and from the Savvy Parent site to encourage them to enjoy outdoor activities with their children. These simple activities lead children to become good observers of nature and caretakers of the earth, cultivating their natural sense of wonder.