Cedarwood's Outdoor Classroom - Lair Hill Park
Cedarwood is very lucky to have Lair Hill Park as our immediate neighbor. While Cedarwood has a small campus and one defined by a standard city block, we still have ready access to nature. We use the park on a daily basis for Early Childhood drop-off, grades jump rope, recess, and movement classes. We also avail ourselves of its open spaces for large festivals and events, like May Day. We care for and share stewardship of this space. In partnership with Portland Parks and Recreation, we contribute leaf rake days, native plantings along the slope between the park and the school, and along the hillside above the play structures, and manage daily morning sweeps of the space to ensure its safe use by everyone of all ages.
Connection with the natural environment is an important part of Waldorf education. Each Waldorf school considers what that will mean for them and how it will look in their particular location. Some schools incorporate a farm or agricultural setting, some focus on the natural environment, and others may choose to have a small garden for herbs or flowers. And if a school does not have a patch of dirt or a nearby field to call their own, they may travel, take field trips, or take advantage of other opportunities to connect with nature.
Richard Louv wrote about the importance of nature in childhood in his well-known book,”Last Child in the Woods” While the updated version is sixteen years old, the book is still incredibly relevant, especially as we continue to peel back and examine the layers of technology that the pandemic brought to many of us in an unanticipated way. The book includes interviews and quotes from Waldorf schools about how and why nature is an important part of the work we do. With our (adult) time increasingly indoors and online, the book contains lots of good reminders of why getting out in nature is so important (for everyone) AND reinforces many Waldorf educational practices. It is also a good reminder that each of us is part of nature.
Waldorf Early Childhood programs focus seriously on the art and act of open and imaginative play. Much as toys in the classroom are neutral and of natural materials to avoid predetermination of a storyline or characters in children’s play, the outdoors can serve as a rich source of imagination. Sticks, dirt, moss, bark chips, and leaves may become a wide variety of characters, surfaces, or building materials and inspire any number of activities. The materials reflect the season’s offerings and often inspire storytelling opportunities about memories, animals, and friends.
Nature also inspires connections with Grades lessons. Falling acorns and chestnuts, leaves turning color and falling, and squirrels doing squirrel things can create moments of inquiry in the arts, sciences, and mathematics in how we observe and what we experience. Movement classes support understanding of the body in movement and balance and eurythmy creates a sense of reverence, which can also be experienced in observing and being part of nature. Most importantly, unstructured time during recess and lunch spent outside allows students to connect with friends, to daydream, and to rest.
Need ideas for things that families can do to support our kids’ connection with nature? Louv’s updated 2006 version includes a field guide of suggestions for parents and families of fun, sometimes mucky, opportunities to keep our kids curious and connected about the outside world.
Additional Resources to explore:
Written by Amber Clayton, Cedarwood’s Interim Chief Administrative Officer and parent in the Class of 2025.