The Power of Play
The Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences earned national recognition for its outdoor classroom. The Piper Center for Family Studies and Child Development received the designation of a Certified Nature Explore Classroom by Nature Explore, a nonprofit program of Dimensions Educational Research Foundation.
“We have this beautiful outdoor space at our laboratory school,” Michelle Kiefer, director of the Piper Center, said. “So, I thought, let’s use it to its full potential.”
The Piper Center is an integral part of the Child and Family Studies (CFS) academic program within Robbins College. It serves as a model of early childhood education, enrolling children ages 8 weeks to 5 years old. Certification as a Nature Explore Classroom will benefit growth for research opportunities and CFS students’ comprehensive understanding of child development.
“We have about 100 CFS lab students each semester, most of whom express interest in working with children in medical settings, families living below the poverty level or high-trauma situations. These demographics tend to get the least exposure to high-quality nature education,” Kiefer said. “So, our lab students can take what they learn in this space to those careers and explain why getting outside is so important for development.”
Research consistently points to nature as a tool for enhancing concentration, problem-solving and managing stress, and these unique outdoor classrooms emphasize children’s sensorimotor development, creativity and imagination. At the Piper Center, diverse spaces include activities such as gardening, composting, music and instruments, blocks and other toys, water play and nature art.
Criteria for gaining certification included creating specific labels for different play stations and centralizing storage spaces outside to give the feel of an indoor classroom in an outdoor setting. Children can be spotted learning how to walk over bridges, playing with tires, drawing on easels or collecting pinecones — all with faces and sounds of joy-filled curiosity.
“There is a large difference between inside and outside stimuli. For example, a child who may know how to walk on the ground inside could struggle to walk on the uneven ground outside,” Kiefer explained. “This gives them safe opportunities for sensory development.”