By Kelly Clime, Manager of Education & Outreach
This article was originally published in The Brenton Arboretum’s Autumn 2016 newsletter.
The Brenton Arboretum is proud to offer free field trips to schools because we believe every child deserves to have access to nature and trees. Spring is naturally the busiest time for field trips here at the Arboretum, but any season is a great time to get kids out and exploring. We’ve already had several classes out to visit this fall, and they’ve loved gathering leaves and  rolling down hills. We’ve even got one group on the calendar to come this fall and again in the spring to compare their observations in the different seasons—what a wonderful idea.
The Knee-High Naturalist program provides meaningful field experiences that include nature play, which helps blur the line between academic learning and creative play. In an outdoor classroom setting, the focus shifts from secondary sources (textbooks and digital media) to direct contact with the natural world where learning becomes an experiential, multisensory event. The lessons children learn in an outdoor classroom don’t end with the natural experiences, either; they build skills in cooperation, coordination, self-esteem, leadership, and problem solving. Do you know of a youth group or classroom looking for a place to learn about the natural world while emphasizing the enjoyment of spending time outdoors in nature? Recommend they take a field trip to the Arboretum!