Using the Power of Nature to Help Children Heal

What's In This Kit?
This training kit is designed to provide teachers with teaching strategies that use the power of nature to help children heal from trauma, sadness, violence, fears, and misconceptions about natural environments. It contains:

• Expected training outcomes
• Preparation instructions
• Training strategies and tips
• Implementation steps
• Follow-up activities for teachers
• Follow-up activities for administrators/directors
• A learning assessment
• A training evaluation/further needs assessment
• A resource list
• The article “The Power of Nature to Help Children Heal” by Vicki Bohling Phillipi
• A training certificate to award to teachers for attendance and participation
• A certificate for the trainer and other presenters

Who's the Target Audience?
The target audiences for this are intermediate and advanced teachers. This kit will introduce teachers to teaching strategies that can be easily incorporated into the outdoor classroom to use the power of nature to help children heal from trauma, sadness, violence, fears, and misconceptions about natural environments.

Teacher Skill Level

beginning intermediate advanced

Children's Age Level

infants toddlers preschoolers school-agers birth to 8

Kit Timeline:
Preparation time for this kit is 1.0 hour. Implementation time is estimated at 1.5 hours

Training Outcomes:

1. Teachers will assess children’s fears and misconceptions about natural environments.
2. Teachers will understand how children’s connections with nature can help them heal and cope with trauma, sadness, violence, fear, depression, attention deficits, and hyperactivity.
3. Teachers will identify teaching strategies to help children develop a sense of the seasons.
4. Teachers will identify teaching strategies to help children develop a sense of themselves as nurturers.
5. Teachers will identify teaching strategies to help children develop a connection to the timeless and larger than life elements of nature.
6. Teachers will identify teaching strategies to develop bonds with the natural world in order to feel trust and comfort from connections with the natural world.

These training outcomes address the following professional standards:

• 9.A.04 and 9.B.01 of the NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards and Accreditation Performance Criteria (2005), www.naeyc.org/accreditation/academy.asp.
• 1, 4a, 4b, and 4d of NAEYC Standards for Early Childhood Professional Preparation, Initial Licensure Level (2003), www.naeyc.org/accreditation/faculty/degrees.asp.
• 1304.21(a)(5)(i), 1301.21(a)(6), and 1304.21(b)(3)(i) of Head Start Performance Standards (Federal Register, November 5, 1996, Volume 61, Number 215), www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/hsb/performance/.
• E6, E18, and E19 of the National Accreditation Commission for Early Care and Education Programs, National Association of Child Care Professionals, www.naccp.org.

Note: Downloadable PDFs are only available for download in pdf format. Directions for downloading follow immediately after purchase.