/coloradan/ en /coloradan/2021/11/05/megan-pattersons-outdoor-preschool-blends-nature-and-education <span>Megan Patterson’s Outdoor Preschool Blends Nature and Education </span> <span><span>Anonymous (not verified)</span></span> <span><time datetime="2021-11-05T00:00:00-06:00" title="Friday, November 5, 2021 - 00:00">Fri, 11/05/2021 - 00:00</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/coloradan/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/article-thumbnail/coloradanfall21-outdoorpreschool-2000x800.png?h=0b1587be&amp;itok=ohVpfr70" width="1200" height="800" alt="Megan Patterson teaching children at her preschool "> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/coloradan/taxonomy/term/1389"> Education </a> <a href="/coloradan/taxonomy/term/78"> Profile </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/coloradan/taxonomy/term/218" hreflang="en">Outdoors</a> <a href="/coloradan/taxonomy/term/1387" hreflang="en">Preschool</a> </div> <span>Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-content-media ucb-article-content-media-above"> <div> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--media paragraph--view-mode--default"> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ucb-article-text d-flex align-items-center" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p dir="ltr">Drop by Megan Patterson’s <a href="https://worldmindnatureschool.com/" rel="nofollow">Denver preschool, Worldmind</a>, on any given day, and you’ll probably see a few children climbing trees. Others will be sorting pine needles, clambering around on a jumble of boulders and digging in the mud. Come winter, the action switches to making snow angels and playing with shovels. When it rains, you might see them mucking around for worms or splashing in puddles.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">But one thing is constant: The kids won’t be sitting around indoors — and they’ll be thrilled about it.</p><p dir="ltr">Thanks to <strong>Patterson</strong>’s (Comm’05) efforts, many more Colorado kids might soon have access to this kind of school day.</p><p dir="ltr">Worldmind, which holds preschool in Denver’s City Park and adjacent sites year-round, is an outdoor, nature-based school where the kids only head inside to their space at Denver Museum of Nature &amp; Science for bathroom breaks and naps.</p><p dir="ltr">Though such “forest schools,” or waldkindergartens, are commonplace in European countries like Germany and Sweden, they’re only beginning to catch on in the U.S.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">Worldmind certainly stands out as a unique preschool option now, but Patterson hopes other programs will follow her lead and move the classroom outdoors.</p><p dir="ltr">“I like to think of it as using Mother Nature as a co-teacher,” Patterson said.&nbsp;</p><h2 dir="ltr">The Right Fit</h2><p dir="ltr">Though Patterson never studied the outdoors, she spent much of her childhood in Grand Junction immersed in nature or hiking and backpacking across Colorado. So when she was looking for a university that fit her wilderness-loving personality, CU made sense.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">“The second I stepped on campus, it felt like the right fit,” she said.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">Patterson majored in communications, but couldn’t shake an interest in education. After graduation, she opted to continue with the teacher licensing program at CU’s School of Education.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">She spent the next year earning her teaching license in elementary education. Next came a stint teaching English in Jordan with the Peace Corps, followed by a return to the U.S. as a charter school instructor in Commerce City, Colorado.</p><p dir="ltr">Then, her career took her north — way north — to teach second grade and coach basketball and cross-country in the tiny Native Alaskan village of Stebbins. Patterson thrived in the ultra-remote town on the Bering Sea, where the only way in and out was by plane.</p><p dir="ltr">“In Alaska, everything centered around the school,” Patterson said. “It brought back that community piece [for me].”&nbsp;</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><blockquote><p>“I fell in love with the idea of learning outdoors, having students take risks and learn from Mother Nature.”</p></blockquote><p dir="ltr">&nbsp;</p></div></div><p dir="ltr">Next, she moved to Colorado and completed an online master’s thesis on the forest education model at Lesley University in Boston. Patterson’s research, combined with her teaching experiences, inspired the Worldmind model.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">“I fell in love with the idea of learning outdoors, having students take risks and learn from Mother Nature,” she said.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">While there are different versions of forest schools built around teaching children outside, she gravitated toward those that also teach kids ecological lessons while being in nature daily. In Colorado, she couldn’t find such a program in the Denver area for her son, Aiden.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">She drew from her graduate school research to launch Worldmind as a nonprofit program in 2015. At first, children attended with their caregivers.</p><p dir="ltr">“I really didn’t know what to expect when I started it,” Patterson said. “I just knew that I wanted to connect kids with nature.”</p><h2 dir="ltr">Outdoor Benefits</h2><p dir="ltr">Patterson found a burgeoning body of research that suggests outdoor preschools improve mental and physical health, reduce symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and lead to better problem-solving skills and risk assessment.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">When she started Worldmind, she was blown away by how enthusiastically kids and their caregivers responded to nature-based learning. She became determined to offer it to a wider population.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">“After seeing all the benefits students can gain, I really wanted to make it accessible to more families,” Patterson said.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">She had work to do.&nbsp;</p><p dir="ltr">Just a few years ago, there were no state child care licenses available in the U.S. for outdoor pres