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Austin Public Library (APL) is transforming library spaces into hubs for nature exploration through its Nature-Smart Library initiative. APL is embedding environmental education, outdoor learning, and green space improvements into its library services to address nature access disparities. Read this case study to learn more about Austin’s approach.
The city of Austin, Texas publicly declared its belief that all children — regardless of race or income level — deserve access to nature’s benefits when the city council passed the Austin Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights. And, thanks to the leadership in Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department and strong partnerships across the city, the community is taking steps to bring this commitment to life by making regular nature access a reality for young children in Austin.
Austin, Texas, is reshaping how kids interact with nature to create equitable access for all. The city is part of the Nature Everywhere Communities initiative, a partnership among the Children & Nature Network, KABOOM! and the National League of Cities, and an extension of the multi-year Cities Connecting Children to Nature initiative. Key efforts include transforming school grounds into green schoolyards, creating nature play spaces and partnering with Austin Public Library to increase nature-themed library programming. The city aims to make nature an everyday part of children’s lives, supporting children’s physical and emotional health and nurturing their lifelong connection to the environment. In the Parks.
This Climate Resilience-Nature Connections Toolkit demonstrates how cities can pursue both goals of increasing climate resilience and fostering deeper connections to nature, simultaneously. Four proven strategies in this toolkit, Nature in Early Childhood, Green Schoolyards, Nature-Smart Libraries and Nature Exploration Areas, when combined with climate goals, create healthier, more resilient communities where children thrive and ecosystems are protected.
This toolkit highlights innovative, Nature-Smart Library initiatives nationwide, showcasing how libraries can collaborate with cities, parks, and community partners to expand nature access. While many libraries lead individual efforts, this toolkit emphasizes system-wide strategies to ensure nature is accessible across entire communities.
The Nature in Early Childhood Toolkit offers a structured, multi-layered approach to ensure that nature is fully integrated into early childhood education systems. It provides tools, case studies and implementation guides to help communities think through the various stages of implementation, from partnership building and workforce training to amplifying and sustaining efforts through policy change and funding.
These Nature Activity Cards are a great way to get started having fun in nature with family and friends. Each set of cards has a suggested age group (2-6 years old or 7-11 years old) and a theme, such as urban animals, clouds, crafts, reptiles and frogs. Inside each set, you’ll find activities that incorporate play, acting, drawing, stewardship and more. You can view the cards online, or download and print out for fun on the go.
Collaboration by nature: Getting children outdoors gets top billing when organizations work together
With its super-sized list of supporters and collaborators, Texas Children in Nature (TCiN) is seemingly a model for winning friends and influencing people on behalf of getting kids engaged in the outdoors.
On a hot summer day, time seems to slow to a crawl, and our instinct is to head indoors, shelter in the air conditioning and drink something...
How Green Schoolyards Can Help Make Schools Safer This Fall—and Improve Kids’ Lives Permanently
A 4-year-old boy pounds a branch on a round slice of tree trunk, known as a “tree cookie.” Realizing he can make music, he smiles and begins to pound in rhythm. Across the yard, another group of preschoolers follow a teacher along a log on the ground. The kids hold their arms wide, balancing and following directions. Ahead of them are children who are jumping from rock to rock, squealing as one kid yells, “Ground is lava!”
To an adult, tree rounds scattered around a schoolyard may seem a little boring. But through the eyes of a child, stumps can be magical. “The...
The tools and resources compiled below will help cities, school districts, and partners work together to envision and implement district-wide, equity-based, open-access green schoolyards. While many of these tools were created with school district staff in mind, they can be adapted to support communities of all sizes, schools, or local community groups.
“Climate change has seeped into everything that we do,” says Brigid Deegan, Senior Climate Specialist at the National League of Cities. “It impacts the air we breathe...
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the public school district unveiled five new greenspaces and playgrounds as part of its district-wide green schoolyard plan. In Rochester, New York, the city...
On Jan. 25, when Former First Lady Laura Bush gave the keynote address at a Texas summit on children and nature, she was “moved to tears,” according to...
On a cold mid-January evening in Rochester, NY, a group of young people stand around a circle in a snow-covered forest cheering for each other. Their aim? Start a...
Heather Kuhlken can inspire a child to start loving nature with just a headlamp and a few minutes. Her trick is to go outside on a...
It was the first five minutes of the Nature as Healer Roundtable. I had my computer, coffee and breakfast tacos ready to go on the desk in...
The tools and resources compiled help cities and partners achieve these goals with a particular focus on equity so all children regardless of race or income have access to nature’s benefits.
In mid-November, leaders from 19 U.S. communities gathered to share their goals and visions for connecting children and families to the benefits of nature during “vision labs”...
Cities Connecting Children to Nature (CCCN), through conversations with agency partners, created this online resource that outlines a set of “best fit” federal programs, from major federal agencies, that cities can leverage for their children-to-nature activities via direct application or through partnerships.
Houston is well situated to become a leading city — perhaps the leading city — to envision its future through the unique prism of the natural world. "If...
When it comes to green schoolyards, kids know just what to do — play! So where does “activation” come in? Before the kids even get there!...
Growing up, my family didn’t do the outdoors — or so I thought. Later, during my first job as an educator at Houston Independent School District’s Outdoor...
It would be easy to think about this new year as “déjà vu all over again.” The global pandemic continues, with children bearing some of its worst impacts. Long-standing inequity remains entrenched in communities around the world, and critical climate and geopolitical challenges share the headlines with the latest COVID variant.
In May, more than 700 children and nature advocates from around the world gathered in Atlanta, Georgia and online for the 2022 Inside-Out International Conference, hosted by the...
“Worm. Rabbit. Fox.” A ball of string is tossed around. “Tree. Squirrel. Owl.” On and on it goes, as 5th graders name animals or plants in a habitat and toss the string. The ball of string keeps traveling until every child is linked in an entangled web. Years ago when I was an outdoor educator, I led this activity weekly. I would announce that the fox had a good hunting day, which was unfortunate for the rabbit.
Meet the seven powerful young leaders on the 2025 Young Adults Advisory Council. Among other things, the Young Adults Advisory Council helps guide the planning, production and...
At the Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin, a high school student points to a banana plant in awe, mouth open wide, and says, “This is where...
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