Hands-on learning in nature offers exceptional benefits to childhood (& adult!) development. This video from the PBS News Hour features the nonprofit Chippewa Nature Center in Midland, Michigan. There is a bit more handling of nature than I might allow in my sessions with kids (not every creature does equally well when handled), but I endorse the goals and approach overall.

In the age of standardized testing, screen time and what some see as a generation of excessively coddled children, a new movement of preschools is pushing kids outdoors, come rain or shine, heat or cold, to connect with nature and learn to take measured risks, in addition to math and the ABCs. Jeffrey Brown reports from Midland, Michigan.