to the Great Outdoors frames the conversation within a historical context( Finney 2014). Other organizations such as the Prevention Institute are tackling structural issues that impact access to parks and green spaces( Prevention Institute, n. d.). NAEYC has related resources for educators that emphasize equitable access to child care, including its position statement“ Advancing Equity in Early Childhood Education”( 2019a).
About the Author
Monica Wiedel-Lubinski, MEd, is executive director of the Association for Nature-Based Education.
This piece is excerpted from NAEYC’ s recently published book Nature-Based Early Childhood Education. To read more about the book, visit NAEYC. org / resources / pubs / books / nature-basedece.
References
Finney, C. 2014. Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors. The University of North Carolina Press.
Frey, W. H. 2019. Less Than Half of US Children Under 15 Are White, Census Shows. Brookings. brookings. edu / articles / less-than-half-of-us-children-under-15-are-white-censusshows /#:~: text = Declines % 20in % 20white % 20youth % 20 population, U. S.% 20Census % 20Bureau % 20estimates % 20show.
NAAEE( North American Association for Environmental Education). 2017. Nature Preschools and Forest Kindergartens: 2017 National Survey. researchconnections. org / childcare / resources / 150836.
NAEYC. 2019a.“ Advancing Equity in Early Childhood Education.” Position statement. NAEYC. naeyc. org / resources / positionstatements / equity.
NAEYC. 2019b.“ Defining and Recognizing High-Quality Early Learning Programs: NAEYC’ s 10 Accreditation Standards.” Teaching Young Children 13( 1). naeyc. org / definingrecognizing-high-quality-early-learning-programs.
Powers, S. L., A. J. Mowen, & N. Webster. 2024.“ Development and Validation of a Scale Measuring Public Perceptions of Racial Environmental Justice in Parks.” Journal of Leisure Research 55( 1): 1 – 24.
Prevention Institute. n. d. People, Parks, and Power: A National Initiative for Green Space, Health Equity, and Racial Justice. preventioninstitute. org / projects / people-parks-and-power.
Roberts, N. S. 2015.“ Race, Ethnicity, and Outdoor Studies: Trends, Challenges and Forward Momentum.” In Routledge International Handbook of Outdoor Studies, eds. B. Humberstone, H. Prince, & K. A. Henderson. Routledge.
Tozer, T., K. Hörschelmann, I. Anguelovski, H. Bulkeley, & Y. Lazova. 2020.“ Whose City? Whose Nature? Towards Inclusive Nature-Based Solution Governance.” Cities 107: 102892.
Photographs: © Getty Images Copyright © 2025 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. See Permissions and Reprints online at NAEYC. org / resources / permissions.
32 Young Children
Winter 2025