Aquatic Connections Participates in Nature Forum

Aquatic Connections has been invited to attend a Community Forum in Boston on December 5th. The Arbor Day Foundation and Dimensions Educational Research Foundation are holding a forum to raise awareness and interest in efforts to connect children with nature and to improve the quality of early childhood experiences and children's health.

Research shows that when children have regular contact with nature they learn and grow better...physically, developmentally and in a relationship with the natural world. Studies document the numerous benefits children gain from spending time outdoors. In October of 2006, participants from over 25 countries attended the first Working Forum on Nature Education for Young Children. That gathering of designers, landscape architects, early childhood educators and conservation professionals shared ideas for ways to expand outdoor learning and play opportunities for children. One of those ideas was to host regional community forums to bring key decision makers from diverse backgrounds together, at a local level, to address efective ways to reconnect young children with the natural world. The regional community forum model has generated transformational action in communities across the country.

Aquatic Connections has been invited as a member of a prestigious group of educators, conservationists, architects/designers and health care professionals who care about issues impacting young children. The vision is to increase the connections between children and nature in backyards, neighborhoods, public spaces and educational settings as a means of enhancing early childhood edaucation, public school education, family health and well-being, lifelong learning, community revitalization and environmental stewardship. The Arbor Day and Dimensions Foundation Outreach Director will discuss their initiative in creating demonstration sites for outdoor Nature Explore Classrooms. Aquatic Connections has recently announced that they are in the planning phase of creating a Nature Explore Classroom at their water garden center, located in Trevose, PA.