Comparing the impact of nature, blended, and traditional preschools on children's resilience: Some nature may be better than none

Preschool nature experiences support young children’s resiliencePsychological resilience is the ability to recover from adversity and includes skills such as self-regulation, problem-solving, and initiative. Amidst growing concern over increasing stress, anxiety, and depression among children, time in nature may offer an approach to bolster resilience. To investigate the effect of nature preschools on young children’s development of resilience, this study sought to assess if nature preschool students would demonstrate greater gains in the factors associated with resilience when compared to their peers in preschool classes with less interaction with nature.

Eighty-seven preschool children who were 3-5 years old participated in the study. Children were enrolled in either nature, blended, or traditional public preschool classes in a suburban area of the Midwestern United States. Nature preschool classes were largely held outdoors with access to a variety of natural spaces and playscapes and focused on developing curiosity and connection to nature. Traditional preschool classes were characterized by teacher-directed instruction focused on early literacy and math skills as well as mostly indoor child-led play, with a half hour of outdoor play. The blended preschool classes offered a mix of teacher-directed instruction and child-directed play and included an hour of daily outdoor play and learning in nature. A total of 11 preschool classes were taught by six teachers. Classes varied by duration (i.e., half-day vs. full day), and some classes were held two or three days per week, while others were held five days per week.

Resilience and social–emotional well-being were measured using the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment for Preschoolers, which includes subscales for initiative, self-regulation, and attachment/relationships. The assessment was completed for each student by their preschool teacher four weeks after the start of the school year and again at the end of the school year. Preschool teachers also assessed the level of “nature-ness” of their classes to quantify the degree to which their curriculum immersed children in nature. Analysis focused on comparing changes in assessment scores, while controlling for gender and frequency of participation.

Analysis within each class type indicated that all groups experienced significant gains in their total protective factors over the course of the school year. Across preschool class types, significant differences were documented for each of the protective factors of initiative, self-regulation, and attachment/relationships. Analysis of initiative scores between groups found that scores of the nature classes significantly increased compared to both the traditional and blended preschool classes, while blended and traditional classes did not significantly differ. The nature classes’ self-regulation scores also improved significantly compared to traditional classes. Self-regulation scores did not significantly differ between the nature and blended or between the blended and traditional classes. Regarding the attachment/relationships measure, scores of both nature and blended classes significantly increased compared to traditional classes. However, significant differences between the nature and blended classes were not detected. Analysis of the combined total protective factors revealed a significant difference across class types. Comparisons of the total protective factors documented significant differences between nature and traditional classes, as well as between the blended and traditional classes. No differences were detected between nature and blended classes. Additionally, because teachers’ “nature-ness” scores revealed “more of a continuum of nature-ness rather than clearly discrete categories,” further analysis was conducted to test the influence of individual teachers on protective factor outcomes. For the most part, these analyses support findings based on class type.

Overall, findings suggest that nature and blended preschool classes are effective in supporting the development of various protective factors which contribute to young children’s resilience. For the outcome of initiative, an actual nature preschool experience seems to be important, whereas a blended preschool experience may be sufficient for other components of resilience.  At the end of the school year, nature preschoolers’ overall protective factors were rated as “strength,” while the preschoolers in the blended and traditional classes protective factors were “typical” for their age. However, blended programs also produced beneficial outcomes, with the researchers concluding that “some incorporation of nature experiences and practices is better than none.” The researchers encourage integrating at least some nature-based elements, such as daily unstructured play in nature, into preschool programming to improve young children’s resilience.