Nurturing Resilience

Citation: Underwood, C. (2025, July 14–17). Nurturing resilience: How nature-based education is adapting to the changing climate [Live Conference session]. Natural Start Alliance Annual Conference, Virtual.

All children deserve access to nature-based education, but with climate disruptions intensifying—such as record-high temperatures, wildfires, and extreme weather—nature preschool educators face unprecedented challenges. These crises impact children's safety outdoors, damage environments, and affect the emotional well-being of children, educators, and families. Despite these difficulties, the nature preschool approach is more important than ever, as time in nature plays a vital role in fostering children's development, resilience, and well-being. This session presents findings from a national study of 84 preschools in 24 states, including both survey and focus group data, exploring how nature preschools are adapting to the climate crisis. The session offered practical adaptations and actionable recommendations to ensure that every child can benefit from connecting with nature, even as we address the realities of the climate crisis.