Canada's first outdoor preschool

Children will play outside all day, rain or shine, in warm or wintry weather at Canada's first outdoor preschool.

The Carp Ridge Forest Pre-School promises its students few comforts like plastic toys, climate control, or electric power when it opens in about two months in Ottawa's rural western outskirts. Instead, it boasts a garden, trails through the woods, and a tent-like shelter called a yurt, and aims to help children aged three to six connect with nature.

The Ecowellness Centre building itself will be used by the pre-school during lightning storms or if the temperature drops below -10C, and will give its 10 students access to modern washrooms.

But most activities will take place outdoors or inside the yurt. Power-Johnston said staff will do a safety check on the children daily to make sure the kids are dressed appropriately for the weather, and will counsel parents on what their children should wear.

 Contrary to many parents fears, Power-Johnston said forest pre-schools in Europe report fewer sick days a year than indoor pre-schools.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2008/10/02/ot-preschool-081002.html#ixzz18IvieIMI