Building Blocks Students Growing a Green Future

Today is Earth Day, a grassroots movement started in 1970 to channel society’s efforts into protecting our environment. But for the students in the Building Blocks early childhood education program, every day is Earth Day.

Elizabeth Pierson, child care and community education interim supervisor for the , has begun plans to turn the play area at Tyndall and Avery centers in Oak Park into an outdoor classroom.

Since taking the interim position in December, Pierson began implementing a program called Project WILD, a research-based curriculum focused on hands-on learning about the environment and nature.

Pierson said her staff also plans on creating more “green elements or nature-based activities.”

“We want to grow things with them,” said Pierson, “sort seeds with them and learn what seeds to grow together.”

Several teachers already attended Project WILD workshops at the Detroit Zoo and have gotten their students started on the curriculum by growing plants.

Preschool teacher Kelly Molander has jumped on board. Molander said the Project WILD training has encouraged her to research more activities to inspire children to explore their natural environment. Molander hopes to reach out not only to her preschool students, but also to other staff members.

The teachers are planning to start Grow Anything boxes, where children decide to plant whatever moves them, even a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich. The sandwich would be nestled next to an actual seed, allowing the children to record its growth compared to the plant's.

Pierson is also writing a grant request to purchase and construct a greenhouse to be used for year-round planting. “As soon as we get some funds, we are ready to start,” she said.

“I am a very big advocate for child-initiated play,” Pierson said. So a mud pit will be added this summer as an area of exploration. Pierson realizes that many parents might not enjoy the idea of their children getting dirty, so she plans to start the activity slowly, with assigned mud-activity days.

“Children tend to spend more time inside than in their natural environment,” she said. Although there has not been any negative parental feedback, Pierson realizes some of the activities will have to come in small doses until parents get involved. 

Preschool teacher Susan Hersey has worked closely with Pierson to design plans for the outdoor play area, which will include a sunflower maze to be added this summer to allow children to measure and record varieties of sunflowers.

A local Girl Scout Cadet group has volunteered to help the children plant a rain garden this summer. Then the group will teach the children and staff about indigenous Michigan plants ideal for absorbing rainwater that normally floods the playground. Once planted, the children will care for the plants and measure their growth.

The entrance also will be revamped this summer with a wine barrel flower train and raised wooden flowerbeds.

Parents are welcome to volunteer their time, seeds, flowers or gardening materials.