You may find the following educational resources helpful
- Attracting Butterflies
- Activities for young children: good listing of over 3400 activities to do with young children, many of which relate to nature and the seasons.
- Botany: an internet directory
- Bird art for the garden: very graceful birds of PVC :( ...but nice!
- Butterfly gardens
- Natural Environments in Early Intervention
- Children and Nature Network its goal: establishing a global community of people and organizations committed to working together to reconnect children with nature
- Developmentally Appropriate Gardening for Young Children by Vicki Stoecklin
- Developing Adventure Playgrounds
- Environment as an Integrating Context for Learning: an education model that employs natural and community surroundings as the context for learning while taking into account “best practices in education.”
- edible landscaping
- Art in Nature for Kids: natural art following Andy Goldsworthy's ideas. Check this one out, too Natural Land Art for Kids
- Fast Growing Trees: Great site for people who want well-established natural playgrounds in a hurry!
- Fast plants: fast-growing plants for research and education purposes, vetted by the University of Wisconsin Here's a site for tips for fast-growing plants; and another
- Ground Covers: Quick overview about ground-covers. Here's a discussion about low maintenance ground covers!
- Gardening With Children
- Community Gardens how to start one!
- Fast Grass (this is self-replicating grass!!!), An answer to tough-use areas? (sorry for the link to HD, but apparently they are the exclusive dealer?)
- Green Pages (same as Yellow Pages, but about "green" companies)
- Greening Schools - Tips for greenig schools
- Green Streets: celebrates the importance of outdoor, unstructured play by laying down sod and creating temporary parks on prominent streets in communities across North America!
- How to Start an Herb Garden. Check this one out, too Herb Garden Guide
- Hidden Harvest: This award- winning, non-profit group teaches gardening in low income areas!
- Invasive and Non-invasive Plants
- Keeping Children Safe when they're playing outside
- Mathematics in Nature: 15 beautiful examples
- Maintenance Guide for Natural Playgrounds
- Math in nature: Math lessons for natural playgrounds. Make sure to follow links at page bottom.
- Moss Acres: moss gardens
- Musical Instruments
- Nature Kindergarten: a look at Scotland's first nature kindergarten, with recommendations,study guides on using an outdoor classroom
- Playground Physics Make Newton’s Laws of motion come alive!
- Poisonous plants:
Simple list
Searchable Data Bases: Colorado State University
- Rainwater Harvesting
- Play Naturally: A review of Children's Natural Play
- Rare plants in US
- Sand Pits a fun account of how a large sandpit developed, with helpful hints
- Shade Planting
- STEM Lesson planning guide for K-12: STEM lessons can help introduce elementary students to "scientific linear thinking, creative problem solving, inventiveness, and instilling the importance of collaboration and teamwork," according to TODAY.com. For high schoolers, who have more freedom to choose specific electives and who are often beginning to think about their future careers, exposure to STEM can offer useful hands-on experience.
- Growing a Green Generation curriculum for pre-school to kindergarten age children
- Therapeutic landscapes
- Trees for kids: all about trees; fun, interactive
- Tree Houses: fun, one-of-a-kind, universally accessible tree houses are beautiful additions to natural play environments.
- tree ID
- USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service: soil surveys & maps, free help from the "Earth Team" to conserve environment; plant ID
- Willow structures for tips on building. Places to buy willow rods; Bluestem Nursery. Also buy Salix viminalis at local nurseries.