ECHO is committed to providing the best resources available. Our collection of resources is curated to provide the most up-to-date reports, toolkits, research, and other information about connecting children to nature.
Nature Play Books & Guides
Get inspired! Learn how to create healthy, natural, and dynamic play spaces for young children.
How-To Guides / Guías de instrucciones
Developed by the National Wildlife Federation, these How-To Guides provide all the information you need to get started on building select components for your outdoor learning environment.
Components & Settings
- Arbors / Glorietas
- Earth & Sand Play / Juegos con tierra y areneros
- Habitat Gardens / Jardines de hábitats
- Hidden Nooks / Rincones ocultos y esquinas secretas
- Logs & Stumps / Troncos y tocones
- Mud Kitchens / Cocinas de barro
- Natural Construction / Construcción natural
- Play Decks / Plataformas de juegos
- Raised Planters / Jardineras elevadas
- Spool Tables / Mesas de bobinas de cable
- Tire Planters / Jardineras de neumáticos
Seed Starting Guides
Other Guides
- Benefits of Nature Play / Beneficios del juego en la naturaleza
- Bring Nature Into Your Space / Traiga la naturaleza a su espacio
- Creative Play Settings on a Budget / Juegos creativos a precios asequibles
- Outdoor Learning in Hot Weather / Aprender al aire libre cuando hace calor
- Outdoor Play with Infants and Toddlers / Juego al aire libre con bebés y niños pequeños
- Winter Play Tips & Tricks / Juego al aire libre en invierno
Research Brief: Impact of Naturalized Early Childhood Outdoor Learning Environments
This Research Brief was created by the Natural Learning Initiative to highlight the importance of bringing nature play and learning to every community. It identifies several ways naturalized outdoor learning environments, or natural play and learning places, benefit children's physical health, social-emotional growth, cognitive growth, and more.
Offsite Play and Learning Resource Guide
This guide was created through a collaboration between the National Wildlife Federation's ECHO initiative and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to help Colorado communities extend outdoor play and learning opportunities beyond the boundaries of home or center-based child care settings. It is intended to help child care providers think through the steps required to safely and successfully take young children off-site.
Naturalized Outdoor Learning Environment Stewardship Guidelines | Colorado
These guidelines were created through a partnership between the National Wildlife Federation and the Natural Learning Initiative to help communities manage and maintain their naturalized outdoor learning environments. It is intended for those working to engage children, youth, and families with nature and natural processes in the places of everyday life.
Playing by the Rules | Colorado
A Practitioner's Guide to Rules, Regulations, and Rating Systems for Outdoor Learning Environments in Colorado Child Care Facilities
Nature Play at Home / Juegos en la naturaleza en casa
Developed by the National Wildlife Federation and the Natural Learning Initiative, this guide shows easy, affordable ways you can turn your backyard or other types of domestic outdoor spaces into vibrant nature play spaces for children so they can reap the physical and mental benefits of playing outside. Creating natural play opportunities can be part of the solution to increasing the amount of time kids spend in the great outdoors for the health of their minds, bodies, and spirits.
Download the full Nature Play at Home guide above, or select a nature play space from our individual guides below:
- Acoustic Play / El juego acústico
- Earth & Mud Play / Juegos con la tierra y el barro
- Fairy Villages / Aldeas de hadas
- Fruit & Vegetable Gardening / Jardinería de frutas y hortalizas
- Loose Parts / Piezas sueltas
- Natural Construction / Construcción natural
- Water Play / Los juegos de agua
- Considerations for Balconies, Patios, Porches, & Other Small Spaces / Balcones, Patios, Porches y Otros Espacios Pequeños
- Playing in All Weather / Jugar con cualquier clima
Nature Play & Learning Places
These National Guidelines were created through a partnership between the National Wildlife Federation and the Natural Learning Initiative to bring nature play and learning to every community. It is intended for those who create, manage, or promote the development of nature in the everyday environments of children, youth, and families, especially in urban/suburban communities.
Download the full Nature Play and Learning Places book above, or read through Chapter 6 - Risk Management, below:
- Nature Play and Learning Places: Chapter 6 - Risk Management
- Lugares de juego y aprendizaje en la naturaleza: Capítulo 6 - Gestión de riesgos
Funding Resources
ECHO Grants
- Check out our current grant opportunities!
Nationwide Grants
Colorado Grants
- Anschutz Family Foundation
- Buell Foundation
- Daniels Fund
- Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation (focus on oral health equity)
- Early Childhood Funders Collaborative - Early Childhood Education Foundation Map
- ECCLA - Family Child Care Home Facilities Improvement Grant
- El Pomar Foundation
- Gary Community Ventures
- Mile High United Way
- The Denver Foundation
Nature Play Programs
Natural Learning Initiative
Through environmental design assistance, professional development, research, and education, the Natural Learning Initiative promotes the importance of the natural environment in the daily experience of all children. Visit their Green Desk for activities, tips, and other information about creating high quality, healthy outdoor environments for young children.
Children & Nature Network
The Children & Nature Network connects children, their families, and their communities to nature through innovative ideas, evidence-based resources and tools, broad-based collaboration, and support of grassroots leadership.
National Wildlife Federation Programs
Garden for Wildlife
By creating habitat for wildlife, people can build a daily connection to the natural world, literally just outside their door.
Schoolyard Habitats
Schools can create and restore wildlife habitat on school grounds while providing outdoor classrooms for learning across curricula.
Butterfly Heroes
By pledging to create new habitats for monarch butterflies, Butterfly Heroes are bringing awareness to the declining monarch population and connecting gardeners, kids, and families to help monarchs and other pollinators.
Ranger Rick Kids
For more than 50 years, Ranger Rick publications have inspired children to connect with wildlife and the great outdoors through a wide range of outdoor activities that are both fun and explorative.
