Join us for a specialized training for family child care providers.  

Are you interested in learning natural and affordable ways you can engage children in outdoor spaces in your family child care home?  Join us for "Nature Play at Home" to learn how to implement a naturalized outdoor learning environment in your own backyard.  Participants will gain hands on knowledge of different play settings they can add to their outdoor spaces and easy ways to create a dynamic and engaging outdoor space.  Each participant will leave with materials to start implementing right away.    

This training is offered as a part of Early Childhood Health Outdoors (ECHO).  We are able to provide a $275 implementation grant for participants to use to begin to implement ideas learned in the training and support costs to attend the training.  Interested family child care providers must register via this online registration system and complete funding paperwork at the training on April 1.  Please be aware that you may attend the training and you are not obligated to receive grant funding. 

"Nature Play at Home" is a 1.5 hour training.  Certificates will be issued for the training.  

Expectations for those who would like to receive grant funding:

• Attend “Nature Play at Home” on April 1.
• Complete the online Outdoor Learning Environment Best Practices Survey to be sent the week following the training.
• Use the $275 implementation grant to begin to implement ideas learned from “Nature Play at Home,” and cover costs to attend the training.
• Commit to completing the online Outdoor Learning Environment Best Practices Survey to be emailed in April of 2020.  A reminder to complete this survey will be emailed to you.
• Track your progress through pictures, stories, and quotes from children to share with ECHO partners and other child care professionals (before and after photos are great!). 
• Act as an advocate and supporter of Early Childhood Health Outdoors (ECHO). 

 ***If you were a sponsored family child care provider at the annual ECHO Summit in October of 2017 or 2018, or if you have already received the  implementation grant, you are not eligible to receive the implementation grant for this training.  Only one implementation grant per site.  However, if you would like to attend the training at no cost or have questions, please email echo@nwf.org.

ECHO is a partnership between The National Wildlife Federation, and North Carolina State University’s Natural Learning Initiative. To learn more about ECHO, please visit http://www.nwf.org/echo. 

ECHO is generously funded by The Colorado Health Foundation and the Gates Family Foundation. 

Registration closes on Monday, March 25 at 5:00 p.m.  Please register prior to this date.  

If you need support registering, please email echo@nwf.org or call 303-441-5145