This LEED Silver Child Development Center, set for completion in 2015, offers a ‘play-in-nature’ theme, with classrooms and play yards offering learning & recreational elements inspired by nature. The facility supports the Early Childhood Development Associate’s Degree curriculum & offers child care for faculty & students.
They play yards are designed to encourage exploration & creativity in connection with the natural world. Nature-play elements within each play yard are age-specific & facilitate programmatic activities.Climbers, logs, stumps, slides, boulders, swings, playhouses, & tunnels are nestled into the natural spaces, supporting both passive & active exercise.
A dry-stream bed meanders under a dense canopy of trees through the play yards. Sandboxes & waterplay nodes offer creative venues for nature-play.
Sustainable landscape elements include bio-basins & swales, protection of native plant habitats, use of on-site boulders & local materials, including logs from the on-campus lumber mill.
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