Equitable Access to Nature and Play

DEY Mini Grant – Project Boot Socks

Duluth Preschool, Duluth Public Schools, Minnesota

Becky Gamache, Education Coordinator

With our $500 mini-grant, I purchased 306 pairs of thick boot socks to help keep feet warm during our cold, snowy winters.  I have distributed 222 pairs of socks to eight of our classrooms. The remaining pairs I will keep on hand as socks need replacing.

Our program has slowly been purchasing gear to be left at school to expand access to playing outside during wet and/or cold weather.  As a program we have purchased rainsuits/boots, neck gators and thick snow mittens. 

Our community has a resource that gives warm coats, snowpants and boots to families in need, so that gear is covered. Teachers have individually purchased rain mittens, snow boots and snow suits as well.  The classroom sets of socks were a nice addition and classes have been able to stay outside longer in the cold.

In 2017, I was contemplating returning to teach in one of the 15 classrooms in our Duluth Preschool Head Start program located in Duluth Public Schools in MN. I wanted to be able to increase the amount of indoor, outdoor play, and nature play opportunities after seeing the inequities between the play at nature based programs in our community and the traditional public programming in our schools.

The director agreed, as long as our assessment scores were similar or better than the other classrooms (they were). After the first year, I realized we needed better gear to be able to be out in all kinds of weather so I wrote grants for quality mittens and rain boots and suits. Another teacher at a different school was also interested in expanding outdoor play opportunities, so I included gear for her classroom, too. The director also asked me to train all district early childhood staff in loose part and nature play.

At this time, the University of Minnesota-Duluth (UMD) was doing research on the benefits of nature play on children’s development in area private nature preschools. I asked to become a part of one of the studies to demonstrate that nature play is necessary for all children, not just those that can afford private programs.

In my third year, the director retired and our current director, Sherry Williams, came on board with a similar vision. She envisioned, designed and secured funding for playscapes at our three most urban elementary schools. After that year, I joined the management team as the Education Coordinator.

With a shared vision of equity and wellness through quality play environments inside and outside, our team has been training, coaching and supporting staff to provide these practices to all the children in our program.

We also continue to participate in research with UMD in partnership with David Sobel/Antioch University on how different amounts of nature play supports children’s development. All our classrooms have sets of rain and snow gear and staff are working hard to support best practices.

This fall we were awarded a $500 mini grant from DEY to purchase 306 pairs of boots socks. Eight of our classrooms have requested boot socks to have on hand to keep toes warm in our cold Minnesota weather. Thank you DEY!