From the Fields, Forests,
and Streams

Mother Nature provides the learning. We stop to listen, to smell, to see, to touch, “What do you hear?” she says “What do you see?” she says What do you smell? What does it feel like? Mother Nature provides the learning, we just need to be patient and take a moment to embrace it all. By Melissa Richter Teacher at Magic of Play Preschool

I am the learning environment. I am child-led wonder. I am risky play. I am playing outside on a beautiful fall day, the crunch of leaves beneath little feet, the drip of rain from bare branches, the scrunch of snow under my feet, the turning of winter, spring, summer, and fall. I am a nature school. By Melissa Richter Teacher at Magic of Play Preschool

“Let the child explore,” she says. “Let the child discover,” she says. Let the child get messy splash in puddles, ask questions, and stand in awe of what I have to offer I am nature. I am mud. I am the sun. I am rain or shine. I am the bumblebee buzzing around your head, I am the wind gently blowing across your face, I am the tree branches swaying back and forth, I am the bird chirping in the distance, the squirrel looking for the acorn he buried, I am the woodpe

It was a genuine, honest question. That came from a great place. Someone was genuinely interested in my child's day at school. They wanted to understand his world, to make him feel seen and valued and important. All things you'd assume, as a mother, I'd be ecstatic about and grateful for. But I cringed. Because I knew what the answer would be. "We didn't learn anything." He didn't miss a beat. He delivered the words as if he was reading from a prompt in my head. And then the

I am messy hands, a bucket full of dirt, worms awaken to greet the fresh soil dampened by yesterday’s rain. Tiny hands pick me up. I wiggle and squirm. Laughter erupts, for a moment I am something magical, something special, Wonder and awe shine bright. Then gently, I am placed back down into the cool, wet earth where I belong, I am nature. By Melissa Richter Teacher at Magic of Play Preschool

I have never been good at accepting "that's just how it is." It's gotten me into trouble more than once. But it's also the reason TerraLumia Foundation exists. It started with a simple question: where can my child go to learn outside? Not as a field trip. Not as a reward for finishing the real work. As the work. Every day, in the dirt and the rain and the remarkable, irreplaceable world that exists beyond four walls. I went looking for that place. And I found something I wasn