Program gets boost from Arbor Day group

COLUMBUS - Little fingers dug through the dirt finding the perfect spot to plant flowers.

Polly Bahns dug some holes and instructed her Head Start students to place the flower bulbs in the ground and then cover up the holes back up.

In their gardening adventure, a few of the students spotted worms in the upturned dirt. One girl cupped a couple of the creepy crawlers in her hand and showed them off to the other children.

Later, with the planting done and the inquisitiveness over the worms subsided, the children were let loose on the Head Start playground at Central Nebraska Community Services.

Digging in the dirt may have been a bit messy, but it was just another lesson in learning about the world outside of the classroom.

The Early Childhood Programs at Central Nebraska Community Services has been a site for an outdoor nature project started by the National Arbor Day Foundation. The project focuses on letting children investigate outdoors. That exploration can have many benefits to children, Bahns said, including increases in observation and creativity skills.

Most importantly, the project is helping to introduce some children to the world around them. Some parents, Bahns said, are afraid to let their children play outside or don't have backyards for children to explore.

“Parents are scared. It's very scary out there. Kids should know what grass is, what dirt is.

I live on a farm, and some kids don't know where corn comes from,” Bahns said, pointing to a corner of the playground that had a few dried cornstalks and cobs in a boxed off area.

The playground also has sections of grass, along with more typical equipment like slides, a sandbox, a swing set and a basketball hoop.

The project is being developed in early childhood programs, elementary school and home child care centers across the state. The playground at Head Start was added about three years ago, but they are continuing to add to it, Bahns said. They hope to add more trees and plants.

Bahns said studies show the outdoors project affects on all children, including those that have ADHD because it helps keep their attention. She hopes that parents will embrace letting their children explore the world around them when the children are at home, too.

“Parents shouldn't be scared themselves. You can be scared of a spider, but don't pass that fear onto your children,” she said.