Take Kids Outside

Take Kids Outside

Take kids outside is what we believe

Nature as classroom will help them achieve

Not only test scores but resilience and health

Well-being, a right way of seeing, life-long wealth

Research backs it, it’s a fact

and to make it happen, we need admin to back

it, and parents to buy-in,

and more than just the occasional fly-in.

Bussing issues, risk assessment, safety measures

all get in the way of nature’s pleasures—

We know it’s fun, builds resilience, empathy

and even increases the results of the PAT.

Learning outside is like wearing a magical cloak—

but what’s in the way is the smoke

societal values, anxiety, expectations,

boards, parents, teachers, administrations.

Who or what’s going to make it happen?

A carrot? Or get a stick and start strappin’?

Can it come up from the bottom, from educators and kids?

Or down from the top, principals boards and feds?

Take kids outside is what we know in our hearts

is right—that’s why we play our parts,

put our heads down and fill out the permissions

and don't always wait for official decisions.

We take them out, get them wet and dirty

They learn that nature’s not only purty—

In the discomfort is rich learning

This is what we are yearning to do.

Cause we have a vision that extends beyond the institution

To nurture the love of nature right into the constitution—

So that newcomers get it and the community agrees

It’s a human right to learn among the trees!