Recent Updates

Here are some excerpts from our latest dispatch. For the full dispatch, please sign up for our email list. We meet every second Monday of the month to talk about our joys, challenges, goals, and collective vision.  What does our community need, and what solutions can we work on together?  

Opportunities to connect

Northern Illinois Nature Play Association or NINPA  Member Meeting - 

Wednesday, February 26th, North Park Village Nature Center 4:30-6:00

Join us for a hearth-warming night playing with fire with Sean Shaffer of the Chicago Park District. We will demonstrate ways to start a fire without matches, cooking, and safe activities for children to help with every step of the process. 

Share your story to influence policy

The Illinois Alliance to Promote Opportunities for Health (IAPOH)  is working on public policy to support good nutrition and healthy movement in childcare settings.  Share your stories with us about play and movement in outdoor nature-based (ONB) environments to be relayed at their next meeting.

Call for Proposals

Request for Proposal: Natural Start Early Learning Conference 

Conference Dates: July 14-18, 2025
RFP Deadline: Jan 20, 2025 

Regional listening session updates

The TAC (charged with setting up the new Illinois Department of Early Childhood or IDEC) released a preliminary report on the Regional Listening Sessions we participated in at their November meeting.  Read the report here.

Natural Start Alliance

Natural Start Alliance is the early childhood branch of NAAEE.  A promising new development is support from The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). They conduct and disseminate independent research and analysis to inform early childhood education policy.  State agencies like IDEC routinely base decisions on NIEER’s findings. Here’s a great new policy brief from them:

State Policies and Guidance Relating to Outdoor and Nature-Based Experiences in Preschool

Licensing updates:

State Updates:

  • CO, MD, and OR are working on implementing legislation and rule creation in 2025.

  • MD Dept of Early Childhood put proposed regulations out for public comment.

  • OR is moving into the next stage, recruiting folks for the Rules Advisory Committee to launch licensed programs in the summer of 2025.

  • MI has been moving forward with internal efforts to integrate ONB rules into its existing child care rules and regulations

  • OLE! Texas is launching a formal network with TX and Children and Nature Network to support outdoor ECE providers and provide technical assistance.