This past Friday, February 11, early childhood educators from around the state gathered at the Riverbanks Zoo & Botanical Gardens to become certified in two complementary national curricula— Project Learning Tree: Environmental Experiences for Early Childhood and Project WILD: Growing Up WILD.

BeBe Dalton Harrison, SCWF’s Director of Education, led the instruction in Growing Up WILD, whose mission is to “provide wildlife-based conservation and environmental education that fosters responsible actions toward wildlife and related natural resources.” In essence, the program is designed to help students learn how to think and not what to think about natural resources and conservation. Matt Schnabel, the Environmental Education Coordinator at the SC Forestry Commission, led the training for Project Learning Tree: Environmental Experiences for Early Childhood, which teaches students how to think about environmental issues through the lens of trees and forests.

“Helping to foster a child’s natural curiosity about the outdoors is very rewarding. Some teachers may not feel comfortable with outdoor-themed lessons, and these programs make it easy and fun to teach what can sometimes be a challenging topic with a hands-on and exciting lesson”, says Harrison. Whether teaching indoors or out, Project Learning Tree and Project WILD make it easy for teachers and students alike to learn about their own backyards and schoolyards. After this day of interactive, hands-on instruction, 14 teachers were certified in both of these curricula, and will be able to share the exciting lessons from Project Learning Tree and Project WILD with their students!