the Green Desk

The Green Desk is a resource for early childhood educators, childcare providers, administrators, and professionals seeking the latest information to create high quality, healthy outdoor environments for young children. Please feel free to share your questions and comments with us and we will do our best to address them in a timely manner. Responses will show up here as blog postings. If you subscribe to our RSS feeds or E-Newsletter, you will be notified when new topics are posted.

If you wish to email the green desk, please use the contact form and type GREEN DESK in the subject line. 

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Welcome to the Green Desk

Welcome to the Green Desk
Two children on tricycles play follow-the-leader.
Two boys explore the lower branches of a tree.

The Green Desk is a responsive and dynamic platform for discussion, insights and guidance.

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Growing Edibles in Containers

Edibles, Plantings
Peppers grow in a repurposed bucket at Munchkin Academy, Buxton, NC.
Peppers grow in repurposed buckets at Munchkin Academy, Buxton, NC.
Edible herbs and flowering annuals grow in recycled washing machine drums at Montessori Children's School, Jacksonville, NC.

Container gardening is a great way to grow fresh edible produce in a child care center setting.  Children delight in growing and eating their own food. Whether the center staff want to grow a few tasty herbs, a pot of strawberries, or lettuce and tomatoes for delicious salads, there are four keys for successful edible container gardening.

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Painting Tire Planters

Affordable settings and elements, Plantings
Tire planters edge a fine crushed stone pathway at Heron Pond Montessori, Kitty Hawk, NC.
Tires stacked three high create a lush vegetated buffer.
Brightly painted tire planters edge a fine crushed stone pathway at Kiddie Kollege, Statesville, NC.
Perennial flowers grow in double tire planters.

Painting tire planters makes them more attractive and keeps them from getting so hot. Following the suggestions provided will lead to more successful tire planters.

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Grass Mazes

Design guidance, Physical Activity, Plantings
Grass mazes have come in a variety of forms and sizes. (Building Blocks, Charlotte, NC)
A girl enjoys the sensory experience the grass maze of Miscanthus sinensis 'Adiago' affords at Genesis Academy, Burnsville, NC.
Exploring a dormant grass maze in cooler months.
Calamgrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster' (Feather reed grass) contrast with Verbena bonariensis. (Courtesy of Hoffman Nursery)
Beautiful burgundy-red foliage of Panicum virgatum 'Shenandoah' (Shenandoah switch grass). (Courtesy of Hoffman Nursery)
Striking pink seed heads of Pennisetum orientale 'Karley Rose' (Karley Rose fountaingrass). (Courtesy of Hoffman Nursery)

Grass mazes are composed of informal arrangements of ornamental "clumping" grasses. Grass mazes support chase games like tag and hide-and-seek, and provide space for intimate conversations, rest, and reflection. Design guidance for grass mazes is provided.

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Engaging Community Resources

Community engagement
Parents and staff work together to install trees, shrubs and perennials purchased at a great discount.
Members of a local civic club with carpentry skills build a stage at Shepherd's Way Day School, Asheboro, NC.
Led by a skilled landscape contractor, volunteers install the crushed stone pathway at Kids R Us, Liberty, NC.

Engaging the community is key to successfully renovating an outdoor learning environment (OLE). Recruiting local volunteers and resources can help stretch budgets and bring community support for long-term development and sustainability.

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Draining Wet, Muddy Areas

Design guidance
Excess water drains into a bog garden specially planted with wetland plants.

Improper drainage can be a major barrier to using the childcare center outdoor learning environment (OLE). For areas that are frequently wet and muddy, ideas are provided to improve drainage.

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Sensory Gardens

Design guidance, Pathways, Plantings
Wide, sensory pathway of flat, smooth stones, with hardy, fragrant, "step-able," in-between plants.
Sensory pathway lined with a variety of sensory plantings and elements.
Keyhole garden constructed of concrete stepping stones at YWCA of Asheville Child Care Center.
Keyhole garden surfaced with fine crushed stone and edged with smooth stones at the NC Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill, NC.

Sensory gardens provide intimate spaces where young children can be immersed in the scents, textures and colors of plants and related elements.

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Sand Play Areas: Design

Design guidance
A timber barrier and ornamental grasses help contain the sand play area at Children's Learning Center, Hillsborough, NC.
A timber bench encloses the sand play area at Bright Horizons at Research Triangle Park.
A timber bench wraps the sand play area at A Child's World, Jamestown, NC.
Boulders surround the sand play area at Wellesley College Child Study Center.

Sand play is one of the most valuable natural behavior settings for children from toddlerhood through the early school years.  However, to stop sand from spreading across other outdoor learning environment settings, follow the simple steps provided.

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Selecting Edible Plants

Edibles, Plantings
Children pick apples in their outdoor learning environment.

Learn about selecting edible plants in landscapes designed for children and families.

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Winter Play

Outdoor play, Physical Activity, Programming
A boy plays with a truck in the snow at the Wellesley College Child Study Center.
A child shovels snow for fun at the Wellesley College Child Study Center.
Children catch snowflakes on their tongues at the Wellesley College Child Study Center.
As the sun and physical activity warm the children they shed their hats and mittens. A bare fig tree makes a great hat rack.
Water frozen with food coloring make colorful ice blocks that are fun for play.

As temperatures start to drop, so does our motivation to go outside and play. A greater effort is required to prepare children for outdoor play, but with a little planning and the proper clothing it can be well worth the extra effort. As our friends in Sweden say, “There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes.”

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