I have pale, sensitive skin and so does my 3-year-old, so we definitely need good sun protection for our faces and necks. Since applying sunscreen every time we go outside isn't an option, I was very excited to find this Sunday Afternoons Play Hat last summer!

It's ADJUSTABLE so we should be able to get use out of it for 3 or 4 summers (we're already on year 2 and it's holding up nicely), and the chin strap works well to keep it from blowing off in the wind (especially while on the beach). It dries quickly and squishes down to a small size for portability. We highly recommend it!

Click here for more info.

I tried everything, but my 2-year-old’s feet were STILL COLD after 3 hours of outdoor school. I tried thick wool socks with loose boots. I tried 2 thick pairs of socks with an even bigger size of boots, but the bend of the Bogs wouldn’t let his thick foot inside. I tried thin, polyester liner socks under thick wool socks. The boots we have are supposed to be “comfort rated to 5 degrees fahrenheit,” but my son’s feet were cold at only 30 degrees fahrenheit and I was getting FRUSTRATED! 

Here are a few tips about how to prepare for outdoor preschool the Night Before School:

1. Use your child’s base layer shirt for pajamas (unless you plan to eat a messy breakfast before school in the morning). Pants are pretty easy to change in the morning while diapering or going to the bathroom. 
2. Pack snacks. Try to include foods that help regulate internal body temperature (whole grains, lean meats, bananas, nuts, chocolate, and foods with coconut oil). Also, avoid foods that will make kids’ hands cold (they usually remove a mitten to eat the snack, so if the food is wet or cold they will quickly start to feel cold). 
3. Prepare backpack with snack, water bottle, and back-up gear. If their mittens or hat get wet, they’ll need an extra pair available in the middle of the school day to avoid getting too cold.

Lately I've noticed kids coming to nature school with backpacks stuffed with additional insulating layers. The fact is, during the school day teachers don't have time to take kids' outer layers, mittens, and boots off to put another insulating layer on (especially not pants). Occasionally, if a kid is really cold, we'll take their rain jacket off and put another fleece or puffy jacket underneath, but usually we only add outer layers like neck warmers, hats, and mittens. And believe me, mittens going on and off (and on and off) already take up half of our time on cold days.

Teachers need to be able to assume that students have the appropriate amount of base and insulating layers on when they arrive at school. This needs to be done at home, where it's warm.

You know what they DON'T teach you when you're earning a graduate degree in education? How to potty train a kid. My highly verbal, almost three-year-old is still in a diaper—and it's mostly my fault. I don't want to deal with the accidents. Cleaning floors, washing clothes, wiping down screaming children—not my favorite things. 

​That said, being a preschool teacher means dealing with these issues. And being a preschool teacher outdoors, especially in cold weather, adds yet another layer of complexity. Not only do kids have the same hesitations to stop playing and go to the bathroom, but now they have LAYERS of clothing to pull off before they can actually go. Needless to say, there are a lot of potty accidents at outdoor school.

It's a rainy afternoon in Western Washington, 40 degrees with snow on the ground. I'm subbing for my son’s teacher at nature school and it takes almost 30 minutes to get both of us dressed. We dig through the laundry for a fleece layer and wool socks, find wool layers mixed in with PJs, unwrap newly purchased liner socks, and find a neckwarmer in a bag from a trip to a friend’s house. T wiggles around on “the big bed” while I talk him through my layering routine:  ​

He’s finally ready for the rest of his layers. We quickly pull on some rain pants and get the boots on last. It’s such a pain to pull the rain pants over his boots! But I know it’s raining today and it’ll keep him dry. Then we add his neckwarmer, a puffy jacket, a fleece hat, and finally a lightweight rain jacket, and he’s ready to go make snowballs. 

T goes outside while I finish my layers: a puffy jacket, a neckwarmer and a rain jacket. I tuck my winter gloves and T’s mittens in the backpack along with our snacks and water bottles. I completely forget his extra mittens and hat! Good thing I already have extras of those in his backup gear at school. 

When we get home after 3.5 hours outside, I peel off my damp outer layers quickly while he fusses for help (he’s eager for a snack). I take his muddy rain jacket off, his damp mittens, his neckwarmer and dry puffy jacket, then I sit him on my lap while I pull the muddy boots and rain pants off in one piece. He wiggles thinking he’s done, but I insist we take more layers off—the house is so warm after being outside! I remove his fleece top, then all of his lower layers as if they’re all one piece (he needs a fresh diaper right now). 

I comment to my husband about what other kids were wearing at school and tell him to feel T’s legs. They’re warm to the touch—only his hands are cold, and the tips of his toes. I’m not surprised, but I’m still in awe that the wool and fleece and rain gear did so well—I used to think a bulky snow bib was necessary to stay warm. Now I know preserving the body's core warmth with wicking base layers and warm insulating layers is the key to layering for success!

- Teacher Kendall

It's a rainy afternoon in Western Washington, the day after we got a few inches of snow, but it's still 40 degrees outside—not THAT cold, right? After 30 minutes of dressing and packing food, we head to my son's nature school where I'm subbing for his sick teacher. After our 10 minute walk to school, we venture through the trees to find that a few friends have already arrived. We join them around the fire and chat a bit while the other teacher waits for the rest of the kids. There are only seven today—the eighth is sick at home. 

We start to play in the snow, hang on tree branches, and tell stories. I change my jacket a few times, switching from a winter down jacket to a lightweight down jacket (under my rain jacket). My body temperature is so different when I’m playing than when I’m sitting down! 

All of the kids are finally here and we’re all active. Some are playing in the sandbox, some are being pulled in a wagon by the other teacher (J). Everything seems fine until…

They all melt down at once.

While J quickly searches through the backup clothes for warmer clothes, I decide it’s time for an early snack. Food solves all problems, right?
Snack goes pretty well. The tears stop as kids eat their food around the fire. But instead of improving after snack time, some of the kids get WORSE. They cry for their parents and it’s so hard to tell what they need. J goes back and forth, trying more layers on the kids, but we don’t really have base layers available in the backup gear—just outerwear. We add jackets here and mittens there, but two of the kids just continue to cry. 

J rocks one girl to sleep and we set her in a warm bed by the fire. I manage to distract the other with singing and stories for a while, but about 30 minutes before the end of class, she just starts to cry and cry for her mom. J puts another jacket on her, he holds her by the fire, he asks her so many questions about if something hurts or if she’s cold, but all to no avail. For the rest of class, we sing songs about how much we love our moms and can’t wait to see them, and she continues to cry on and off.​

In the meantime, T and two friends are in the forest, inspecting bugs and looking at leaves, and watching a squirrel try to steal the rest of someone’s snack. They are warm and happy and at ease in the forest. 
Another girl is a little sad, asking for her mom a bit. But I discover that she has an extra, dry pair of mittens in her bag, plus an extra hat. We put this fresh, dry gear on and she cheers up. She joins me in helping the other two girls who are still sad and asking for their moms. She is not cold, and even though she misses her mom (who has just started working full time again), she is able to gain her composure with the help of this fresh, dry gear.​
At pick-up time, we tell the crying girl’s mom: 

She takes her to the car, and comes back with the extra jacket:

My heart sinks. We asked her SO MANY QUESTIONS, but didn’t ask that specific one. J had checked her legs for warmth and they were fine. We didn’t think to specifically check her feet. ​
After pick up is over, J tells me that the girl I was rocking had only a pair of “lined” jeans on under her rain pants. No base layer. She was COLD. No wonder she was crying. No wonder she was happier to sleep, under a blanket, by the warm fire instead of playing in the forest with her friends.
I am amazed. School was only 3 hours long, and yet the experiences for these groups of kids were SO DIFFERENT. Two were not dressed properly and they struggled as a result, taking up the time and attention of the teachers (adding layers and trying to figure out what was wrong). The other five kids were FINE. They were happy, they enjoyed their time in the forest, playing and learning about the plants and animals. 
And I am SAD. As preschool teachers, we made a judgement call to keep the kids there and not call their parents. Normally those kids are fine, so their emotions were hard to decipher, and they just weren’t able to communicate what they needed. MORE warmth. MORE base layers. DRY mittens.
I tell you this anecdote because it proves everything I already knew about dressing for the weather. IT MATTERS. TAKE IT SERIOUSLY. The way you dress children for school outside MAKES A DIFFERENCE, for them, for the teachers, and for their peers. ​
Today, some kids had a GREAT experience at nature school and some did not. The only difference was the gear. Pay attention, put on base layers, and always look for ways you can improve.

​- Teacher Kendall

My son's nature school just posted a message about their day in the cold weather: