Colorado’s new licensing path, created last year through Senate Bill 78, would officially recognize outdoor, nature-based preschool programs, or ONBs, as a type of licensed child care center under the Department of Early Childhood. These programs, sometimes called forest schools, focus on outdoor learning and are backed by research showing nature’s crucial role in child development. Currently, ONBs operate under waivers or exemptions, limiting their ability to grow.
Some providers have criticized the process, calling it inequitable or overly burdensome. But as someone who has worked closely with the state for years and operates the first licensed outdoor, nature-based center in Colorado, I can say with confidence these claims are not just inaccurate, they’re misleading.
I’ve not only built a thriving licensed outdoor, nature-based program, but I’ve also worked with and observed outstanding models across Colorado that are licensed and flourishing. These programs are doing creative, rigorous, child-centered work while meeting the regulatory standards that keep kids safe and help families access support.
I’ve been part of this effort since 2018, when my program and one other were invited to pilot the state’s first outdoor-based model. When the other program left, unwilling to meet the regulatory requirements, I chose to stay and collaborate. Through this collaboration, my organization Worldmind Nature Immersion School became the first fully licensed outdoor, nature-based preschool center in Colorado.
I’ve worked closely with the dedicated, thoughtful professionals at the Department of Early Childhood and have seen their commitment firsthand. Their team has approached this licensing effort with extraordinary care, research and consultation.
They didn’t develop these rules in isolation. They studied licensing models from Washington, the only state with a current outdoor, nature-based license option. They consulted national experts and researchers in nature-based early education. They held public feedback sessions. They worked hard to understand how outdoor learning environments differ and how to protect the integrity of these programs while still ensuring safety and equity for all children.
This is not bureaucracy for its own sake. This is public policy done right.
I’ve spent more than a decade working with infants, toddlers, school-age children and adults in outdoor education settings. I’ve trained staff and educators to handle variable conditions, built trauma-informed practices into outdoor-based environments, and support neurodiverse learners in the challenges of all-weather learning. I’ve seen children thrive outdoors in ways traditional classrooms can’t always support.
But outdoor learning also presents real risks: exposure to extreme temperatures, the need for specialized gear, the challenge of managing emergencies away from buildings, and the realities of inconsistent access to shelter or restrooms. These are real concerns, and I’ve seen plenty over the years.
Licensing provides a framework that helps outdoor programs handle these challenges safely, consistently and with integrity. It honors what makes these programs special while reinforcing our responsibility to protect all children.
Some critics have tried to frame their opposition to licensing as an issue of equity. But equity is not just a slogan. It requires action, accountability and a commitment to meeting the needs of all families, not just the most privileged.
True equity in outdoor early childhood education means acknowledging that not all children can be outside safely all day in all weather, even if they benefit from nature-based learning. I’ve worked extensively with neurodiverse children, some of whom struggle with the sensory demands of all-weather environments. Others regulate better outside but still need occasional indoor access to manage stress or overwhelm.
Equity also means recognizing families from diverse cultural backgrounds who may have different expectations or concerns about safety and extreme weather. It must include children with different physical abilities or chronic health conditions, whose participation depends on proper supports, facilities and backup spaces.
The state’s licensing path accounts for these realities. It allows for flexibility without sacrificing safety. It welcomes a range of program models, as long as that diversity doesn’t compromise inclusivity, access or accountability.
Programs that refuse to build with these children and families in mind are not models of equity. In truth, they’re using equity language to justify exclusivity.
For several years I have been a part of a national group with the Natural Start Alliance focused on expanding licensing pathways for nature-based early childhood education in other states. Colorado is being watched, not because we’ve avoided regulation, but because we’ve shown it’s possible to embrace it without compromising outdoor learning.
We can’t build a movement that only works for families with time, money, physical ability and comfort in outdoor settings. We can’t center models on children who easily run, climb or play off-trail while ignoring those who need support to feel safe and included. If we do, we’re not building an equitable movement, we’re just reinforcing the same barriers.
Licensing isn’t a threat to outdoor education. It’s the pathway to its future and it’s time we said so, clearly and unapologetically.
Megan Patterson, of Denver, is the founder and executive director of Worldmind, an outdoor-based, nonprofit independent school in Denver.
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