Nature-based 4K program prepares kids for kindergarten

A nature-based kindergarten readiness 4K program at Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary aims to get youngsters in touch with the outdoors while preparing them for kindergarten. Local 5’s Brittany Falkers heads outdoors where these Green Bay students are learning lessons that cannot be taught in a classroom.

The OAK (Outdoors Adventures for Kids) Learning Center program aims to reclaim kids’ connection to the outdoors. The goal is to have the kids outside 60 to 80 percent of the time while preparing them for kindergarten. “But we count chipmunks and squirrels and eggs,” Reed said. “We expose them to things that many times they don’t get until their upper grade.”

Access to every child, no matter their family’s income, was an important part of the program for Reed. It was made possible because of a partnership between the sanctuary, UW-Green Bay and the Green Bay school district.