Designing Early Childhood Outdoor Environments is a 12-week, non-academic credit, distance-learning certificate program for landscape practitioners in urban landscape design, planning, landscape regeneration and management, and instructors and students in academic institutions, teaching in built environment programs, including landscape architecture, landscape design, landscape planning, horticulture, and architecture.

The certificate course aims to help participants apply the IUCN “Nature-based Solutions” model to the creation of health-promoting, active lifestyle, nature-based outdoor play and learning environments in everyday places where children and families are important user groups (in childcare facilities, schools, residential neighborhoods, local parks and greenways, mixed-use developments, nature centers, museums, botanical gardens, and nature preserves).

The 12-week course delivers seven content modules to transfer knowledge and tools focused on environment and behavior (EB) design concepts, child developmental “ages and stages” supported by nature-based design, biophilic design principles, context-specific design thinking, participatory design programming, landscape management methods, incremental development, and cost-effective post-occupancy evaluation. A required capstone project provides a broad range of options to apply learning to individual professional development goals in local contexts.