A Greener Childhood is Associated with a Happier Adulthood

New research indicates that access to the outdoors during childhood is strongly associated with happiness, mental health, and wellbeing in adulthood.

That’s one of the many reasons Waldorf schools prioritize outdoor learning and movement for our students. Not only are outdoor spaces great places to move, discover, and develop curiosity, they also help our students feel balanced, refreshed, and ready to learn.

As an urban Waldorf school, Cedarwood has always been creative about how to get students outdoors!

We utilize our neighborhood public park, Lair Hill, for recess and daily outdoor activities. The early childhood classes have established simple outdoor classrooms for learning & play. Ms. Pearl, our movement teacher, often takes class across the street to a large track & field nearby. And our teachers regularly utilize the trails for hiking that surround Cedarwood’s campus in Southwest Portland.

Read more about the correlation between time spent outdoors in childhood and adult happiness here.

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Why Waldorf? At Cedarwood, each student’s imagination is continually nurtured by a team of teachers and a broad spectrum of experiential learning opportunities as they develop their capacity for growth, creativity, and critical thinking. The curriculum is comprehensive and designed to educate the whole child, with lessons in math, science, language arts, history, geography, music, eurythmy, handwork, movement, and not one but two world languages, Spanish and Japanese. Art is not taught separately in our elementary program, but rather imbues students’ understanding of every single subject they encounter.

Curious about a Waldorf education for your child? Let’s connect!