Elements Preschool Outdoor Classroom

Elements is a nature preschool located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. We are looking to raise money to help maintain our special outdoor classroom and to fund our new security system to keep our community safe. Throughout the pandemic, our outdoor classrooms have offered play relief to children, families, and educators and will continue to do so as we all navigate such unprecedented times.

With a focus on outdoor education, Elements prioritizes play liberation and the healing powers of the natural world. Children grow and care for the plant life that sustains us, including the herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries that enhance their on-site vegetarian lunches. Children come home covered in mud and joy and stories, with rocks in their pockets and small letters to the people they missed at school that day.

Elements was recently awarded both 3k and Pre-K for All (4k) for this upcoming 2022-23 school year. We are thrilled at the access and financial support this will bring to the families in our surrounding communities. However, with this shift there is now a much tighter funding budget for the school. We urgently need help with upkeep and maintenance of both our indoor and outdoor environments. Help us ensure that we can continue to reach children in the ways we have been able to maintain for the past 7 years. We can’t do this without you.

Funds will go to:

Resoiling our mud mounds and garden plots with safe soil that allows the children to work and grow edible foods

Installing a new security system that protects our community

Creating more planting opportunities in the yard that enhance the amount of plant-life exposure the children interact with: our primary goal is to add grape vines to our trellises and fill our vegetable cages with more varieties of fruits, greens, and vegetables

Redesign and reinstall our vegetable, herb, and fruit cages that protect the produce children grow each year - there has been some wear and tear that has caused us to reconsider a new method of containment