Safe, high-quality nature-based ECE needs a clear pathway in Aotearoa.
Primary hashtag: #MakeRoomForNatureKindy
Secondary: #SaveNatureKindy
A Major Step Forward
Cabinet has agreed to progress legislation to create a clear pathway for nature-based early childhood education in Aotearoa.
This is a significant step after years of advocacy from many people across the sector and across the political spectrum. We’re excited to see this kaupapa moving forward.
What Happens Next
The next stage is about working through the detail: how nature-based ECE can operate as a recognised, safe and high-quality option, and what the licensing and funding requirements will be.
There is still work ahead. As the Bill progresses through Parliament, bespoke regulations, licensing criteria and funding conditions will be developed. Public consultation on detailed proposals is expected early next year.
There will be an opportunity for the sector, families and communities to contribute through public consultation. We’ll share information about that process as it becomes available.
Why Nature-based Learning Matters
Nature-based learning supports movement, play, confidence, resilience, curiosity, relationships, wellbeing and connection to place. Children learn through movement, play, exploration, risk, imagination, relationships and connection to te taiao. For many tamariki, this is where they thrive.
Aotearoa values the outdoors. Our education system should be able to make room for safe, high-quality learning in nature, too. We are not asking for less safety. We are asking for a better fit.
The Licensing Gap
Nature-based ECE is not the right choice for every family, but many families value the opportunity for their children to learn and play outdoors. At Little Kiwis Nature Play, we see that interest in our programmes and waiting lists.
The aim is to make this a safe, recognised option for families who want it, with clear expectations that support children, families and educators.
What Has Happened
Recently, Play and Learn’s Nature Kindergarten, a long-running nature-based early childhood programme, ceased operation after its ECE licence was cancelled. This has affected 58 tamariki and 15 staff. This is urgent for the Play and Learn community, but it also highlights a bigger issue:
New Zealand still does not have a clear licensing pathway for early childhood education where nature is the main place of learning.
Many ECE centres run nature days, bush kindy sessions and outdoor programmes as excursions from licensed centres. But that is different from being able to establish a primarily nature-based early childhood service in its own right.
This campaign is asking for a clear pathway so safe, high-quality nature-based ECE can exist in Aotearoa.
Our rules need to catch up.
#MakeRoomForNatureKindy
What This Campaign Has Called For
For many years, this campaign has called for a clear licensing pathway for safe, high-quality nature-based early childhood education in Aotearoa. Cabinet has now agreed to progress legislation to create that pathway.
This campaign is not asking every centre to become a nature kindy. It is asking for provision, so families and providers who want safe, high-quality nature-based ECE have a clear pathway.
Make room for Nature Kindergarten. Make room for nature-based ECE.
#MakeRoomForNatureKindy
Take Action
Cabinet has agreed to progress legislation for nature-based early childhood education. There is still work ahead, including developing the detailed regulations, licensing criteria and funding conditions. Public consultation on these proposals is expected early next year.
1. Share this Campaign with your Networks
Share this campaign with your networks. You can download the support letter template to email, message or include in a newsletter, or you can share one of our campaign posts on social media.
You don’t have to use the template – it’s there if you need it. You can always adapt it the template and add your own message. The more people understand what is happening, the stronger the campaign to change the regulations becomes.
2. Email your local MP
Use the email template to contact your local MP and election candidates.
You can copy and paste it, or add your own words.
Ask them to support a clear licensing pathway for safe, high-quality nature-based ECE in Aotearoa.
3. Make a Video
Share a photo, short nature reel, or simple post about why nature-based learning matters.
You could share a moment from bush kindy, forest school, nature play, an outdoor classroom, a school programme, or your own whānau time in nature or even talk directly to the camera. Then post on social media and put hashtags and tag:
Use the hashtag #MakeRoomForNatureKindy
Tag @littlekiwisnatureplay (on Facebook) OR @natureeducatorsnz (on insta)
4. Share your Story
Complete our short questionnaire to share why nature-based ECE matters to you, your whānau, your service, or your community.
We will gather these stories to help show MPs, media and decision-makers why a clear legal pathway for nature-based ECE is needed in Aotearoa.
5. Complete the Provider/Kaiako Survey
If you run a nature-based learning, outdoor classroom, bush kindy, forest school, outdoor ECE, nature play, school programme, community programme or outdoor learning experience, please complete the provider survey.
This includes early childhood, primary, intermediate and secondary.
We want to show what is already happening across Aotearoa, what models exist, what safety systems are in place, and what barriers providers face.
6. Invite MPs or Election Candidates to Visit
If you run a programme, one of the strongest things you can do is invite your local MP or election candidates to visit.
Let them see the learning, the relationships, the risk management, the confidence, the joy, and the way tamariki come alive outside.
7. Contact your local media
Contact your local newspaper, radio station or community journalist and ask them to cover this issue.
You can tell them why nature-based learning matters in your community, share the campaign page, and send them the media release once it is available.
Local stories matter. MPs and decision-makers notice when an issue starts being talked about in communities.
What Needs to Change
Nature-based ECE needs a clear licensing pathway.
Current ECE licensing settings are built around fixed premises, indoor space and centre-based provision. These rules make sense for traditional centre-based provision, but they do not provide a dedicated pathway for an early childhood service where the outdoor environment is the normal place of learning.
At the moment, centres can run nature days, bush kindy sessions and outdoor programmes as excursions from a licensed centre.
But that is different from being able to establish a primarily nature-based early childhood service in its own right.
A clear pathway should keep strong safeguards in place, including:
- qualified teachers and skilled adults
- supervision structures
- risk management
- health and safety
- Te Whāriki
- parent communication
- emergency planning
- suitable outdoor learning environments
- Ministry oversight and accountability
Good regulation should protect children and support quality.
It should not shut the door on outdoor learning simply because the model does not look like a traditional indoor centre.
This Issue is Not New
In 2019, a submission and petition were brought to Parliament asking for a clear pathway for bush kindy, forest school and nature-based early childhood education.
There was cross-party support at the time, but MPs changed, key people left Parliament, COVID hit, and the work lost momentum.
Since then, nature-based learning has continued to grow across Aotearoa.
Many ECE centres now run nature days, bush kindy sessions and outdoor programmes as excursions from licensed centres. Other providers offer forest school, outdoor classrooms, nature play and outdoor learning through community, private, school-based and charitable models.
There is clearly demand from families, educators and communities.
What is still missing is a clear pathway for primarily nature-based early childhood education.
FAQ
Is this about safety?
No. Nature-based ECE can be delivered safely and well, with qualified teachers, required ratios, risk management and incident reporting. The issue is that the current licensing system does not have a clear place for nature-based ECE.
Why does nature-based ECE need a different pathway?
The current rules are built around fixed buildings, indoor space and centre-based premises. Nature-based programmes deliver early childhood education outdoors, so they do not fit neatly into a system designed for indoor centres. A clear pathway would let these programmes operate safely, legally and confidently.
Why can’t providers just use the existing centre licence?
Some providers do run nature days or outdoor programmes from a licensed centre, usually as excursions. But the existing centre-based licence is still built around fixed premises, including indoor space requirements such as 2.5 square metres per child. That does not fit cleanly when the normal learning environment is outdoors.
There is currently no dedicated pathway for a full-time or primarily nature-based early childhood service, where the outdoor environment is the main place of learning rather than an occasional excursion from an indoor centre.
A dedicated pathway would make expectations clearer for providers, families and the Ministry. It would also bring Aotearoa more in line with international practice, where nature and forest kindergarten models have already been recognised in different ways.
Is this just about one private provider?
No. The Play and Learn situation has brought the issue into focus, but the bigger question is whether Aotearoa will make room for nature-based ECE at all. Many families and educators value bush kindy, forest school, nature play and outdoor early learning. The system needs a pathway that can support this safely and properly.
Are children still getting the early childhood curriculum?
Yes. High-quality nature-based ECE is still early childhood education. It can include qualified teachers, Te Whāriki, planning, assessment, relationships with whānau, and rich learning through play, exploration and connection to place.
Is nature kindy just childcare in a park?
No. Nature kindy is education, outdoors. The setting is different, but the learning is deep. Children are learning through movement, relationships, risk, imagination, observation, care for the environment and connection to te taiao.
What exactly are you asking the Government to do?
Cabinet has agreed to progress legislation to create a clear pathway for nature-based early childhood education. The next step is developing the detailed regulations, licensing criteria and funding conditions, with public consultation expected early next year.
Why does this matter for Aotearoa?
Internationally, nature and forest kindergarten models are well recognised, and many countries have found ways to provide for early childhood education where the outdoor environment is the main place of learning. New Zealand has not.
Here, nature-based ECE still has to fit around rules designed for indoor, centre-based provision. That means there is no clear pathway for a full-time or primarily nature-based early childhood service.
This matters because Aotearoa places huge value on the outdoor environment. We see this in the way communities speak up for conservation land, public access, parks, reserves and wild places. More than 24,000 people submitted on the Conservation Amendment Bill, because they value our outdoor environments.
That same value should be reflected in our education system. If we believe connection to nature matters, then early childhood regulations should make room for safe, high-quality learning in nature too.
Do other countries provide for nature-based early childhood education?
Yes. Internationally, nature and forest kindergarten models are well recognised, and many places have found ways to support early childhood education where the outdoor environment is a regular or central place of learning.
Different countries do this in different ways. Some have specific licensing pathways, some have outdoor nursery models, and others support bush kinder, forest school or outdoor early learning through guidance, funding or regulation.
New Zealand has not yet created a clear pathway for full-time or primarily nature-based ECE.
That is the gap.
What can families and supporters do?
Support the wider campaign for change by writing to your MP and engaging in the public consultation when it happens in 2027.
Use: #MakeRoomForNatureKindy
Background Resources
2018 Full Submission to Parliament
Information about the previous work calling for a clear licence pathway for bush kindergartens, forest kindergartens and nature-based ECE.
Key Regulatory References
- Education (Early Childhood Services) Regulations 2008, Regulation 45 and Schedule 4
- Ministry of Education: Indoor activity areas
- Ministry of Education: Premises and facilities for centre-based ECE services
Contact
For pātai or campaign support, contact:
Celia Hogan
Little Kiwis Nature Play
celia@littlekiwisnatureplay.com
#MakeRoomForNatureKindy