Distance Learning with Dodge

Dodge preschoolers may be staying home, but that doesn’t mean learning—or reading—stop! Our teachers have savvy selections for books to keep your preschooler laughing, lively and feeling loved. Picks range from fiction to nonfiction, fantasy to nature-based, animals to animation, and silly to serious. Snuggle up for some stories!

Dodge naturalist Teresa Root developed the Signs of Spring contest to honor a feeling shared by many Minnesotans in early March: “You’re so tired of winter, and really looking forward to spring.”

This season, as our communities combat COVID-19, that stressed and restless feeling is amplified.

Though the contest’s entry deadline has passed, its activities—watching wildlife, identifying flowers, listening closely to bird calls—are available to all. On Dodge’s trails or closer to home, you can de-stress and deepen your observational abilities. Take advice from a naturalist: “Just sit in a chair in your backyard, slow down, take time, really notice.”

Dodge doesn’t pause when temps drop. Horses prep to pull sleighs, Naturalist Fellows dig snow shelters (no, they don’t have to live in them), and bonfires bring some warmth to the most Siberian season.

In taking kids outside all winter, naturalists and preschool teachers ascribe to the motto, “There is no such thing as bad weather—only the wrong clothes.”

Dodge’s yearlong Naturalist Fellowship trains college graduates as environmental educators, readying them to teach everything from Animal Tracks to Wilderness Survival.

What’s teacher training like at Dodge? It’s outside, it’s hands-on—and it’s crammed with questions.