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Shape NC

Lulu’s Enrichment Center

Lulu’s Child Enrichment Center is in Taylorsville North Carolina, and is a part of the Mitchell Gold Bob Williams Furniture manufacturing facility.

The center is supported by the manufacturing facility and provides childcare to many of the employees. The director, Kim Draughn, led the effort to improve the existing outdoor area to meet best practice guidelines.

The existing asphalt pathway, which was out of repair and not ideal, was replaced with a new five-foot wide concrete pathway that connects new settings to buildings and entrances. Modifications made to an existing storage shed provide an attached deck and sand play area, utilizing an existing roof overhang for shade. Other improvements include a new stage with a reading nook, a challenge area with low ropes for balancing, and raised beds for planting vegetables.

With much energy and excitement, Lulu’s Child Enrichment Center continues to follow their master plan by incrementally installing new features and settings.

Address: 135 One Comfortable Place Taylorsville, NC 28681

Phone Number: (828) 632-9200

County: Alexander

Local Partnership: Alexander

NC Star Rating: 5

Capacity: 77

The new trike track is now safer and looks so much better. The trike track has allowed the teachers to open up all 10 settings that we planned on using.

Schematic Master Plan (2012)

Before Renovation (2011)

After Renovation (2012)

POD 2

Intermountain Children’s Place

Address: P.O. Box 338, Spruce Pine NC 28777

Director: Amy Holiman

County: Mitchell & Yancey

Capacity

Before Renovation

After Renovation

Outdoor Learning Environment

Local Partnership for Children

Partnership Name:Blue Ridge Partnership for Children

Partnership Address:392 East Main Street, Burnsville, NC  28714

Partnership Phone:(828) 682-0047

Partnership Website:  Visit Website

Shape NC

Friendly Avenue Christian Preschool

Friendly Avenue Christian Preschool, located at Friendly Avenue Baptist Church in Greensboro North Carolina, made significant progress in transforming their outdoors to meet best practice standards.

• A new five-foot wide concrete path allows access to a variety of new settings, including a dedicated garden area with raised beds, a natural loose parts area, a play deck, and existing play equipment.
• Fruiting shrubs, vines, perennials, and vegetables have been added throughout the outdoor learning environment to provide children with close contact natural living materials.
• Children are regularly provided with new loose parts that are replenished frequently, depending on what is available in season. Flowers in baskets make for pretend soups and birthday cakes during the summer and hay bales are provided in the autumn to be used later in stuffing the school scarecrow.
• For infants, a portion of the church courtyard was completely renovated to provide sensory pathways and soft lawn areas for being outside.

Overall, the Shape NC project has transformed the way that children are engaged with their environment, improved behaviors, and allowed teachers to have fun and be creative outside. A new part-time gardener position helps to tend the plants and engage children with planting vegetables and caring for growing crops. The center is still installing parts of the plan and continues to receive assistance from parents and community members to create new features and take care of their new investment.

Address: 4800 W. Friendly Ave Greensboro, NC 27401

Phone Number: (336) 292-3578

County: Guilford

Local Partnership: Guilford

NC Star Rating: 5

Website: Visit Website

Capacity: 160

It’s exciting to see children harvesting tomatoes, watermelon, green beans and strawberries and taking great pride and feeling accomplished in their work. We were able to serve fresh watermelon multiple times throughout the summer from the garden.

Schematic Master Plan (2011)

Before Renovation

After Renovation

Shape NC

Haywood Center for the Advancement of Children

Haywood Regional Center for the Advancement of Children is on the campus of Haywood Community College in Clyde North Carolina.

Haywood CC is committed to environmental stewardship through sustainable landscape techniques, including the use of plants native to the area. The childcare center was recently built and had already begun the process of designing a new outdoor learning environment with OBS Landscape Architects in Raleigh before being identified as a Shape NC demonstration site.

The Natural Learning Initiative carefully reviewed plans for the preschool space, ensuring best practices were incorporated. In addition to this plan review, NLI provided designs for a new infant and toddler space not included in the OBS plans. After many months of design and construction, a transformation occurred in the preschool space. Professionally installed pathways, custom timber play structures, and enticing play opportunities provide children with an engaging place to play and learn.

Efforts to transform the infant and toddler spaces are underway and, when complete, will provide all of the children at the center with places to play that encourage physical activity and experience with food gardening.

Address: Haywood Community College 185 Freedlander Dr. Clyde, NC 28721

Phone Number: (828) 627-2821

County: Haywood

Local Partnership: Haywood

NC Star Rating: 5

Website: Visit Website

Capacity: 140

Schematic Master Plan (2011)

Before Renovation (2011)

After Renovation (2013)

Shape NC

Excel Learning Center #3

Excel Learning Center #3, in Morehead City North Carolina, successfully implemented a large portion of their master plan.

Adding primary pathways, moving or removing existing structures, building a play hill, and creating many exciting features, transformed an old playground into a new outdoor learning environment. Taking inspiration from the nearby beach landscape, future plans include low hammocks, a play dock with boat, and plantings.

Vegetable gardens were also installed in a dedicated area with a nearby cold frame greenhouse. In the infant space, shade sails, a sensory path, and fragrant plants were installed for early exploration with nature. The center is one of fourteen Excel Learning Centers in the region, and has already been used as an example of best practice for all of the Excel childcare facilities.

Address: 700 North 35th St Morehead City, NC 28557

Phone Number: (252) 288-5181

County: Carteret

Local Partnership: Carteret

NC Star Rating: 5

Website: Visit Website

Capacity: 98

The new additions help to keep the children more engaged in the OLE. Everyone has enjoyed it. It exposes children to experience more items.

Schematic Master Plan (2012)

Before Renovation (2011)

After Renovation (2013)

Shape NC

Excel Christian Academy

Excel Christian Academy, in Burlington North Carolina is a preschool and after school program associated with Ebenezer United Church of Christ.

The opportunity to move their preschool into a newly constructed building across the street from the church became available during the Shape NC project and they needed a second design. They are now adding the finishing touches to their brand-new outdoor learning environment. Excel Christian Academy is taking advantage of this rare opportunity for a center to design their outdoor space and have it implemented based off that design right from the start.

The center has made community connections to help accomplish their outdoor learning environment, including Alamance Community College’s horticulture department, an Alamance county beautification committee, and a local tree clearing company. After installing the primary pathway, multipurpose lawn, fruit trees, vegetable garden beds, and log settings, the center hopes to continue improvements with a butterfly garden and grass maze.

Address: 734 Apple Street Burlington, NC 27217

Phone Number: (919) 542-9977

County: Alamance

Local Partnership: Alamance

NC Star Permit:5

Capacity: 60

Schematic Master Plan (2012)

Before Renovations (2012)

After Renovations (2012)

Shape NC

Betsy B. Currin Child Development Center of Nash Community College

Betsy B. Currin Child Development Center is on the campus of Nash Community College in Rocky Mount NC. The center is tightly integrated with the college, serving as a laboratory for students entering the child care profession. Many significant initial steps were made during the Shape NC project to increase physical activity and healthy eating, including:

• Completion of a toddler trike track
• Removal of unwanted equipment and ground surfaces
• Addition of flowering trees, and
• Planting of vegetables in raised beds.

Future plans include construction of an infant garden, a small stage, and more vegetation to provide natural loose parts and shade.  In the college setting, these improvements are enjoyed by the children at the center and have the potential to influence generations of early childhood professionals enrolled in classes at Nash Community College.

Address: 522 N. Old Carriage Road P.O. Box 7488 Rocky Mount, NC 27804
Phone Number: (252) 451-8498
County: Nash
Local Partnership: Nash
NC Star Rating: 5
Website: Visit Website
Capacity: 60

The concrete pathway has been our biggest accomplishment and it contributed to the OLE and to physical activity. The children love riding their bikes on the pathway!

Schematic Master Plan (2011)

Before Renovation (2011)

After Renovation (2013)

Presentation at Mackenzie Presbyterian University in São Paulo, Brazil

The Natural Learning Initiative’s Robin Moore and Nilda Cosco presented on Designing for the Next Generation of Planetary Lifeguards at Mackenzie Presbyterian University in São Paulo, Brazil on November 28, 2016.

Shape NC

Anson Children’s Center

Anson Children’s Center, in Polkton North Carolina (Anson County), initiated best practice improvements as a result of the Shape NC initiative:

• Two large areas were re-worked to provide five-foot wide pathways.
• Raised garden beds were installed and shade structures that can support vines were erected at the entrances to the outdoor spaces.
• Natural materials that are readily available for children can be found in the outdoor learning environment.
• Compost from a nearby cotton factory was used in several raised beds and to everyone’s surprise cotton sprang up! The plant was left for the children to learn from and enjoy.

Future plans include further plant installations and construction of custom settings.

Address: 383 Cotton St Polkton, NC 28135

Phone Number: (704) 272-7076

County: Anson

Local Partnership: Anson

NC Star Rating: 5

Capacity: 85

The children really enjoy a place to ride trikes and cars.  Some of the children in the two-year-old class like to see who can ride their bikes the fastest around the track.

Schematic Master Plan (2012)

Before Renovations (2011)

After Renovations (2013)

Alexzandria Walters

Research Assistant

Alexzandria (Alex) Walters, BA, is a Research Assistant at NLI, where she contributes to a diverse array of NLI projects. Alex received her Bachelor of Architecture degree from Miami University in Ohio. She’s previously worked as an intern with RSA Architects and Domokur Architects and is currently an MLA student at North Carolina State University.

Alex grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio and as a child remembers going to the waterfall in her town and walking along the river. She always loved knowing that a town could be built around such a bold element in nature. By working at NLI, she hopes to help all children be immersed in nature in their everyday lives, just as she experienced.