Our Books
We are proud of the deep expertise of the Green Schoolyards America team and their extensive contributions to the field of children and nature over many decades. We are delighted to share this collection of outstanding resource books published by members of our team.
Asphalt to EcoSystems: Design Ideas for Schoolyard Transformation
by Sharon Gamson Danks, New Village Press, 2010.
Asphalt to Ecosystems is a comprehensive, award-winning book on transforming ordinary asphalt and grass schoolyards into vibrant ecosystems that promote hands-on learning, creative play, and neighborhood ecology. Filled with 500 lively, colorful pictures and outstanding examples from 150 innovative schools in 11 countries, this book is a great way to persuade your school or district to start greening their grounds—or to add depth and breadth to a schoolyard project that is already started.
Excerpt: "Ecologically Sensitive Materials for Schoolyard Landscapes"
Excerpt (French language): Table of Contents, Introduction, Chapter 1.
Translated by Xavier Hulhoven.
Schools that Heal: Design with Mental Health in Mind
by Claire Latané, Island Press, 2021.
Backed by decades of research, Schools That Heal showcases clear and compelling ways to create schools that support students’ mental health and feelings of safety. With invaluable advice for school administrators, public health experts, teachers, and parents, Schools That Heal is a call to action and a practical resource to envision and implement nurturing and inspiring school environments. Healthy, healing campuses will better prepare students to take care of themselves, their communities, their cities, and their planet.
How to Grow a School Garden: A Complete Guide for Parents and Teachers
by Arden Bucklin-Sporer and Rachel Pringle, Timber Press, 2010.
How to Grow a School Garden has everything you need to know to build school gardens and to develop the programs that support them. It's all here: developing the concept, planning, fund-raising, organizing, designing the space, preparing the site, working with parents and schools, teaching in the garden, planting, harvesting, and even cooking. Packed with strategies, to-do lists, sample letters, detailed lesson plans, and tricks of the trade from decades of experience developing school garden programs for grades K–8, this hands-on approach will make school garden projects accessible, inexpensive, and sustainable.
Nature Play at Home: Creating Outdoor Spaces that Connect Children to the Natural World
by Nancy Striniste, Timber Press, 2019.
Nature Play at Home gives you the tools to awaken children’s senses, challenge their bodies, inspire their imaginations and build self-confidence. This book details how to create well-designed nature play spaces with natural materials—like logs, boulders, sand, water, and plants of all kinds. With rich, inspiring images from around the world, author, educator, and landscape designer Nancy Striniste explains why and how to bring the beauty, adventure, and sustainability of nature play to backyards, schoolyards, churchyards, neighborhood parks, early childhood settings, and more.
