Designing a nature-oriented educational environment in preschool institutions: current approaches and practical solutions

The article substantiates a nature-oriented educational environment in a preschool institution as an integrated system of spatial, activity-based, social-partnership, safety-inclusive, and reflective-evaluative conditions. The study responds to the need to move from episodic nature-related activities and decorative “nature corners” to children’s daily interaction with living and non-living nature. Its purpose is to identify the components, principles, and algorithm of such an environment and practical solutions for future preschool teacher education. The methods include content analysis of regulatory documents and recent publications, comparative and generalising analysis, pedagogical modelling, and case design. A model is proposed together with the principles of child agency, indoor-outdoor continuity, locality, universal design, sustainability, co-design, and balance between safety and reasonable risk. The algorithm includes contextual monitoring, goal setting, mapping resources and barriers, co-design, prototyping, implementation, pedagogical documentation, and cyclical evaluation. Practical solutions include the cases “Green Patrol: Secrets of the Yard”, “Nature-Based STEAM Laboratory: Water, Soil, Wind”, and “Sensory Laboratory of Natural Treasures”, as well as tasks for future specialists. The model can be used in preschool teacher education and the transformation of preschool environments and requires further empirical validation.