Welcome to Green Hearts!
Founded: November, 2005 in
We use best practices in child development,
environmental education, naturalistic landscaping, and
conservation design to help ensure that active nature
exploration and play remains a cherished part of
childhood. By nurturing children’s love for the natural
world, Green Hearts lays the cornerstone for life-long
conservation values among the citizens and leaders of the
future.
Slogan: Bringing children and nature back together.
Primary Services:
A. Educational advocacy for and about nature play,
through speaking, writing, and educational
workshops.
B. Consulting assistance to organizations seeking to
create or expand opportunities for nature play. Our
greatest expertise is in: (1) the development and
operation of nature preschools, and (2) the design
and development of natural play spaces.
C. Future development and operation of Green Hearts’
own multi-state network of “children’s nature
centers,” each featuring a licensed nature
preschool.
Green Hearts was founded by Ken Finch, a dedicated
environmental educator with over 36 years of experience in
nature centers, museums, and similar organizations.
Green Hearts’ focus on play-based approaches to building
conservation values reflects the growing body of research
data about how such values are most often formed.
To date, Green Hearts’ work has emphasized keynote
presentations at professional conferences, in-depth training
workshops for conservation and early childhood
professionals, parent and community workshops about
nature play, consulting assistance to conservation and early
childhood agencies, and authoring nature play articles for
print media. The design and creation of Green Hearts’ first
facility -- a unique children’s nature center in suburban
Omaha -- is underway.
Green Hearts is also part of the leadership team for
MORE Nature (Metro Omaha Resources for Exploring Nature),
a collaborative effort to expand nature play opportunities for
all the residents of the greater Omaha metro area.
Board of Directors:
Green Hearts’ Board is made up of a small number of
dedicated individuals with extensive experience and
strong interest in nature play.
Funding:
Green Hearts secures its financial support through
Contact Information:
Green Hearts’ offices (shared with Big Muddy Workshop):
4502 42nd Street
Phone: 402-344-8711
Fax: 402-344-8712
Website: www.greenheartsinc.org
Email: kfinch@greenheartsinc.org
Emergency Phone (mobile): 402-301-9615