Resources

Early Care and Education and Out-of-School Time Facilities

• Infrastructure Investment Begins with Children, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Communities & Banking, 2012
• Building Early Childhood Facilities: What States Can Do to Create Supply and Promote Quality, National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), April 2007
• Child Care Facilities: Quality By Design, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, June 2004
• Early Childhood Centers, National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF), 2009 
• Child Development Centers, WBDG Subcommittee, Whole Building Design Guide, 2013
• Poor Physical Space Compromises Quality, Strategies for Children, Eye on Early Education, 2012
• The Great 35 Square Foot Myth, White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group, 2003
• Design of Child Care Centers and Effects of Noise on Young Children, Dr. Lorraine E. Maxwell & Dr. Gary W. Evans, Cornell University, 1998
• Developing Spaces By and For Teens in Out-of-school-time Programs, Build the Out-of-School Time Network (BOSTnet) & Children’s Investment Fund, 2007

Early Care and Education in Massachusetts 

• State Child Care Facts in the State of Massachusetts, Child Care Aware, 2018
• The Economic Impact of the Child Care and Early Education Industry in Massachusetts, National Economic Development and Law Center, January 2004

Physical Activity

• Societal Values and Policies May Curtail Preschool Children’s Physical Activity in Child Care Centers, American Academy of Pediatrics, February 2012 
• The Crucial Role of Recess in School, American Academy of Pediatrics, January 2013
• Overweight and Obesity in Massachusetts: A Focus on Physical Activity, Jennifer Sacheck, Ph.D., Tufts University
• After-School Gets Moving, Wellesley Centers for Women, 2012

Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards; Guidelines for Early Care and Education Programs, Third Edition, American Academy of Pediatrics, 2011

Child Care Physical Environmental Checklist, Rhode Island Child Care Facilities Fund, 2006

Public Playground Safety Handbook, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Caring for Kids with Asthma: A Guide for Massachusetts Child Care Programs, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2013

Local Initiatives Support Corporation’s (LISC) Community Investment Collaborative For Kids (CICK) Resource Guides:

• Volume 1: Developing Early Childhood Facilities
• Volume 2: Designing Early Childhood Facilities
• Volume 3: Equipping and Furnishing Early Childhood Facilities 
• Volume 4: Creating Playgrounds for Early Childhood Facilities
• The ABCs of Child Care 
• Greening Early Childhood Centers
• Creating Quality School-Age Child Care Space

Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, Revised Edition, Updated (ECERS-R)
Thelma Harms, Richard M. Clifford, and Debby Cryer, Teacher’s College Press, 2005

Infant Toddler Environment Rating Scale, Revised Edition, Updated (ITERS-R)
Thelma Harms, Debby Cryer, and Richard M. Clifford, Teacher’s College Press, 2006

The School-Age Care Environment Rating Scale (SACERS)
Thelma Harms, Ellen Vineberg Jacobs, and Donna Romano, Teacher’s College Press, 1995

American Association for the Child’s Right to Play
Children and Nature Network
Dimensions Educational Research Foundation
Massachusetts Asthma Action Partnership
Natural Learning Initiative
Nature Explore
North American Reggio Emilia Alliance
OPAL Outdoor Play and Learning Community Interest Company
Playscapes
Project Learning Tree
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Landscape and Human Health Laboratory

• Beyond Ecophobia: Reclaiming the Heart in Nature Education
  by David Sobel
• Building Playgrounds: A Guide to the Planning Process
  by Susan D. Hudson, Ph.D., Donna Thompson, Ph.D., Heather Olsen, Ed.D.
• Child Care Assessment Kit for Outdoor Play Environments
  by Heather Olsen, M.A., Susan Hudson, Ph.D., Donna Thompson, Ph.D.
• Children’s Spaces
  by Mark Dudek
• Cultivating Outdoor Classrooms: Designing and Implementing Child-Centered Learning Environments
  by Eric M. Nelson
• Designs for Living and Learning: Transforming Early Childhood Environments
  by Deb Curtis and Margie Carter
• Go Green Rating Scale for Early Childhood Settings and Handbook for Improving Your Score
  by Phil Boise
• I Love Dirt!: 52 Activities to Help You and Your Kids Discover the Wonders of Nature
  by Jennifer Ward
• Infant and Toddler Spaces: Design for a Quality Classroom
  by Community Playthings
• Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder
  by Richard Louv
• Learning with Nature Idea Book: Creating Nurturing Outdoor Spaces for Children
  by Valerie Cuppens
• Lens on Outdoor Learning
  by Wendy Banning and Ginny Sullivan
• Natural Learning: Creating Environments for Rediscovering Nature’s Way of Teaching
  by Robin C. Moore and Herb H. Wong
• Natural Playscapes: Creating Outdoor Play Environments for the Soul
  by Rusty Keeler
• Place-Based Education: Connecting Classrooms and Communities
  by David Sobel Orion Society
• Plants for Play: A Plant Selection Guide for Children’s Outdoor Environments
  by Robin C. Moore
• Play for All Guidelines: Planning, Design and Management of Outdoor Play Settings for All Children
  by Robin C. Moore, Susan M. Goltsman, Daniel Iacofano
• Playing for Keeps: Life and Learning on a Public School Playground
  by Deborah Meier, Brenda S. Engel, and Beth Taylor
• Preschool Outdoor Environment Measurement Scale (POEMS)
  by Karen DeBoard, Linda Hestenes, Robin C. Moore, Nilda Cosco, Janet McGinnis
• Roxaboxen
  by Alice McLerran
• The Community Friendly Spaces Approach
  by Elizabeth Jarman