Ici, everything happens outside: meals, naps, activities, welcome times, quieter timesexplains the director of the nursery Mouse in GrassOphélie Loeb, to whom one or two little ones always seem to be firmly clinging.

On this December day, around twenty children aged 15 months to three years, all equipped with the same overalls, prance between DIY workshops, log and rock circuits, or busy at the dinette in the 285 m2 courtyard between recently planted trees.

Last week, we had a lot of rain, it was +slush land+. The children were super happy, they were jumping in the puddles, it was very funnyenthuses Amel Marif, one of the nine professionals who work there.

Contrary to the practices in most other daycare centers, well heated in winter and on the lookout for the slightest microbe, this associative establishment, supported by the environmentalist municipality, opened at the beginning of November, in the middle of a cold spell.

Inspired by a model that has proven itself in Scandinavian countries, it focuses on the recognized benefits of the outdoors on the cognitive, motor and emotional development of childrenaccording to its promoters.

Still embryonic in France, the concept has already been tested in semi-outdoor nurseries, sometimes with 80% of the time outside, more rarely the whole day, but is the first to organize naps outdoors.

We still have a building that allows us to retreat in the event of extreme weather.that is to say if the wind is too strong or if the temperatures exceed -5° or 35°C, specifies the director, a psychomotor therapist by training.

Mental health

The interior spaces include the changing and care room, staff rooms, a small kitchen for heating children’s meals and a temporary retreat space.

After a few weeks of opening, the parents met by the AFP team already noted an improvement in their child’s health and sleep.

Alois, two and a half years old, needs to exercise a lot, he’s a fairly active little boysays Aurore, her mother, as she takes off her bike helmet. Being outside, being able to get some fresh air, it’s really great, we live in an apartment so we don’t have the opportunity to have a garden of our own.

A third of places are reserved for children with specific needs, in particular children with autism spectrum disorders, Down syndrome, developmental delays or sensory deficiencies.

Little Mohammed has language delays and according to his father, contact with others has already become a little easier. When he comes home, we see that he is no longer looking for the iPad, but that he wants to do activities with his handsdit Farid Seghieri.

Before he was always locked up, always sick. And when one is sick everyone at home gets sickhe continues. Since he spent the day outside, his son sleeps like a grown-uphe notes again.

Caroline Meynier, a childcare assistant for more than ten years, also ensures that her days are very different.

The fact of not being confined between four walls really allows us to project our gaze further. As a result (…) we are much less tired in the evening in terms of mental healthshe said.

The environmentalist mayor Grégory Doucet, who supported the development of this crèche, now wants to open, in the spring, the first municipal crèche in France 100% outdoors.