10 Acre Wood Preschool is a home-based child care facility in Lakeville, Minnesota that opened its doors in August 2019. In December 2022, 10 Acre Wood Preschool became an Eco-Healthy Child Care® (EHCC) endorsed facility. The facility is licensed to care for 12 children ages 3 to 5 years old.
Mrs. Baune learned about the EHCC program
through a professional group of other nature preschool educators. After reviewing the checklist she realized she was already implementing most of the requirements. Mrs. Baune was already tracking air quality levels to determine whether it was safe for children to go outside. By using safe chemicals for cleaning and other purposes, she was also protecting indoor air quality.
Mrs. Buaune is passionate about making sure that parts of the environment that she can control are as safe as possible for the children in her care. Seeking the endorsement was an easy choice to help her achieve her goal of providing a safer environment. While completing the checklist, Mrs. Baune found EHCC’s Plastics Factsheet helpful. This factsheet helped her check their current dishes and make sure they were all “safer plastics”. This is important to Mrs. Baune because certain plastics contain chemicals that are harmful to human health at low levels of exposure. Children are at greater risk due to chemical exposure. This is because their bodies are still developing, and they often insert plastic objects into their mouths. This increases their exposure to harmful chemicals.
Mrs. Baune implemented a few new environmental health best practices in her facility due to the EHCC program. She purchased a sign that says “NO IDLING. Turn off your engine and protect the air we breathe”. Mrs. Baune knows that car exhaust releases pollutants that are harmful to health.. Pollution from idling vehicles can quickly enter a childcare facility through open doors or windows. By testing her water, Mrs. Baune found that lead was present. 10 Acre Wood Preschool now uses a drinking water filter certified to remove lead.
By using the Eco-Healthy Fact Sheets and the AAP recommendations for eco-friendly dishes, Mrs. Baune was able to get a grant to cover the cost of recycling plastic used in the kitchen area. The grant also allowed her to receive stainless steel or PYREX to replace her plasticware. By collaborating with her technical assistant, Mrs. Baune now plans to test for lead in their school garden as well as their
surrounding outdoor soil. Her goal is to make sure the soils are lead-free in the future, especially within their garden. Eco-Healthy Child Care® offers a FREE Lead-Safe Toolkit that offers a range of easy-to-follow steps and resources for identifying and mitigating lead hazards within child care facilities.
Mrs. Baune is also implementing eco-healthy practices that are not on the checklist. Her students are using compost in their raised garden beds rather than directly sowing it into the earth. Mrs. Baune also makes sure that her students get fresh air often throughout the school day.
Parents gave 10 Acre Wood Preschool positive feedback when they became EHCC-endorsed. The parents are thankful for Mrs. Baune being proactive and making thoughtful decisions. Additionally, 10 Acre Wood Preschool shares newsletters and blogs to increase parents’ awareness about eco-healthy practices.
Mrs. Baune recommends the EHCC endorsement program to fellow early care and learning providers. She shares that both the EHCC e-learning course and virtual technical assistance support are game changers. Mrs. Baune has learned a lot from the EHCC program. She is now inspired to go above and beyond the recommendations provided on EHCC’s checklist!
