Healing Gardens

I missed the trip to IslandWood but read up on how amazing it is, so here's a little summary of its creation...

IslandWood came about because many children in the Seattle School District did not recieve overnight outdoor education programs. The land was purchased by Paul and Debbi Brainerd who proposed the idea for Island Wood. Washington declared environmental education a must in 1990 but not much was being done about it because of lack of funding. The Closing the Achievement Gap came out in 1998 and was used as the basis for the vision of Island Wood.  The study showed that taking children outside and staying active asopposed to sitting in a classroom for lectures and reading actually increases their discipline!  

Lots of research and planning were involved in IslandWood's creation involving over 2,500 people.  Debbi visited over 25 other outdoor educational facilities in the U.S. to come up with design and program ideas.  Scientists and educators were brought to the IslandWood to decide what stories and concepts could connect learning to the land.  They were excited by the wide variety of ecosystems and the history of the Suquamish who had used this land for many years before the arrival of the white settlers.  

The structures, trail systems, and overall design was created by Mithun architects and The Berger Partnership with the help of kids.  Over 250 kids from different grades decided what they thought would be best for outdoor learning.  Focusing primarily on adventure based learning full of treehouses, foating classrooms, etc.(which is awesome).  

Fundraising started in 1999, and the campaign was completed in 2005.  Today IslandWood is a great example of what can happen when people work together to help each other.  It is in it's fourth year of operation, still reaching out to the community successfully. 

Information found on the IslandWood website info@islandwood.org