Griffin Barr is the one of the first artists to use the Community Nursery School’s outdoor art studio.

Emma Aviles, 3 and her sister, Sofia, 6, at the student table at the newly opened Community Nursery School outdoor art studio in Guilford.

Sign encouraging students inside the newly created outdoor art studio at the Community Nursery School in Guilford.

The Community Nursery School’s newest addition is a 200-square-foot outdoor art studio.

Visitors check out the new outdoor studio at the school.

Sofia Aviles, 6,and her sister, Emma Aviles, 3 inside the newly opened Community Nursery School outdoor art studio in Guilford.

Community Nursery School Executive Director Rachel Daniels in the school’s newly opened outdoor art studio.

GUILFORD — Nestled in a sunny corner of the large playground at the Community Nursery School, ready for students to begin to creating projects in the open air, is a new outdoor art studio.

“We want to encourage the children here to be able to be creative out in nature,” says Rachel Daniels, Community Nursery School executive director.

“We have really beautiful outdoor space, so rather than be inside creating art, we want to give them the opportunity to be outside creating art,” the Guilford resident says. “It’s really easy for the children to gather nature materials — acorns, sticks, rocks — and bring it right into there.”

The 200-square-foot studio was created by Guilford’s John Russell of Russell Woodworks and funded by grants from the Guilford Foundation and The Community Foundation of Greater New Haven.

This project fits nicely into the Guilford Foundation’s focus this year on those hardest hit by COVID, including among others, childcare services and families.

“We looked at that application and we just felt that it was really important to support the ongoing development of kids, particularly in this time of COVID,” says Liza Petra, executive director of the Guilford Foundation.

“Knowing that the future is so uncertain about how much time they’ll be able to spend in their classrooms, for us it was a win-win,” she adds.

In addition, money raised during the Little Folks Fair, the school’s largest fundraiser, was allocated for the project.

“It’s lovely because it really is a community effort,” says Daniels.

The structure is created out of pressure treated wood, with a Trex composite deck. While there are three large plexiglass windows, the front entrance some 20 feet wide, is open to the elements.

“It is very durable, because it needs to be,” says Daniels.

“We encourage our kids to play outside and explore outside all year round,” says Daniels. “So, in the winter it will still be open.”

The floor, currently, is just plain wood. The walls are unpainted and decorated with children’s art.

“It’s purposely left rustic looking on the inside because we want the children to be able to create and explore in here without having to worry about making a mess,” says Daniels.

“We really encourage messes,” she adds. “The floor will be covered in paint and that’s a good thing. I want the floor to be covered in paint because that’s evidence that children were playing in there.”

On the small wooden children’s table, surrounded by three small chairs, sits a sign that reads “Every child is an artist, Picasso.”

With this in mind, Daniels explains that the art program at CNS is “process art.”

“We’re more focused on the process of the children doing it, exploring materials and creating,” she says. “We’re not as concerned with the product.”

The new studio is stocked with crayons; paint and paint brushes; colored markers, natural materials such as acorns, pinecones, sticks and rocks; multi-colored tape, marbles and an easel ready for the children to start creating masterpieces.

The plan was to build the studio in March 2020, “then, of course, COVID happened and so we put a pause on everything,” says Daniels.

“In that time, it just became so much more apparent how valuable outdoor space it,” she adds. “This was a dream of ours well before we ever could have imagined how important it is to have places where parents and kids can gather safely outside.”

The school’s outdoor learning space also includes two playgrounds, sensory gardens, an outdoor classroom, hiking trails and a greenhouse.

As students climb on big rocks, scattered throughout the playground, Daniels talks about the importance of the great outdoors for children.

“I think it’s where they discover the most about themselves,” she says. “It’s also really hard to make mistakes outside, when you’re playing and creating things. It’s very open-ended play.”

CNS was started in 1955 by a group of local parents. It began as a cooperative school and continues that mission today, encouraging caregivers to be a part of the learning experience.

Currently there are some 70 children, ages 2 to 5 years old enrolled.

“Our parents come into the classroom every single day,” says Daniels. “They have a chance to participate in their child’s early education.”

The school sits on a bucolic piece of property surrounded by woodlands.

“That’s hiking trails that the kids go back, in all the seasons, to explore what the changes are in the seasons,” Daniels says, pointing to the woods that backs up to the fenced in play area.

“There’s a stream that we watch over the winter to see it in various stages of being frozen,” she adds. “We’re very focused on getting the kids to be outside and appreciate nature and make that a part of their every day.”

Mandie Sorrentino, co-president of the board of directors and the mother of a student, is effusive when talking about how valuable this space is to the future of the school.

“I think it’s going to allow us a lot more space to do additional programming,” Sorrentino says.

“I know the board has talked about envisioning a space where parents and grandparents and family members can work alongside our kids,” she adds.

“We’re such a nature-, play-based school that putting an art setting in a natural setting and being able to work in nature elements, I think it’s going to be really special and create really fun memories for the kids and families.”

Community Nursery School, 262 Sachem Head Road, Guilford; 203-453-5500; guilfordcns.org; Facebook Community Nursery School; Instagram communitynurseryschool

Contact Sarah Page Kyrcz at suzipage1@aol.com