Outdoor Preschool Gear List
Keeping children warm, dry, and comfortable as they play outdoors for hours.
Base Layers:
Top and bottoms. We recommend at least two pairs.
Something warm and soft against your child’s skin. Easy to move in. Merino wool is ideal but we’ve had a lot of success with polyester blends and even thick leggings. Cotton is not especially warm. If you’re going to splurge on one part of cozy gear, I recommend it be Merino base layers.
Brands: REI, Columbia, Mountain Wearhouse, Helly Hansen, Patagonia, L.L. Bean
Middle Layers:
Top: Any combination of fleece jacket, puffy jacket, wool sweaters. Think of insulating materials.
Bottom: Thick leggings or fleece pants.
Brands: Old Navy, Patagonia, Lands End, Eddie Bauer, REI
Outer Layers:
WATERPROOF clothing. Rainpants (prefer rain bibs) and rain jacket.
We recommend buying a size up of rainwear for mobility and to make room for layers underneath.
Brands: Grundens, Helly Hansen, Polarn O. Pyret
Other Layers:
Hat. Neck gaiter. Regular socks and thick wool socks. Insulate boots (ideally Bogs because they are so durable) Wool mittens. Water proof mittens to go over the wool mittens.
Gear Notes:
-In Winter there will be days where your child needs every layer. In the rest of the year, it depends on the weather. I would say that most days children come to school in base layers and rain layers, with additional packed mid layers in their backpack if they need it.
(See illustrated cheat sheet below for how to get dressed in the morning.)
-Your child will get muddy! And probably love it. We recommend having a bag or bin in your car so you can strip them down after school without getting your car dirty. They can ride home in their base layers.
-Potty accidents happen so we also require a bag of clothes to have on hand for each child: full change of base layers, pair of fleece pants, a couple pairs of underwear.
