Architect Takaharu Tezuka explains in his TEDx Kyoto talk how one school created a kindergarten that does not fight against children’s natural impulses; it embraces them.

This offers a beautifully clear picture of what it is truly like to raise a gifted child.

It is especially heartening to see parents who recognize and support such a child's growth.

Nature-based preschools give children the chance to create lasting childhood memories. Indoors they enjoy a calm, natural space. Outdoors they step into a gently adventurous exploration zone that nurtures emotional confidence and practical skills. Beyond that awaits a wilder woodland where they can feel a true sense of freedom in an unspoiled natural setting.

Children in these preschools, from the age of two, spend most of the day outside in all weather. They play in a natural garden or head into the forest, where they build animal shelters and bird boxes with tools such as hand saws and other simple equipment. They light small campfires to cook their own snacks, climb trees, and discover the many wonders the woods have to offer.

Would you like your child to experience a preschool like this?

A wise elder teacher offered a powerful image to everyone committed to raising children. Always view the child through a layer of gold leaf. Seen in this way, the child feels encouraged. Imagination and creativity can unfold freely, and the child grows.

Free play is the most important activity of childhood, the child’s true work and a time when every child deserves complete freedom. It is the finest preparation for life. There are no preset goals and no rules except those the child chooses. It nurtures creativity and lays the ground for later intellectual growth. Through play, children express their own experiences and feelings. Play connects the child with the world and opens the door to new insights. For a child, play matters as much as work does for adults. It leads toward socialization, imagination, initiative and the courage to create freely. It strengthens group dynamics and allows the child to become independent and self assured while developing a free will.

"Here I wish to sketch, in brief, my dreams and hopes for the school of the future, a place where a child's soul can grow freely and fully."

With these words in The Century of the Child, Ellen Key introduced her vision of the School of the Future.

The book was published in 1902, more than a century ago, and it speaks to us now with remarkable clarity.

A handful of passages show how little our thinking about education has changed. What we seek and what we dream of remains universal.