Katie Handler's face lights up as she sees the salamander. She rustles through the grass to pick it up.

The 4-year-olds shriek and beg to touch it.

"I can't let everyone hold it," says Handler, an environmental studies student at St. Olaf College in Northfield. "Do you want to know why?"Why?" they yell.

"Because they have very sensitive skin, and they need to have water on their skin," she says. "And our hands are kind of dry, and we have oils on our hands, so if a lot of people hold him, his skin can get kind of hurt."

The children made the trek to the prairie with their nursery school, Open Door Nursery School in Northfield. The school started an environmental education program this year, in conjunction with St. Olaf, made up of monthly lessons on the environment. Also included are three trips to the prairie to look at animals and watch the progression of the seasons.

Handler was offered the job of leading the program by a professor, and she often brings other students to help teach.

"With the way the Earth is getting, we need to help children become more and more environmentally aware," said Barb Howe, the director of the nursery school.

Each month, Handler focuses on a different topic, such as trees, the seasons, and what nature really is.

On this particular walk, they looked for different colors in nature and squatted down and walked through the prairie grass, imitating a pheasant.

Five-year-old Piper Mohrig followed Handler on the path to the prairie. When the group found some paw prints in the mud, Mohrig was the first to jump in with what animal might have left them.

"It's a dog paw," she said matter-of-factly.

Handler entertained other guesses -- a bear? -- then said to students that it could be a dog, a fox, a coyote or a wolf.

"Yeah, I was right," Piper said.

The nature walks are, of course, popular with the preschoolers.

"[I like] looking at animals and different kinds of things," Claire Bussman said, before running away from her mother, who was a chaperone. "Mom, I see a puddle, and I think some worms are in it!"

Handler said that she thinks the students will benefit not only from the lessons she gives, but just from being outdoors.

"I think it's important just to get the kids outside and experiencing nature," she said. "I think it's important for the future of this Earth and important so we can all learn to live more sustainably."

Emily Johns • 612-518-9294