New Understandings on Importance of Nature

I  regularly read the Children and Nature Network articles for inspiration and research.  I loved reading Richard Louv's books Last Child in the Woods and The Nature Principle.  I also am working on a creating a list at my local library of my favorite books for educators and parents.  However,  relevant to families in the NW  Louv recently wrote for the local Parent Map--from this link you can access many resources on nature preschools and parent child classes that just three years ago were still hard to find.

I feel like we are at a turning point in terms of education and early childhood understanding.  While No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top seemed to push out some of the "slow" experiences of raising children- research is now proving that we need to give children time to play.  It needs to be unstructured, but occasionally guided for social emotional growth.   It most likely will even be muddy!  The Washington State Early Learning Guidelines make it clear that outdoor time is great for development, but we have a ways to go in terms of making sure all children have this access.

Two years ago when I presented at the SOAR conference on the benefits of nature,  local preschool teachers at the conference said that they were often limited by regulations regarding the outdoor experiences they could provide for their kids.   As I investigate the schools in my region trying to find out what kindergarten will look like, I am sometimes concerned that there is so much standards based teaching and academics that it often hard for teachers to make the time for unstructured play and outdoor time.   I hope that we will make the time for all children.   As I reflect on Martin Luther King Jr's life and legacy this weekend with my family and community--I realize that is an equity issue to get all children opportunities for great  play and learning out of doors.

Prior to being the  full-time mother that I am currently;  I was a teacher.   I am confident that the more  unstructured outdoor experiences that children have will lead to greater mathematical, scientific and language arts understanding and success down the line.  The fact that my children play day in and day out at a mud pit in the back yard helps them understand their world today and will help them understand the land and water models that they will do in fourth or fifth grade.  Their explorations are teaching them about the elements, about what living organisms need to survive, and how to work together!   Does your local school have a play place for nature discovery?

I feel lucky that I have been able to immerse my children in the urban outdoors.  I invite neighbors to come by and play with us.  I have hosted a local urban nature play group at the library.  I still feel like many children are missing the access to nature.  Today as I march with the local preschool; I dream that all kids will have the ability to learn in nature.

What are the best experiences for children?

All children learn differently. My boys like to observe before jumping in.  Sometimes the first time they see an activity they do not want to take part.  However, they are learning by observing.  I realize this by the way they bring things up over the dinner table.  For example tonight T said, "Rot is good.  It is good for the plants because it shows that there a bugs breaking things down."

Yesterday we did a Fiddleheads session at the Arboretum: the theme was decomposition.   Teacher Sarah always plans wonderful activities and today she had set out stations at the start of class and at one of them were some books.  The boys saw a "Magic School Bus" book and that was what they wanted to read.  Today part of what the boys were talking about came from that book.  They actually retold the story.  Yet, I know that it was also the hands on experiences in the aboretum that they took into their explorations in the yard. I know I certainly did-- gardening today was filled with more attention to all the bugs, millipedes, and centipedes

A few of the activities from the class were:

• make a worm tunnel: the adults stood with their legs apart and the kids all faced them and then crawled through their legs.
• dig in the dirt off the main paths looking for bugs, place them in a white bowl to observe then set them free 
• making a segmented worm out of a hosiery stocking, cotton filler, and rubber bands for the segments

As always it was just getting out to a regularly visited place that caused the most excitement for my boys.  They were especially thrilled when they found how the skunk flower had changed next to the stream.  

I enjoyed seeing how the winter garden had transformed into azeala way.  It was a bright pathway.  The boys wondered if their paths that they had taken in the winter were still there. They were there, just narrower. 

I wonder what learning will stick.  All these outdoor experiences that my boys experience.  Some structured- as in the arboretum classes, some unstructured- just play in the backyard with the neighbors, some laden with vocabulary- while they walk the gardens with mama, and other experiences just filled with wonder.  Some experiences mediated by story, folklore, and silly songs, and other just their own imaginary play.  

My guess is: whenever there are smiles and true awe- there will be a deep bodily memory.