Nature with Children

Nature play isn’t just playing IN nature, it is playing WITH nature (Erickson and Ernst 2011). Nature invites authentic play which can be seen as the best kind of play for young children as it is fun, open-ended, self-directed, and freely chosen (Miller et al.2009) Authentic play occurs naturally when children and nature are brought together (Stephens 2009). Although nature play is known for taking place outdoors it can also take place indoors by ‘bringing the outdoors in’, natural materials can be brought inside to provide another setting of outdoor play with the use of imagination and creativity (Wilson, 2012)

Benefits of Learning with nature: (Montessori Nature, 2017)

1. Nature is the ultimate resource for eco-friendly craft and art materials - pine cones, twigs, pebbles, leaves etc.
2. Children get a chance to interact with living things.
3. Children get the chance to be bold and carefree - they are free to be themselves.
4. Children learn to be empathetic and understand their behaviours in nature.
5. Children get a hands-on experience - children are able to learn and explore.
6. Children are able to be in control and drive their own explorations which can boost a child's curiosity.
7. Nature provides children with sensory experiences - nature involves all of a child's senses.
8. Nature can be a source of inspiration.
9. Nature has no limits.
10. Children are able to learn through playing with and understanding nature.

Louv (2008) says that children are now suffering from nature deficit disorder. He also argues that we need to give nature back to children as well as ourselves, it is unethical not to (Louv, 2011) Waite et al. (2016) say that significant proportions of the population, particularly children and young people, are ‘disconnected’ (physically, spiritually or emotionally) from the natural world. A growing number of literature indicates that all humans need contact with nature for their health and wellbeing (Capaldi, Dopko, & Zelenski, 2014; Dowdell, Gray, & Malone, 2011). In a report for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), concluded that four out of five children in the UK were not adequately ‘connected to nature' (Bragg, 2013)       
                                                                                                               (Image 1)

Chris Packham who is a British naturalist and a writer states that: “The children out in the woods, out in the fields enjoying nature on their own-they are extinct.” (MacFarlane, 2015, p.324) Despite this, research has shown that children can benefit from feeling connected to nature. (Faber, Taylor and Kuo 2009) Studies such as Chawla (1998) emphasise that children's experiences and interactions with the natural world are as a good of a way of keeping children's interests and concerns for the environment alive. “An education that wants to challenge sustainability builds on reinventions of basic educational theories and attends to humans’ self-relation, humans’ mutual relations and humans’ relation to other parts of nature” (Wolff, 2011, p.349).

“The value of working outside the classroom is in providing pupils with experiences that are different from those inside it. … We want them to learn to behave in ways that are different to classroom behaviour.” (Waite, 2011, p.14)

We have seen a decline in opportunities for children in Western countries to play outdoors in the past few years (Clements, 2004). Frost (2006), who is an expert on playground play, has stated that there is a ‘dissolution of children's outdoor play'. He feels like play deprivation of children may affect their fundamental survival skills that they need (Frost, 2006). He says this is due to the shift from outdoor play to indoor technology play as classrooms are now using more technology within their lessons rather than taking the children outdoors to learn and to also learn through play (Frost, 2006). However, in the UK, Outdoor learning is now a statutory requirement for all children and schools to take part in, in Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland (Waite, 2011) therefore, there has been an increasing interest in the educational value of outdoor learning around the world.

Is evolution being disturbed when children grow and develop with minimal involvement in the outdoor world?’ Rivkin (p. 697) He thinks that this is an important question to ask, it is important for children to experience the outdoors through nature which can be seen as their “natural habitat” (Rivkin, p.703). Children may not experience the outdoors much when they are home, so it is important for children to experience nature whilst in school.

Biophilia is the tendency to focus on lifelike processes (Wilson, 1994) it can also be seen as a fear of nature, it is a reflected culturally conditioned tendency to connect with technology and human artefacts and to focus on human interests when relating to the natural world (Cajete, 1999) The perception of nature causes this. It tends to be most evident in when young children naturally express themselves. When young children are left alone without any input from teachers or parents they try to develop relationships with the living things and nature that they encounter such as bugs, sticks, trees and birds during their first experiences with nature, these relationships are usually positive ones that start to ignite a child's love for nature (Cajete, 1999).

Erickson and Ernst (2011) identified the following benefits from children spending time outside:

• Nature play makes children healthier by stimulating higher levels of physical activity which has a positive impact on their well-being
• Nature play makes children smarter by boosting their brain development as children's brains are always being stimulated whilst outdoors
• Nature play makes children feel better by encouraging emotional well-being and strengthening social bonds with other classmates.
• Nature play is good for the Earth by teaching and allowing children to care about the natural world later in life so they understand why and how important the environment is.

         “I get excited"      “There is nature all around us”      “It allows us to breathe”

  “We have lots of energy to let out”  “Break from work”  “It lifts my spirits"  

  “I like when we get free play”     “I like seeing nature, like birds”  

    “You feel free”         “We get to meet loads of new lovely people”

In this video, you can see the children’s faces light up when they talk about when they are interacting with nature and having new experiences. They enjoy going outdoors to play because as they have said above it makes them ‘feel free’ and they get to meet new ‘lovely’ people. They also talk about the wide range of activities that they do in nature and how much they enjoy them. So, nature must be good then? Well, this video only focuses on the positives of learning in nature, however, from experience some children don't like learning through nature as they may be too shy to open up about the possibility of participating in fun activities such as roasting marshmallows or playing music in the forest. 

Over the past couple of years, Red Kite Academy and The Wildlife trusts have been looking to open a primary school in Nuneaton in England that will be based around nature and their ethos will be based about and in the natural environment, it should open in September 2022 or 2023 (Nature Schools) The Nature school will teach the national curriculum for Wales and England alongside using nature to explore and understand "every aspect of the curriculum - from literacy and numeracy to science, geography, history, art, music, technology and design" (Nature Schools) What do you think about the idea of having a 'Nature School'?

My personal experience:

When working in the forest with children over the past couple of years with university, I have noticed that children's faces light up when being told they are allowed to go into the forest, they burst with excitement. I think that they are most excited about being able to carry out free play and ignite their imaginations. They are able to do activities such as role play, mindfulness and exploring. From my experiences, children find it easier to use their imagination when in nature as they are able to use natural resources when playing individually or in a group. For example, children may pick up a stick and use it as a sword or pick up a leaf and use it as a cup as part of their tea party. The possibilities are endless. Mindfulness in nature is also exciting for children as they are able to concentrate on the sounds that they hear and give themselves to nature.

References:

Bragg, R., Wood, C., Barton, J., & Pretty, J. (2013). Measuring connection to nature in children aged 8-12: A robust methodology for the RSPB. University of Essex.

Cajete, G. (1999). Igniting the sparkle: an indigenous science education model. Kivaki Press.

Capaldi, C. A., Dopko, R. L., & Zelenski, J. M. (2014). The relationship between nature connectedness and happiness: a meta-analysis. Frontiers in psychology, 5, 976.

Chawla, L., Keena, K., Pevec, I., & Stanley, E. (2014). Green schoolyards as havens from stress and resources for resilience in childhood and adolescence. Health & place, 28, 1-13.

Clements, R (2004) An Investigation of the Status of Outdoor Play. Contemporary Issues in Early 

Childhood. Volume 5. Hofstra University, Hempstead. USA.

Erickson, D.M. and Ernst, J.A. (2011). The real benefits of nature play every day. Exchange 33 (4), 97–9.

Faber Taylor, A., & Kuo, F. E. (2009). Children with attention deficits concentrate better after walk in the park. Journal of attention disorders, 12(5), 402-409

Frost, J. L (2004). (2006). The dissolution of outdoor play: Causes and consequences.

Louv, R. (2008) Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder. New York: Algonquin books

Louv, R. (2011). The nature principle: Human restoration and the end of nature-deficit disorder. Algonquin Books.

Miller, D.L., Tichota, K. and White, J.  (2009).  Young Children Learn Through Play in a Nature Explore Classroom. Lincoln, NE:  Dimensions Educational Research Foundation. 

Montessori Nature (2017) The Many Benefits of Learning in Nature. Available at: https://www.montessorinature.com/benefits-nature-learning/ (Accessed 23rd November 2018)

Nature Schools. Welcome to Nature Schools. Available at: http://www.natureschools.org.uk/ (Accessed 23rd November 2018)

Rivkin, M. (1995). The Great Outdoors: Restoring Children’s Right to Play Outside. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Rivkin, M. (1997). The schoolyard habitat movement: what it is and why children need it. Early Childhood Education Journal 25 (1), 61–6.

Stephens, K. (2009).  Imaginative play during childhood:  required for reaching full potential.  Exchange, March/April, 53–6

Waite, S. (2011) Children Learning Outside the Classroom. London: Sage

Waite, S., Bølling, M., & Bentsen, P. (2016). Comparing apples and pears? A conceptual framework for understanding forms of outdoor learning through comparison of English Forest Schools and Danish udeskole. Environmental Education Research, 22(6), 868-892.

Wilson, R (2012) Young Children. Encouraging creative play and learning in natural environments. Second edition. Routledge.

Wilson, R.A. (1994). Preschool children’s perspectives on the environment. North American Association for Environmental Education Conference Proceedings, Troy, OH: North American Association for Environmental Education.

Wolff, L. A. (2011). Nature and sustainability: An educational study with Rousseau and Foucault.

Image 1: https://www.childrenandnature.org/2015/06/16/kids-go-outside-and-learn-at-the-arboretums-outdoor-forest-school/ 

Video 1: Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E8Ue15zCiA (Accessed 23 November 2018)