Being in Nature

Why are you smiling Ms. Adiya?

I’m just wondering why you children like mud so much.

Well, it’s a secret only kids know…

This is an actual conversation from last week at the school. It may not be mud but if you give them enough time, every child will find something to do and keep themselves busy when they are outside.

While we know of the importance of being outdoors, every single day, I wanted to share the children’s perspective of being in nature, both during recess and during outdoor education. When observing the children outside, we find them practicing skills in every single curriculum area that we have inside. For many of them, the first thing to do when they get outside is gauge whether they have the appropriate amount of clothes on: some take their clothes off, some ask to get more clothes. The most practical of our practical life lessons – taking care of your own body and giving it what it needs.

While outside, the number of sensory experiences is tremendous, even those that won’t be touching mud: the grass, the leaves, the snow and ice! Not to mention the number of sounds we hear and sometimes the smells we smell. Last year, a sound we heard in the spring led to an exploration of the pond at the edge of our property, where the children heard and saw frogs and learnt about the frog life cycle. An entire lesson created because of a sound we heard at recess. Other things, such as chainsaws and outdoor fires, spark numerous conversations of what humans are doing near our school and what families are doing in their homes.

When we actually go into the woods, for a “nature walk”, it is anything but a “walk in the park”. For our youngest children, a walk on our trails is a great chance to practice gross motor skills, walking over roots, climbing fallen trees and jumping over puddles. For their height, all of these movements require a lot more coordination than we realize. No wonder some of them are a bit tired when they get back.

Being in the forest also helps children develop a relationship with nature. At this age, we do not introduce the concepts of how humans have been harming the earth. Instead, we focus on the beauty of nature and living things. Forming a connection to the forest, seeing the changes of the seasons and understanding everything we get from it, help the children think of ways in which we can take care of nature. “Don’t step on the baby plants” is something that is sometimes shouted to each other while on our grounds!

I haven’t even gotten in the biology, chemistry and physics lessons that spontaneously happen while out in nature. How do we get the ice to melt faster? What happens when I put mud on the snow? What is lichen? And how can I build a structure from these materials?

Even before the direct lessons, “pre-science” and “pre-math” lessons occur as children compare sizes and shapes, they grade rocks from biggest to smallest, and sort objects into categories. The sorting might turn into a design made of chestnuts or it might turn into a discussion of the bite marks on the acorn. Why didn’t the squirrel eat the rest of this nut?

Next time you see a child “just playing outside”, especially without any toys or objects, know that there is an entire whirlwind of questions, answers and musing going on in their heads. It is one of the truest forms of meditation or mindfulness that we see at our school.