Why Nature Education?

11/08/2006

All my life through, the new sights of nature made me rejoice like a child.
Madame Marie Curie

Recently, over 300 early childhood educators, environmental activists, landscape architects, and community planners came together at the Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City, Nebraska, for the Working Forum on Nature Education for Young Children. Marjorie Kostelnik and Dana Friedman acted as the event's "synthesizers." They reviewed all the presentations and reports from discussions and presented a summary of key points raised on the final day. In their final report, they listed the following advantages of nature education for young children that were identified by forum participants...

By exposing children to nature, we’re giving them a gift of a faithful, life-long friend.
It provides life-changing, shaping memories.
It offers a sense of peace and reconnecting to nature.
Nature has a therapeutic quality — it is calming.
The natural world supports the development of caring, pro-social behavior.
How we relate to nature gives us lessons about how we relate to each other.
It can serve as a force for change, for peace.
It fosters self-regulation and learning.
Nature develops understanding of oneself.
It brings out the best in children.
Nature helps children with disabilities, particularly those with sensory integration deficit.
Children’s pretend play outdoors in natural settings tends to be more complex/therapeutic than indoors.
Play and interaction with the natural environment and materials helps develop cognitive, social, and emotional skills.
Nature is crucial for total development of the whole child, regardless of stage, ability, or problem.
Nature education is crucial for preserving of culture, community, learning, healthy being, and world habitat.

View Dana Friedman's "Report on Collected Ideas"

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