Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/using-simple-tools-to-construct-complex-frameworks-of-the-natural-world/5026040/
Nature and the natural world have always sparked my curiosity, and yet, only since I have begun to delve into the practice of early childhood education has it really begun to come alive to me just how amazing and complex nature is. More and more, I found myself not only relishing my time outdoors, but taking close eyes to my children as they explore outdoors, as well. I am constantly intrigued by the way children gravitate toward the small and the unseen, even if only for a moment. The peal of laughter at a butterfly taking flight, the laser focus upon the quick steps of the tiniest ant, the gentle reverence and subsequent destruction of a flower freshly bloomed. Children are obviously interested in nature, and I wanted to know just how much “my” children knew.
Although I teach primarily in an indoor preschool, I am closely affiliated with an outdoor preschool program in my city, and wondered how the children in my own classroom, in a city preschool, went about relating to the world of nature. Further, I wondered how, in times where so much is occurring inside, children might still experience the beauty and nuance of the natural world that ...