Shop by Topic
Shop by Product
ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues
<< Previous Issue
| View Past Issues | | Next Issue >> 
Learning with Nature
May 14, 2007
No sight is more provocative of awe than is the night sky.
-Llewelyn Powys
-Llewelyn Powys
- Divide the space into clearly delineated areas for different kinds of activities.
- Include a complete mix of activity areas.
- Give areas simple names.
- Identify each area with a sign and other visual clues.
- Be sure every area is visible at all times.
- Use a variety of natural materials, including trees and other live plants.
- Choose elements for durability and low maintenance.
- Maximize beauty and visual clarity in the over-all design.
- Personalize the design with regional materials, and ideas from children and staff.
- Be sure the space meets all regulatory standards for your region.
The designers of this book, Nancy Rosenow from Dimensions Educational Research Foundation and John Rosenow from the National Arbor Day Foundation, are participating in sessions on nature education at the World Forum on Early Care and Education currently taking place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where members of the Nature Action Collaborative for Children are planning a second Working Forum on Nature Education that will be taking place again at the Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska in July of 2008.
Nature Idea Book now Available
Learning With Nature Idea Book: Creating Nurturing Outdoor Spaces for Children, the book featured in today's message, can now be purchased on the Exchange web site.
ExchangeEveryDay
Delivered five days a week containing news, success stories, solutions, trend reports, and much more.
What is ExchangeEveryDay?
ExchangeEveryDay is the official electronic newsletter for Exchange Press. It is delivered five days a week containing news stories, success stories, solutions, trend reports, and much more.
Toddler Portable Sink: Your Classroom
Solution for HOT and COLD running water.
A convenient, time-saving way to clean children's
messy hands anytime, anywhere.
Comments (1)
Displaying 1 CommentRainbow Hill
Shickshinny, PA, United States
It is imperative we, as early childhood educators, connect children AND families to nature. All too soon "nature" will be a virtual experience. We must help families appreciate the value of playing in the mud and dirt, observing insects, planting flowers, feed birds, slopping in water. We know how much learning is happening when children are immersed in these activities...it is up to us to interpret this to ANY adult. Just last week we were making mudpies "seasoned" with fat yellow blossoms that had just dropped from our forsythia bushes. Families were greeted by mudpies baking in the sun, a parent said "how do you know how to do these things?" My heart aches to think of what will soon be lost as childhood memories, replaced by...videos of mudpies OR perhaps sterile plastic facsimilies of mudpies...I shudder to think!
Post a Comment