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Natural Settings
March 18, 2013
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.
-Albert Einstein
-Albert Einstein
"There is a fundamental aspect of our human existence that must go back to the times when our ancestors created a place to enclose us but also to be able to look out, to peep, to assess what is going on outside the space we are in. So, it is with children and their families when we go into nature. Almost all the people that we have worked with have remembered a den from their childhood, often kept secret from adults — a space where they had ownership. The sense of shelter is very powerful, especially when it is transferred to a wild space.
"When nature provides the building materials, it is as if everything has a purpose and reason. The branches fall, they are used by flora and fauna (which includes us), and then they return to the earth from whence they came. The cycle works; it is only when we over-design it that it becomes interrupted and disjointed. When engaged in activities in natural settings, such as den building, collecting objects and exploring routes, children are responding to evolutionary psychological desires to connect with place and natural landscapes. The issue in many centres today is that over-designed materials such as pop up tents have taken away some of the thinking, designing, problem-solving skills and most importantly, the affirmation for children of having created something unique."
Author Claire Warden has influenced practitioners around the world through her Forest School training and pioneering UK nature kindergartens. This inspiring book guides and supports anyone who works with three- to eleven-year-olds and would like an introduction to the philosophical and practical aspects of outdoor sensorial learning.Learn More and Purchase
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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.
Comments (1)
Displaying 1 Commentece consultant
Dallas, TX, United States
My 4 & 5yr. olds were happiest outside, exploring and discovering. My principal always knew where to find us-outside! All subjects were covered based on the children's findings, and class stories always came from outside experiences they had.
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