Nature Kindergarten

For some time I have had a keen interest in implementing environmental, place-based education practices in my teaching. Living where I do it is easy to get students outside engaging with the world around them in a hands-on way, almost daily, and this is a thread of thought I hope to weave into rope during my master’s program.

A couple of weeks ago I participated in a webinar on a nature kindergarten program which started this year in the Sooke School District on Vancouver Island. Nature Kindergarten is a program that is funded as one of the Growing Innovation Projects happening throughout B.C. in rural school districts. For more information, check out the Nature K website and blog by clicking here.

What happens is that students show up each morning and then head out to spend two-and-a-half hours outside, rain or shine, engaging in play in one of two natural settings. They arrive ready to be outside, pick up their “to-go” packs which hold a granola bar, a small first aid kit, a detective notebook and magnifying glass, and off they go.

There is one teacher and one early childhood educator (ECE) that facilitate the learning in the group of twenty children. Play usually becomes tied to what the students are learning during their afternoons in the classroom, and teachers also work at observing student interest during their outdoor play and try to bring in materials and topics that relate to the interest students seem to have while out in the field. An example in the webinar was a boy who found a worm, and who was then directed to books on worms in the school library following his interest.

The anecdotal successes of the program included observations of how independent students had become, how they were challenging each other to climb higher on a stump, to touch a slug, etc., of how they were becoming caretakers of the environment and of each other, and of how they were able to play with incredible imagination without any manipulatives or toys, just by using the natural objects and structures around them. I see this too in the play of students here--the imagination, the exploration, the learning that takes place simply by being outside!

The teacher and ECE have also had parents saying that their children have been asking them to go outside more often, and there have been no instances of children not wanting to go outside because of the weather.

Nature school is an idea that has been around in Europe for decades, starting in Scandinavian countries in the 50s. There are also “forest schools” in the UK modeled on the same concept—that of getting kids spending time engaging in the outdoors—and as an educator who believes that a connection with the natural environment is an imperative step towards restoring a sense of balance and environmental stewardship in our society, this whole project is both exciting and deeply inspiring.

I’m spending a lot of time thinking about it, as a similar structure to the day would work really well for the students here in Gold Bridge. I’ll be sure to let you know where my thoughts take me!