Now the birds fill the woods with their springtime songs,

While winter commands a cold obedience over nature’s optimism,

And wanders and wails among the silent trees

That stand strong and tall  – meditating upon our playful ways.

The children came again for awhile to play and roam among sticks and stones.

They remembered your presence,

Played with the dogs, walked along logs and fell in the bog.

They watched the mist creeping into the valley as they left

Carrying woodland contentment and wearing moments of peace,

Holding something special.

With love and thanks to you from all of us, those before us, and those yet to come.

The natural environment appears to provide freedom which actively encourages children to develop their fullest functional potential within a living curriculum of effective educational resources that organically nurture the children’s enthusiastic social disposition and curiosity about life. (Montessori,1967:50; Bradburn,1976:55.)

Contents

The Wonders of the Earth’s Creation

• Morning Has Broken
• All Things Bright and Beautiful

A Look into the Vedas

The Bible Story of David

• ‘EVERYTHING

Outdoor play within Childhood Education

• Sunshineand fresh air

Pioneering Outdoor Play in Childhood Education

The Importance of ‘Free Play’

• An enrichment of sensory and aesthetic experience

Visual Perceptual Skills

Freedom to Move

Physical Movement, Balance and Auditory perceptual skills

Exploration and Discovery Learning

• The Difference Between Man-madeand Natural Learning Environments

Author’s epilogue

• In Honour of the Trees

Bibliography

The Wonders of the Earths Creation

The Christian faith is guided by the text in the Bible which describes the activity of God initially as the creator of the universe,

He commanded:- “Let lights appear in the sky to separate day from night.”..  So He made the sun to rule over the day and the moon to rule over the night; he also made the stars. ….Then He commanded “Let the waters be filled with many kinds of living beings and let the air be filled with birds.”…….”Let the earth produce all kinds of animal life.”…….  Then god said “And now we will make human beings…. They will have power over the fish and birds and all animals domestic and wild, large and small.”…….  He said, “I have provided all kinds of grain and all kinds of fruit for you, but for all the wild animals I have provided grasses and leafy plants.”  ………….  Bible – Genesis1-2:3-5(Elass,1997:3-5)

The popular children’s songs Morning Has Broken and All Things Bright and Beautiful [as shown below] praise the creation of our natural world. However, in our present day life style within comfortable buildings children have relatively few opportunities to experience ‘intimate contact’ with nature and experience the natural cycles and rhythms presented by life and natural phenomena.

Morning Has Broken Morning has broken, like the first morning Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird Praise for the singing, praise for the morning Praise for them springing fresh from the world. Sweets the rains new fall, sunlit from heaven. Like the first dew fall, on the first grass. Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden, Sprung in completeness where His feet pass. Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning Born of the one light Eden saw play Praise with elation, praise every morning God’s re-creation of the new day.

All Things Bright and Beautiful All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful The lord God made them all. Each little flower that opens, Each little bird that sings He made their glowing colours He made their tiny wings. The purple headed mountain, The river running by, The sunset, and the morning That brightens up the sky. The cold wind in the winter A pleasant summer sun The right fruits in the garden He made them every one. He gave us our eyes to see them And lips that we might tell How great is God almighty Who hath done things all well.

A Look into the Vedas 

The eastern religions describe life as a cycle of reincarnation through birth and death.

Vedic Literature (Purnaprajna,2002.) describes God as Brahma (the power of creation); Vishnu (the sustainer of life, who is all pervading, present in every aspect of the natural world and sciences), and Krisna (Krs=all attractive; na=all blissful),

God as man – ‘..the embodiment of the knowledge potency’ and Radahani (Divine devotion), His eternal potency (His supreme energy) in human form as woman.

‘…the personification of the pleasure potency’ is expressed in the Vedic philosophy as 64 different arts. These arts include many of the activities presented in Steiner kindergartens, and early years settings, i.e. the art of splashing water! Singing, dancing, playing on musical instruments, painting, the art of painting the body and face!Arranging jewels on the ground, theatrical presentation and creation of associated costume, jugglery, decorative arts, preparing of delicious foods, sweets and drinks, needlework, spinning and weaving, string games. The art of making and solving riddles; the art of lexicography – composing poetry and/or reciting verse as a trial of memory and language skill; the art of mechanics; carpentry, engineering. (Cited in Sri Brahma-samhita 5^th chapter. Translated from Hindi by Sri SrimadBhakitivedanta Narayana Maharaja, 2003:209-211)

The Vedic scriptures describe humans as Jivas containing a soul (the life force, a spark from the divine creator), and suggests that when mankind looks upon other humans, animals and natural beauty he feels a deep ecstatic love in his heart for the all pervading Supreme Lord, this is sometimes described as Krisna consciousness.

The Viasnava Hindu teachings are based on the pastimes of Krisna. For example, the natural God given world is described in detail when one day the village children accused Krisna of eating clay, however, Krisna insists they are lying. When His mother Yasoda orders Krisna to open his mouth to check if He was telling the truth she saw ‘within that mouth the complete opulence of creation. She saw the entire outer space in all directions, mountains, islands, oceans, seas, planets, air, fire, moon and stars ……  She also saw the entire elements, water, sky, the  extensive ethereal existence along with the total ego and the products of the senses and the controller of the senses, all the demigods, the objects of the senses like sound, smell etc. and the three qualities of material nature – goodness, passion and ignorance .  She also could perceive that within his mouth were all living entities, eternal time, material nature, spiritual nature, activity, consciousness and different forms of the whole creation.’(Prubhupada,2002:54)

Buddhism presents life is characterised by change – the instability of all things and our wisdom to understand, our ability and responsibility to lead a good life is the way by which we gain power over ourselves and our relationship with the world around us and thereby relieve ourselves from stress and suffering. Buddhism was founded by prince Gotama who sat in deep contemplation for three nights under a fig tree (the Bodhi-Tree of wisdom) in the spring month of May during the full moon, and emerged as Buddha the awakened or enlightened one. (Lindon,1999:p42) His subsequent teachings present that:-

‘The foundation of human happiness begins in the inner realm’ where the ‘treasures of the heart’ means ‘qualities and attributes arising from our Buddha nature……. those qualities that enhance our actions in daily life giving us the wisdom, courage and confidence to win over any circumstance.’……….

The right path is established through a disposition that embraces a ‘mutually inclusive relationship with life and all phenomena’ because the individual and his surroundings are ‘fundamentally one’ such that our inner state will thereby ‘simultaneously manifest’ our environmental experiences. (Hochswender, et al.2001: 108,83,77)

The Bible Story of David

The story of David in the old Testament of the Bible could be considered as an example of attaining Buddhahood. In David’s case this was established through a self-motivated education as a shepherd boy:-

God sent Samuel to seek one of Jesse’s son and anoint him as chosen to be the future king of Israel and Judah. Samuel was introduced to seven strong handsome young sons of Jesse but none were the chosen one. When Samuel asked if Jesse had any more sons he was told that the youngest son was out in the fields taking care of the sheep. When the youngest son came before Samuel he describes him as ‘a handsome, healthy young man and his eyes sparkled.’ Samuel then anointed David.

David was a good shepherd. He knew his sheep well, took great care of them and skilfully protected them from wild animals.

One day when he saw the giant Goliath mocking the Israelites he hurled a stone form his sling and it hit Goliath in the centre of his forehead and killed him.(Elass,1997:287-288,Samuel 16-17)

David could also write songs, sing and play the harp. He could sing and play the harp so well that when king Saul felt stressed he called for David to play to him because it made him feel better.

There are 150 songs that David used to sing written in the book of Psalms. For example:-

The lord is my shepherd;

I have everything I need.

He lets me rest in of fields of green grass and leads me to quiet pools of fresh water.

He gives me new strength

He guides me in the right paths, as he has promised.

Even if I go through the deepest darkness, I will not be afraid, Lord, for you are with me.

Your shepherd’s rod and staff protect me…..(Psalm23)

David’s education was simply provided by a natural life out in the fields as a shepherd living with nature motivated by his own relationship with caring for the sheep, his own spirituality and self taught musical skills. Yet, his skills and wisdom kept him safe and later when he became the second King of Israel his wisdom and skills were attributed to his reputation as the greatest of all the kings of his time.

In Psalm 23 the Christian faith likens the care of God to that of a shepherd to his sheep and illustrates how the natural world is there to nurture our needs.

Pioneering Outdoor Play in Childhood Education

Montessori wrote ‘the aspiration to know, to love and to serve’ is the ‘trinomial of all religions, but the child is the true maker of our spirituality’; that a small child has a tendency which can best be described as a ‘sensitive period of the soul’ when they need ‘freedom and intense activity in accordance with the laws of life,’ and thereby, teachers can use the plan of nature to ‘give form’ to the ‘development of conduct and personality’.Montessori presented free access to an outdoor garden was an essential part of early childhood education.(Montessori,1988:201&1967:172 ) ‘…….However Hobday presents that ‘Since the 1950s much more emphasis has been placed on creating comfortable indoor environments than on promoting wellbeing,’

Steiner presented that learning during the early years is especially well supported by the natural environment because the human being is a mirror of the universe and ‘all the elements of nature’.(Steiner,1997:84)Children ‘live and work in the element of life…..as part of a living world’, and intuit ‘that behind every physical occurrence there is a real spiritual occurrence and both together form a whole’.(Steiner,1988: 58,18-19)

Froebel (1782-1852)encouraged ‘children to grow up in harmony with nature’, he nurtured their ‘spiritual awareness’ (Garrick,2004:17)and pioneered free-play as learning, and outdoor play as central to this’. (Knight,2009:62).

Over the last century ‘British traditions of multi-religious education’ (International Froebel’s Society conference,2004:21) have developed alongside a growing endeavour to incorporate radical educational practice and theory presented by Froebel (1782-1852), MacMillan(1860-1931), Steiner (1861-1925), Montessori (1870-1952), Forest Schools, Reggio Emilia (1946)  and the recent Welsh Foundation Phase (2008), which have culminated to emphasise the importance of free play in an outdoor environment(the Kindergarten) as a resource for children’s wellbeing, natural development and early years education, alongside natural materials and aesthetically pleasing surroundings.

‘Nature is a curriculum’ “The natural environment offers a wealth of play potential for young children with trees and small patches of water the most valued elements.’ (MacMillan,2008:7-8)

Moyles, (2007:173)  suggests ‘children have the right to be outside because, besides being a wonderful springboard for learning, that is where they want to be most of the time.’

ElinorGoldschmied  ‘inspired encouragement to give young children natural objects or objects made from natural materials to play with and explore.’ (Cited in Roberts & Featherstone,2002:5-7)

The naturalcurriculum is thought to promote ‘spontaneous freedom of action’ within a framework of ‘play and self chosen activity’ that embraces the interconnected nature of all living things rather than intellectually formatted thinking. Natural materials and free-play in natural environments encourages intuitive and compassionate perception, that is feltunderstandings, alongside an inner sense of confidence and wellbeing. (Montessori,1967:68-69)

The Importance of ‘Free Play’

Some Early Year’s education theorists and psychologists have presented the importance of free play activity as a prerequisite foundation for learning (Einarsdottir&Wagner,2006:208) The work of Macmillan (Bradburn,1976:57-58), Montessori(1967:173), Steiner(1981:51-54)and Goldschmied(Goldschmied&Jackson,2004:97-99) suggest young children are spontaneous observers of nature and can gain a wealth of perceptual skills and detailed awareness of discrimination and differentiation (Montessori,1967:70-71.) long before this information is consciously structured, categorised, calculated or manipulated as an academic understanding through formal thinking operations.  The freedom to play and explore the abundance of materials and possible activities given by a natural outdoor environment can encourage and support the unlimited aspects of human potential – ‘physical performance’ related to ‘physical intelligence’, the mastery of integrating thoughts with actions.

‘Essential changes take place in the development of a child’s motivation under the influence of play.’ (Einarsdottir&Wagner,2006:214citingEl’konin (1978/1999))

Play seems to embrace a purity of thought that perceives truth without educational interference and thereby initiates the powers of thought within a cycle of dream-thought- action and the development of talent.

‘…even a small child should not be distracted from what he’s doing in other words the operation of his thought should not be stopped……education …begins with the correct presentation of questions whereby children are encouraged to think for themselves and make their own independent decisions. ’ (Megre Book7;49)

Pioneering educators that advocate the young child’s affinity with the naturalecology, considered the natural environment a stimulating and nurturing resource for all aspects of the young child’s physical, mental, emotional and spiritual development.

The ancient Greeks illustrated a mastery of psycho-motor skills and related arts of manipulation, construction, projection, agility and communication (non-verbal and verbal) that become established as unique patterns of action in association with the individuals processing of information, sense of timing and sense of direction. The Greeks described ‘beauty, balance and grace, inspired by virtue and wisdom, as a ‘physical and mental harmony of human powers.’ (Fisher,1990:23-24)

The world of nature appears to organically address children’s needs, interests, and abilities. Opportunity for developing wild and adventurous activity on suitable sites has been seen to provide the following benefits for children’s development and learning.

• ‘The play frame created natural situations for peer scaffolding for learning concrete skills’ even when an adult was present.
• The children are more conscious about the ‘possibility to decide on actions’ for themselves. (Einarsdottir&Wagner,2006:208-209,214)
• Non- designed places seem to attract children because they make them feel freer to manipulate the environment in ways that parks and playgrounds prohibit. (MacMillan,2008:7-8)
• Inclusion for children with learning differences. The forest schools in Norway include children with special needs. Even blind and physically handicapped children are ‘given the chance to go outside as much as the other children and ‘it could be argued that there is an even greater need’ for these children.
• ‘Natural materials are of infinite variety and therefore more capable of provoking original responses by comparison with manufactured, uniform resources.’ (Moyles,2007:246)

Margaret Macmillan ‘decided that the physical fitness of the children was her primary task, since little affective education could take place until that was accomplished.’ When the McMillan sisters first began their open-air nursery, 80% of the children had rickets but after one year’s attendance no children had rickets.  (Cited in Bradburn,1976: 93-94)

‘…..when children go outside more often, instancesof ill health lessen.’(Carruthers citing Bilton,2005-Moyles,Ed.2007:180.)

The Greeks and Romans believed in the healing power of the sun’s rays. Florence Knightingalepioneered that all hospital wards should have pure air and natural light. Sir Leonard Erskine Hill (1866-1952) carried out ‘an extensive study of open air treatment and sunlight therapy’ which showed that ‘open air conditions speeded up the body’s metabolism rate’. (Hobday, 1999:134-135)

‘…. ‘the human body needs the challenge of gradually changing conditions of temperature and humidity, and regular exercise,’ if it is to be strong and healthy.’ (Hobday,1999:41&134)

Lavery, presents that ‘daylight entering the eyes inhibits the signals that stimulate the release of the sleep inducing hormone melatonin. This is why we feel more alive and energised when outside.’(Lavery 1997:27)

Dr. Fritz Hollwick’s research (1979) concluded that: Natural light, involving  the whole body,  is a vital element like water and air. As such, it should accompany the human individual for as many hours of the day as the course of the seasons permits. (Cited in Hobday,1999:40)

Light stimulation relates to 11 different wave bands of colour , the ‘ light generated photo current travelling through the brain’ stimulates ‘vital nerve energy’ and improves the biological rhythms of brain and body which ‘influence how we feel  and function ….physically and psychologically’ (John Downing’s research in neuro-sensory development. www.thesoundlearningcentre.co.uk)

Steiner presented that  ‘At first we direct all teaching towards a very high realm, toward teaching proper breathing and the proper rhythm between sleep and waking.’(Steiner,1996:42)

Doman when working with severely brain damaged children, discovered a successful method that increased the depth and rhythm of breathing, and oxygen to the brain. Whereby the children with abnormally small chest development made over 200% rates of growth until they had established a normal chest size, capacity and growth rate.(Doman,1960:133&258)
Research data presented by Drs. Garland and Gorham (1989) (cited in Hobday, 1999:70-71) presented that the risk of cancer rose significantly in relation to latitude from the equator and air pollution, and dropped in relation to a diet rich in vitamin D and calcium.

Natural environments encourage children to take time out for rest, relaxation, stillness, contemplation, reflection, and appreciation. The outdoor space gives more flexibility to meet individual children’s requirements for sleep and rest, which is considered important for growth, neurological development and physiological maintenance and repair.

Dr. D. Carey presents that the role of the teacher is to ‘assist in the self education of the child’……. ‘Education should be in harmony with natural processes of the child’s own evolutionary growth…..  Growth carried on, by and through the child’ (Cited in International Froebel’s Society,2004:18) Techniques described by de Bono that are related to the ability to think for oneself are defined as an ability to accommodate: factors related to a specified issue; plausible consequences; aims and objectives; priorities; possibilities and choices; and alternative views and perspectives.  (de Bono cited in Fisher,1990:50-51)

The present day pre-structured learning environments can so easily switch thinking off because what is presented is already structured as truth and answers have already been structured as right or wrong, good or bad, better or worse. Migre describes this example of how his son ,Volodya, age five illustrated thoughts outside the confinements of traditionally taught mathematical thinking:  Volodya explained to his father that 1 + 1 can also = 3 when one father and one mother unit and have a baby. This creative approach to mathematical thinking can have many computations i.e. what if the parents have twins or triplets; what if the parents are ducks who hatch six ducklings etc…

Volodya’s mother Anastasia also presented Megre with an example of how creatively sharing the child’s theme of play also offers opportunity for the child to learn from an example that stimulates new realms of co-ordinated thought and action.

‘Anastasia got up and beckoned to the young wolf, which came to her delightedly at once, wagging its tail. Anastasia gave it a cuff on the shoulder and ran forward signalling to the wolf to follow.

Volodya and I watched how fast and easily Anastasia ran. The amazing sprightly and fluid movements of this already mature mother were impressive in their beauty and forthrightness.

Yet still the young wolf’s pace was just that much faster. Several times Anastasia was able to dodge it by sharply changing direction….then Anastasia made a headlong dash for the same cedar trunk Volodya had used to push himself off from. A few metres before reaching the tree the wolf slowed his pace and upon seeing Anastasia leap into the air he sat down preparing to lick her arm or leg the moment she landed…But she did indeed make her leap but did not push off from the tree. Her body passed within a centimetre or two of the trunk. She kept on running getting further and further away while the astonished wolf went on sitting at the ready, trying to make sense of what had happened.

Volodya jumped up and down clapping his hands and shouting with glee.

“I have got it, Papa, I’ve got it! I have to think quickly for both myself and the wolf. I have to think quickly for myself and managed to think for the wolf more quickly than it thinks for itself, and put it all into action on time. I know now how to do it.”

…….The next time he raced with the wolf, Volodya first tried twisting and turning as Anastasia had done but then he went through a whole cavalcade of all sorts of tricks. He would grasp hold of a small tree trunk on the run and use it to change direction faster than the pursuing creature. Or, leaping over a thick branch that had been broken by the wind, he would run up to it a second time, only this time jumping just on the spot, while the wolf made a headlong dash forward.’ (Megre, V. 2003:54-55)