Nurtured by Nature: The Children's Garden

By Victoria de Lilla

When considering outdoor learning environments for new or already existing schools it helps to consider the specific objectives of the administration and individual faculty members. Recent research points to the many benefits associated with nature.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 28, 2011
• ISBN: 9781477165003

Book preview

Copyright © 2011 by Victoria de Lilla. 95156-DELI

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011903530

ISBN: Softcover 978-1-4568-8143-6

Hardcover 978-1-4568-8144-3

eBook 978-1-4771-6500-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information

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My appreciation to the

American Montessori Society

Peace Committee

for the 2011 Peace Seed Award

which contributed to the publication and distribution

of this book.

image512.tif

Thank you Ms. Gibb,

Ms Mar

Ms Angela

Ms Janice

For your inspiration

The world’s a better place

TOC.tif

Table of Contents

Outdoor Learning Environments

Starting a School Garden

The Children’s Garden

The Children’s Garden

The Sacred Garden

Garden Materials and Activities

Outdoor Garden Environments

Tools for Food Preparation Snack and Tea

Tools for Observation and Discovery

The Spirit of the Garden

Peace Garden

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Outdoor Learning Environments

A deep attachment to the planet must take root early in life if children are to achieve the highest level of love

Victoria deLilla

When considering outdoor learning environments for new or already existing schools it helps to consider the specific objectives of the administration and individual faculty members. Recent research points to the many benefits associated with nature. Playground design reflects a lack of understanding of how quality outdoor play environments can provide children with rich educational opportunities. Outdoor environments can be an opportunity to meet the developmental needs of children on many levels by providing a well prepared environment.

There are traditional examples of how school grounds may be used effectively to teach language, mathematics, science, geography, drama, art, music, and more. More importantly are the global issues which are integrated into outdoor environments. To become a global society we must teach with a world view.

Multiple Intelligence; Howard Gardner

Howard Gardner in a recent interview was asked to describe the eighth intelligence for teachers. Among the sited is the naturalist. The core of the naturalist intelligence is the human ability to recognize plants, animals, and other parts of the natural environment, like clouds or rocks. All of us can do this but some excel at this pursuit. It has evolved and has been hijacked to deal with man made objects.

He tells us to pay attention to the differences among kids and try to use that knowledge to personalize instruction and assessment.

Research

Childhood is the most critical stage in the human life cycle. A small but growing body of research indicates that a daily experience of nature, spending time outdoors in the fresh air and sunlight, in touch with plants and animals, has a measurable impact on healthy child development and on wellbeing in general. A new world view is needed which does not separate the human from the earth but sees them as one is known as ecopsychology. The loss of nature in our lives is contributing to new health concerns.

Rights of the Child

Children have a right to develop in an environment that stimulates their healthy development as mandated by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. To fulfill this mandate, nature must be seen as an essential component of the experiential world of childhood, designed into every childhood habitat, providing daily immersion in nature, putting children in close touch with the biosphere. In the urban world we live in, implementation of this right cannot be left to chance.

A Living System; GAIA

James Lovelock expounded the Gaia hypothesis that considers the biosphere to be a self-regulating system sensitive to the principle of life. Like the human body, the Earth has a built-in capacity to recover from stress, but not indefinitely. In response to the environmental crises sustainable development has evolved as a principle which states that actions taken today must not diminish the resource capacity of future generations. Agenda 21 has become the tool for implementing this principle. As we embark on the new millennium, children must learn to use it.

Ethics of a Global Society

The challenge for all concerned is to work together to find a strategy to support human love of the planet. When children engage in the process our future is supported. They learn to become Keepers of the Earth. Those who work with or advocate on behalf of children, must collaborate to create environments for children to experience immersion in nature. Nature needs to be considered in the design of all childhood habitats, Regardless of the type of community children live in, immersion in nature is important for development of the individual child as well as for the growth of a universal environmental ethic. A deep attachment to the planet must take root early in life if children are to achieve the highest level of love.

Childhood Habitats

Daily experience of nature is crucial to healthy child development.

Childhood habitats are extremely local. A garden designed for an infant does not need to be larger than a few square feet of soft shady lawn, some aromatic herbs, and highly textured plants and flowers. The world is within intimate range. Learning to walk changes the environment and what a child can do. He has the freedom to choose an activity and to be a part of the family. These motivations for young children are further expanded through preschool and school age years. In the critical first year of life, a few square meters of play garden can initiate and nurture a child’s sense of wonder at the changing seasons and constantly shifting natural universe.

Children are born curious. Through an innate motivation to explore and to wonder the strange becomes experienced, familiar, and deeply known through practice and repetition. The purpose of environmental design is to ensure that the necessary stimuli are ever-present in the child’s environment to set this learning process in motion.