In the November/ December 2010 issue of Wonder, the newsletter for the World Forum's Nature Action Collaborative for Children, there is an article entitled Our Path To An Outdoor Classroom. The article explains how a the Burlington Little School in Washington worked tirelessly to raise funds for a bike path that wound through an undeveloped grassy area of their playground. After all of their hard work, they were dismayed by the reaction of current and former students once the project was complete. While the teachers and administrators were full of pride and excitement at the grand opening of their new bike path - they were met with cries of "Where is the tall grass? Where will we play?" All of the money and expensive resources in the world could not replace the joy of nature in the hearts of the children - the children the bike path was created for.
As a society we have somehow forgotten how much happiness we, as children, found while playing in the natural world. For a child, crawling through a field of tall grass becomes an adventure. A simple patch of nature is a laboratory, ripe with opportunities for discovery and imagination. Not only were the children at The Burlington Little School perfectly happy with their patch of untended grass - they mourned the loss of it deeply. It seems interesting that we keep demanding more funding in order to improve quality in Early Childhood Education - when the children find the most value in the natural world - which is free.
The Burlington Little School decided to make up for taking nature away from these children by working towards something very different from the concrete, slides and swings usually found in preschool playgrounds. They started their fundraising all over again - this time with a vision of a beautiful outdoor classroom that revolved around nature. Now their outdoor classroom is teeming with life - gardens, grassy knolls, a fish pond, and natural stone paths. The excavation required a great deal of digging, and all of the extra dirt was piled into a corner of the playground to be used in future projects. While the children love all areas of their outdoor classroom, their favorite activity by far is playing "king of the mud hill, especially after a rainy day." (Sarah Bishop, 2010)
Works Cited
Sarah Bishop, M. V. (2010, November/ December). Our Path To An Outdoor Classroom. Wonder , pp. 1-2
Hi Kristina,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that I have a group of colleagues that are just as passionate about play and exploration as I am.
Thank you for your insight.
What wonderful, insightful information you offer. I had no personal knowledge of this World Forum publication. I am going to go to their site, subscribe and hopefully get involved in some way. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing story. Sometimes it is easy to forget how wonderful our natural world really is without all of the stuff in it. It's nice to know that children still have a natural love of nature and an outdoor classroom seemed to satisfy their needs for creative play. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Kristina. This story reminds me of the little things people take for granted. The children valued outdoor play. These days young children are consumed to indoor activities such as video games and watching television. Do you think its because they are not exposed to play while at school so it's easier for them to stay closed in when they are at home?
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