PHOTO: THRIFTCANDY
“Every child should have mud pies, grasshoppers, water-bugs, tadpoles, frogs, mud-turtles, elderberries, wild strawberries, acorns, chestnuts, trees to climb, brooks to wade in, water-lilies, woodchucks, bats, bees, butterflies, various animals to pet, hay fields, pine cones, rocks to roll, sand, snakes, huckleberries and hornets: and any child who has been deprived of these has been deprived of the best of his education.”
~Luther Burbank
“We depend on nature not only for our physical survival. We also need nature to show us the way home, the way out of the prison of our minds. We got lost in doing, thinking, remembering, anticipating – lost in a maze of complexity and a world of problems.
“We have forgotten what rocks, plants and animals still know. We have forgotten how to be – to be still, to be ourselves, to be where life is: here and now.”
~Eckhart Tolle
“Early experiences with the natural world have been positively linked with the development of imagination and the sense of wonder. Wonder is important as it a motivator for life long learning….”
“The world of nature is not a scene or even a landscape. Nature for the child is sheer sensory experience. Children judge the natural setting not by its aesthetics, but rather by how they can interact with the environment. Children have a unique, direct and experiential way of knowing the natural world as a place of beauty, mystery and wonder….”
“Children’s special affinity for the natural environment is connected to the child’s development and his or her way of knowing. Plants, together with soil, sand, and water, provide settings that can be manipulated. You can build a trench in the sand and dirt or a rock dam over a stream, but there’s not much you can do to a jungle gym except climb, hang, or fall off.
“Natural elements provide for open-ended play that emphasize unstructured creative exploration with diverse materials. The high levels of complexity and variety nature offers invites longer and more complex play. Because of their interactive properties, plants stimulate discovery, dramatic pretend play, and imagination. P
“lants speak to all of the senses, so it’s not surprising that children are closely attuned to environments with vegetation. Plants, in a pleasant environment with a mix of sun, shade, color, texture, fragrance, and softness of enclosure also encourage a sense of peacefulness.”
“Natural settings offer qualities of openness, diversity, manipulation, exploration, anonymity and wildness. All the manufactured equipment and all the indoor instructional materials produced by the best educators in the world cannot substitute for the primary experience of hands-on engagement with nature.
“They cannot replace the sensory moment where a child’s attention is captured by the phenomena and materials of nature: the dappled sparkle of sunlight through leaves, the sound and motion of plants in the wind, the sight of butterflies or a colony of ants, the imaginative worlds of a square yard of dirt or sand, the endless sensory experience of water, the infinite space in an iris flower.”
~By Randy White & Vicki Stoecklin from “Children’s Outdoor Play & Learning Environments: Returning to Nature”
“Nature is the greatest teacher
Its from the forest that I learn
How the seasons come and turn
Its from the ocean that I see
What was was and what shall beAll the worlds echo teachings
All of Nature speaks to me
Stories stories shine around us
For the inner eye to seeIts from the animals that sing
That I hear what life will bring
Its from the plants that root and rise
That I tell the truth from liesAll the worlds echo teachings
All of Nature speaks to me
Stories stories shine around us
For the inner eye to seeIts from the fire that I know
Why the kingdoms come and go
Its from the wind that’s blowing through
That I feel what to doAll the worlds echo teachings
All of Nature speaks to me
Stories stories shine around us
For the inner eye to seeIts from the rain that’s coming down
That I hear what’s going round
Its from this culture of the land
That I’ve come to understandAll the worlds echo teachings
All of Nature speaks to me
Spirit spirit light around us
That can teach us how to be (see)”( source)
328k
0
10k
5 comments
Jody says:
Jul 25, 2013
So true. Thank you for this…
Melissa says:
Mar 30, 2014
Thank you for this. We surround ourselves with nature everyday and this resonates with me. Yesterday, we were on a hike with friends. My friends 5 year old was tired about 3/4s of the way to the end. He started crying and saying, “I can’t go on, I just can’t. My feet can’t take another step.” His mother spoke softly to him and rested until he was ready to continue. It reminded me that even the tough times are full of lessons when we immerse ourselves in the forest.
Laura Plumb says:
May 19, 2014
ditto. so true. thank you for wisdom and inspiration.
Jess says:
Mar 2, 2016
Beautiful and true – many thanks
ROSEMARIE M MCELANEY says:
Jun 23, 2018
I agree. It’s sad to me that not every child gets those experiences. I’ve taught Early Childhood for many years and brought as much of all those things into my teaching as possible. I live and work in NYC. It’s a challenge to get those experiences but it should be the basis of all education. Thank you so much.