Richard Louv's Book Last Child in the Woods is inspration for nature ourdoor classroom

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Book is inspiration for Nature outdoor classroom
Nature education is an important part of early childhood education. As young children develop, the natural world offers perceptible and authentic learning experiences.

Building Blocks Preschool-An Early Childhood Learning Community, owned by Suzanne and Joe Gabli in concert with Director Emily Senese, had a butterfly garden and the usual fenced playground where children could play on slides, climbers, tricycles, wagons, trucks, and the water & sand table.

And as wonderful an environment as it was, there was something missing, until Gabli and Senese read “Last Child in the Woods — Saving our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder” by Richard Louv (2005). In his book, Louv highlights studies that point to direct exposure to nature as essential for a child’s physical and emotional development. He links the lack of nature in children’s lives with the rise in obesity, attention disorders and depression.

Children develop physically through climbing hills and trees, running after a bird or a butterfly, or hiking through natural terrain (forests, nature preserves, fields and parks). Nature offers unlimited sensory input. Children also develop cognitively by exploring the natural world, asking questions about what they find, discovering life cycles of plants and animals, hypothesizing about what will happen and just wondering about nature. Yet children today have less opportunity to spend time in natural places than they did when we were children. “We asked ourselves the question, “How can we expand our playground and create a deeper experience for our children to explore? Gabli said. “Our teachers were excited and interested in creating a deeper outdoor experience.”

“We moved our classroom to the playground, and then this book helped us realize that our school needed to expand what we offered children for outdoor play and exploration,” Senese said. “I realized that we needed to do more for our children and that children who don’t experience nature won’t grow up to cherish or protect it.”

Gabli suggests that people need to unplug children from video games, cell phones and computers, and look for ways to consciously and thoughtfully bring nature back into their lives. “You will not see a TV at our school. Our parents appreciate this. They want their children to have limited access to TV or movie programming.”

Children and Nature 2009 reports on the movement to reconnect to the natural world: “Observation and common sense indicate children today spend little time outside, especially free time engaged in play in natural settings. When it comes to independent play in unstructured time of a child’s choosing, some research indicates that as few as 3 percent of children have that opportunity to any significant degree today. If they are outdoors, the experience is more likely to be in organized sports and on playground equipment grounded in asphalt with little natural variety in the setting.”

Many children are shuttled from school to church to soccer to dance class to day camp. With all good intentions on the part of parents and caregivers, most children today are being given a virtual, often vicarious, electronic, passive and cocooned experience of childhood. If not in highly organized and structured after-school programs, children and youth are often under what Richard Louv calls “virtual house arrest,” behind locked doors, glued to the blue screens as a de facto child care program instead of being in the outdoors. We think that things are dramatically out of balance for today’s children.

About three years ago, “Our school began to travel past our playground and take the children on nature walks as seasonal field trips,” Gabli said. “In the spring of 2008, we became involved with Heavner Nature Connection’s (HNC) “No Child Left Inside” committee. We are committed to giving every child in our community wonderful opportunities to get outside and enjoy nature. HNC’s Chris Wall trained our teaching staff in a Project Learning Tree (PLT) workshop. This truly made an impact on our teaching staff and how we can take our classroom to the playground and then past our playground fence. Said Gabli, “We back right up to Highland Recreation State Park. This land is beautiful and when children are able to explore the natural world, you see how the senses are ignited and they become free to run in this open space. We take our children on nature walks/hikes on a weekly basis. Children take their nature journals out and draw what they see. They become great observers of this land and see how the seasons change.”
Building Blocks Preschool was recently recognized for our natural photographs of children in nature by The North American Reggio Emilia Alliance (NAREA), a network of educators, parents, and advocates working to raise the quality of life and the quality of schools and centers for young children. Senese states, “They included 15 of our children’s photographs with nature in their 2010 NAREA Membership benefit CD - Photographs from "Outdoor Encounters II. It is a great honor to be recognized internationally for our work here.”
Building Blocks Preschool now provides a nature-based curriculum built on what is happening outside. The programs are real and authentic because children can see, touch, hear and smell everything they discuss in class. Nature activities can include unstructured play in natural areas, planting gardens, water terrain, watching and observing animals in their habitats, studying insects and birds, and following animal tracks in the sand, snow, or mud.
The balance of a great playground and the Highland Recreation State land behind us gives our children natural open play spaces. We know that our nature walks are the fire that rekindles the sense of wonder for everyone at our School. The children deserve authentic joyous experiences. We know it is the best thing for our kids’ physical and emotional health.
Contact
Emily Senese, 248.889.2727
Highland, MI
August 14th, 2010
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