What is nature?

One of the big (or central) ideas we explore with our young students all year long is: People have a responsibility to look after nature.

To begin to understand this statement, the young children must know what “responsibility” means and what “nature” is. We call this “unpacking the central idea”.

We engage in many learning experiences throughout the school year to explore: What is nature?

  1. We play outdoors with natural materials: pinecones, sticks, rocks, sand and water.
  2. We plant flowers, bulbs and seeds and take care of them through their life cycle.
  3. We catch and observe insects, snails, and worms. (Then we gently return them to their habitats.)
  4. We create art with natural materials: conker necklaces, paintings using leaves, ice art hangings in winter.
  5. We order caterpillars to watch some stages of the life cycle of a butterfly.
  6. First Picture Nature written by Felicity Brooks, illustrated by Matt Durber and Stephanie Jones is a great way to use literature to introduce elements of nature that are not present in our outdoor learning environment, such as the beach and ocean plants and wildlife.

    Using literature and real-life experiences to learn about nature.

  7. The children collect natural materials to create their own “nature museum”.
  8. During black mat meetings, we discuss and record the children’s ever evolving definition of “nature” based on their experiences.
Students add interesting objects they find to our “nature museum” collection.

If we expect children to grow up to be people who take care of our Earth, then we must give them a chance to fall in love with it. Spend some time this week introducing your students to the natural world.  Go out in it! Awaken their interest and they will become curious about the role they play in taking care of it.