Nature Play

Provocation: if we give time for children to explore, play and learn outdoors we nurture their social and emotional capabilities, cognitive development, curiosity and resilience – developing powerful learners.

Learning occurs in a range of contexts.

The reciprocal process of learning occurs through relationship with each other and with the environment.

Needing Trees: The Nature of Happiness 2015

• Spending time in nature has the ability to influence a person’s happiness because it has direct effects on the brain and hormone secretion.

• Viewing nature activates areas of the brain linked with the dopamine reward system, triggering happiness- induced recall and feelings of wellness, whereas viewing urban scenes activates areas of the brain associated with anxiety, fear and unpleasantness.

• Viewing natural environments produces more alpha wave activity compared to viewing urban environments – brain activity that has been shown to be greater in creative individuals.

• Nature reduces the body’s response to stress, with cortical secretion and irregularity decreasing with the more green space a person is exposed to.

• The biophilia hypothesis states that because of our origins we are innately connected to nature, with activities that enhance our engagement with the natural world receiving neurological and biochemical positive feedback.

• Exposing children to environments that reduce stress and increase wellbeing has long-term effects on the structure of the brain and happiness later in life.

We understand that active learning environments enable greater opportunities for children to engage in learning.

Playful contexts provide opportunities for students to develop their social competence and creative and critical thinking.

Our beliefs about the importance of play in children’s development underpin shared definitions of play and playful learning which are embedded within whole site teaching and learning agreements. These guide a consistent approach to high quality practice.

The ongoing challenge is for educators to provide an appropriate balance between proactive planning for children’s play and respecting children’s autonomy to play without interference.

We encourage staff to review and challenge current practices. If we believe children are powerful and rich in potential, then we provide opportunities for structured and unstructured play within the daily program.

Free play is an unstructured child-initiated activity where the focus is on emotional and social relevance… Playing may take place indoors or outdoors, and it is not specifically related to the curriculum.”

Hyvonen, P. T. 2011

Nature Play involving sticks, loose parts, climbing trees, real tools and bare feet provide a plethora of developmental benefits. Unstructured play outdoors, whatever the weather, provides authentic learning experiences that encourage:

• body awareness

• fine and gross motor skills
• risk taking
• creativity
• problem solving
• independence
• social skills
• communication
• resilience
• self-confidence.

Paediatric occupational therapist Angela Hanscom writes in her article The Unsafe Child: Less Outdoor Play is Causing More Harm than Good:

…sometimes too much protection can cause more harm than good. We are keeping them from attaining the very sensory input they need in order to grow into resilient and able-bodied people. They need to climb, jump, run through the woods, pick up sticks, jump in mud puddles, and fall and get hurt on occasion. These are all natural and necessary experiences that will help develop a healthy sensory system–foundational to learning and accomplishing many of life’s goals.

Learning in nature provides the opportunity to influence positive wellbeing. Natural environments reduce stress, increase happiness and can have positive long term effects upon the way the brain is structured influencing the body’s response to stress.

Educators intentionally build nature play opportunities into our Nurture Groups. Recently our children were taken on what was intended as a cubby building excursion to the Leg of Mutton Lake. What occurred was much more.

We observed a child (whose significant mental heath issues have inhibited school attendance for more than two years) smiling, laughing, playing and connecting with others. We observed another (whose fundamental need for control frequently results in conflict and escalating aggression) look to others for guidance and accept support when bush walking and exploring the natural landscape.

Children collected loose parts, delighted in the early spring flowers, quietly observed a wallaby and climbed the crater edges of the remnants of the volcano. They hypothesised , inquired, explored. Older children supported younger children to step outside their comfort zones. Children took risks and set their own limits, stretching themselves as they developed confidence.

They became lost in the bush and discovered the wonder of their childhood.

These experiences are not isolated to a once off excursion, educators weave these experiences back in to the Nurture Room. In the literacy, numeracy, social, emotional and cognitive development that forms the learning program.

I wonder what they will discover when next we venture into the forest.

Playful Learning

Provocation: doing activates thinking. An active learning environment promotes capable and competent learners who can independently inquire and discover through play.

Two years ago we inquired into playful pedagogies and the structures of schooling. We developed an understanding of the importance of play beyond the common definitions of ‘playful’, ‘imaginative’ and ‘fun’. We reflected upon our practices and formed a shared position on the purpose of play and the use of breaks to support learning and development.

The definition of play is broad. Play includes social games, pretending games, games involving playing with objects, indoor and outdoor play, pretend, authentic, traditional and free play. Playing “in nature” supports children to develop physical skills, social skills and manage risks. Play is:

• essential to a child’s holistic development and wellbeing.
• important for learning and supports cognitive, physical, social and emotional development.
• a foundation for the development of abstract and scientific reasoning.

Play is a fundamental human right for all children, regardless of age, gender, culture, social class or disability. This must be reflected in a range of play environments that offer children, who are otherwise disadvantaged, with experiences that help improve their quality of life. (2012, Gleave and Hamilton).

Extended unstructured “free play”

Research consistently documents that unstructured play has an important role in the school day, and has benefits for children’s cognitive, social, and physical health. Unstructured, free play supports children to develop social skills including team work, turn taking, sharing and conflict resolution. When children initiate their own play they can engage in decision making, problem solving and self-regulation.

Unstructured break time with the freedom to play away from intensive adult supervision is beneficial for children’s learning and development. Whilst unstructured play can be a time when social issues arise there are many positive benefits. Providing opportunity for children to play independently within a safe environment uninhibited by adults promotes creativity and social competence. There is a great value in providing undirected play opportunities; when play, social interaction and physical activity “are included, children chase one [an]other, challenge each other… make up games… all the while becoming more fit, imaginative/innovative, and socially competent” (Jarrett, 2015).

Play in natural environments is viewed as potentially more complex, imaginative, self-determined and ‘playful’, compared to play in indoor environments, notably in schools and preschools, where play is often constrained by adults’ agenda (Brooker and Woodhead 2013).

Playful Pedagogy

Through a pedagogy based in play and inquiry educators design learning to provide opportunities for children to be:

• Engaged
• Communicating and collaborating Powerful learners
• Inquiring
• Having fun
• Creating
• Directing their learning
• Problem solving
• Exploring and discovering

The questions and steps are not predetermined for the student; with the aim being for the children to work harder than the teacher.

Playful contexts are incorporated within the learning program with the intention of promoting social competence, literacy, numeracy, creative and critical thinking and cognitive development. Children are involved as participants in their learning and have a sense of agency and control in their own lives. Active learning environments enable greater opportunities for children to engage in learning. Natural breaks, incorporated as a part of the daily program, are used to engage children with social, emotional difficulties and complex/challenging behaviours.

Our inquiry resulted in:

1. clearly stated beliefs that underpin successful practice.
2. shared definitions of play and playful learning to support teaching and learning.
3. an appropriate balance between proactive planning for children’s play guiding and nudging their learning and respecting children’s autonomy to play without interference.
4. consistency, continuity of learning, improved engagement and a consistent approach to high quality practice.

Children with a sense of wellbeing and belonging are highly involved in their learning. They undertake complex and creativity thinking are persistent engage with deep learning and become powerful learners.

Opportunities for structured and unstructured play are incorporated in to the daily program alongside opportunities where children can make choices during their day.

Playful learning is collaborative, engaging, occurs within and beyond the classroom, and is joyful.

Inspired Learning Spaces

Provocation: If you believe that every space is an extension of our sensory learning experiences, then what goes in to the space is essential.

As we design our learning spaces in preparation for the beginning of the school year, we give consideration to creating environments that:

• promote relationships amongst children;
• promote explorations;
• promote the possibility to learn in groups;
• promote independence;
• make materials visible and readily available for children to use;
• incorporate unexpected surprises;
• offer a dialogue between indoor and outdoor spaces;
• create many places within spaces – small places that belong to big spaces;
• highlight the value of children making their own choices about what they want to learn.

Our learning environments are not places where children come to be taught; they are spaces where children create their own culture, as learners. A space where they can take risks as scientists, historians, writers, adventurers, artists, inventors and designers. An environment where they can follow their own unique rhythms of growth and development.

The first steps of our learning journey began by reflecting on the learning environments we offered our children. The way desks and seating are grouped in the space say something about how we belong to and interact within a space. Desks placed in rows say something. Desks grouped together also say something, they say “we can learn together”.

We inquired, we decluttered and we were inspired.

We are intentional in the way we design our spaces because we understand that the organisation of the learning environment can welcome children and families in the same way it can alienate them. We aim to minimise visual noise and design aesthetically pleasing environments. If the environment gives pleasure and joy it will inspire learning. We give consideration to our outdoor environments in the same way and look for opportunities to connect the indoors and the outdoors.

When we began our journey, educators were challenged by educational consultant Lisa Burman to change one thing within their learning space. They looked at their classrooms through the eyes of their children in order to identify how they could declutter and remove the visual noise from the space.

The beginning of a school year provides the opportunity to remove everything from the space and start afresh; to design an environment that will inspire children, welcome families and enrich the learning experiences that will invite children’s curiosity. And sometimes it is what you don’t put in that has the biggest impact.