Bush School - Nature Education in Australia

"I detest schools with a passion. 
My main beef with schools  is that they are an utter waste
 of young life because they don't educate. 
Education is preparing someone for life and schools fail to do that"  Terry Deary 

 I am in my element .....children, wild space, time, camera 
........and I am in a school!! 
A school unlike the ones described by Terry Deary

A space where you are trusted, a place for freedom, creativity and natural exploration.

Spirit of Play Community School is a small rural school in a picturesque old Post Office building in Denmark, Western Australia which is situated next to bushland and a creek. The teachers, Sarah and Regi, together with an enthusiastic group of parents approached me to support them in creating an identity for the school which has always had a strong link to the natural and indigenous environment. It seemed natural to develop a Bush/Forest school as there was already such a great passion and enthusiasm for nature education within the school. I am delighted to be supporting this development - in Scotland I had helped set up the internationally renowned outdoor Nature Kindergartens as well as being the Head of the Kindergartens until I moved to Australia, I am passionate about children having the time and freedom to really investigate what is important to them in a natural environment.

Feeling the natural environment - really being part of it

There are of  course many differences between Scotland and Australia; in climate, in fauna and in flora, in risks as well as in culture that I need to be aware of but these I can research to develop an understanding.  

I believe that children the world over develop, play and learn in a similar manner and that the curricular outcomes adults design and teach to, do not change that ..... children themselves are not dictated to by a changing curriculum. Deep level, long term real, contextual learning and understanding is achieved when children are motivated by the learning opportunity and this happens when children are allowed to influence the program and are also allowed to explore their interests in depth. Children do not learn in set 45 minute periods ......... that is not enough time to really explore and complete an investigation....... no wonder many children or young people struggle to complete tasks as they mature!

Being able to support children’s learning in a wild space is very different to working in a classroom and even in a garden. That very close connection to unprocessed nature allows us to really FEEL what nature is about, to realize and appreciate our place in it – to me it is something that is alive and is in ME and I believe children and adults can also feel that as they get to know and love the natural wild space; a spiritual connection. Children with a love and appreciation of wild nature will grow up to value and protect this environment for themselves and future generations.

I arrived at the school on the first morning of the term with my prepared interest box on 'tools', the children gathered around curious to find out what was in the mystery box.

As a group we created a 3D mindmap about saws to find out what knowledge the children had, then looked at the possible risks of using various different tools. We discussed and I demonstrated how to use the tools safely with children making the suggestions and rules. 

I demonstrated the new Treewrap™, the children helped to decide what should go into it for our adventure into the bush. ALL the tools, wire, twine, tarpaulin, shadow sheet!

Gathering at the garden gate the children counted how many children were present that  day, they then each picked up a special stone, placed it on a log and counted the stones. Each stone represents a child; on their return from the bush, children would take one of the stones off the log; if any stones are left they will know that somebody is missing – in this way children are part of taking care of the group's welfare.

Before crossing the track children sang a song looking left and right and then listening – a large noisy digger caused excitement; on the return trip they commented on the fast speed of a white car and declared it unsafe while the other car was much slower and safer. Once over the road children were trusted to run to the area in the bush they had identified as the space to explore on this day.

Children helped to wrap the Treewrap™ around a large tree rather than suspending it between two smaller trees; now they could select and have free access to the tools and resources displayed in the pockets or hung from the Velcro straps. A storage system allows adults to have an overview of what tools are in use; children are encouraged to bring tools and resources back and not to leave them lying on the ground.

Sticks used to mark make and to construct,

Everybody very quickly settled down – each child free to choose what they wanted to engage in and adults there to offer support if needed or requested but otherwise to record children’s comments and actions as well as observing and assessing the interaction and learning. Adults are or should be very much part of any high quality environment, observations and assessments are continuous and not intrusive to the children's play or concentration. It should not be necessary to set up activities to do this.

During the nearly 3 hours we were in the bush there were no arguments, no raised voices, children naturally shared, took turns  and also supported each other with self chosen projects. Adults commented on the calm purposefulness and full engagement every child displayed in their chosen activity - they all had a sense of agency.

Signing the first page of the Project Book

Sharing our reflections

Back in the school, after lunch and playing in the naturalistic garden we again gathered to allow adults and children to reflect on their experiences of the day. All the children were very keen to share their experiences of the day which together with photographs, the children’s voices and the planning possibilities adults have reflected on that come to inform future planning. Two children who had moved away from the group in the bush and had not immediately responded to the signals from the teacher were calmly encouraged to reflect on the situation and discuss possible solutions. All the children contributed to the session in a way they were comfortable with, some more verbal than others!

 

What did we do in the bush - did we learn anything?

"The challenge for us as adults is to be able to stand back, trust that learning is happening, identifying the learning and finding an appropriate  way to evidence and record this learning so that it is also meaningful to the children."

Splitting reeds and removing the soft centre

One child made a mini basket using reed she had picked herself. "You take out the soft in the middle, then you tear long bits until you have lots. You twist like this and then the other way, you count when you make it" I wish I had the manual dexterity she had!

The baby fairy bed

Two of the children created a fairy house using loose bits from their environment, while others contributed objects they had created using the tools. "The fairy house for tiny fairies. I need sticks, not those; this long and then another one the same. This is the bed, we need two [gum-nuts]. They fly here and there is a baby in that bed"

Many children enjoyed exploring what the hand-drill can do and took turns with the one we had, negotiating as well as sometimes compromising! This little boy was fascinated by the mechanism and technology of the hand-drill, he carefully watched the cogs move as he turned the handle. He experimented drilling into different branches and logs - some were soft and decomposing while others were very hard or still green. He drilled through a stick and tried to simultaneously drill through a gum-nut - concentrating to position the objects so that they lined up. He did not get frustrated but quietly persevered at the tasks he had set himself.

Drill through the stick and the Gum-nut

Helping to change the drill bit

Another little boy used the hand borer to make holes in a seedpod he had found and then pushed a piece of wire into the hole.

The soft wire was used to lash sticks together, to bend and to make little  figurines, to decorate the fairy house and also to bend and shape into different numbers!

The files were also very popular with children experimenting on different sticks and branches and using different angles of the file as they were easy to use and results were immediate. Some created patterns on sticks, while others worked on getting the wood as smooth as possible, I was impressed by the descriptive language these young children used.          

 

The saws were always in use! During the morning discussion we had examined the benefits as well as the risks and also looked at various procedure to reduce risk. In the bush most of the children chose not to wear a glove - they were gently reminded but once they confirmed that they knew what the possible risks were and what the procedures were to protect themselves against this risk and they still chose not to wear a glove the adults respected this choice.                                 

One child spent all his time in the bush creating a caterpillar world with a cocoon, a place for them to sleep or hide in as well as making a caterpillar using two sticks balanced at right angles to each other creating a triangle - very tricky until he tied them together with wire. Others joined him, contributing and then moving away again.

A great deal of time was spent on a very detailed mini shelter. One of the older boys initiated this activity and very soon some of the younger ones contributed as well by finding an assortment of natural materials and making suggestions as to how they could be used. The children treated each other with respect and kindness at all times.

The older boy shaped four small detailed figurines and placed all of  them on tiny logs around a mini log fire. "can't leave those in there when we go as that would be littering and not good for the environment" the older boy explained to the younger children. 

 

The shelter was measured in centimeters as well as inches so that it could be recreated at a later date or place. Some children felt it would be good to have a bigger shelter in the bush. There was a discussion about increasing the dimensions so that the children could use the shelter too. This resulted in a complex problem solving  mathematical discussion about ratios, percentages and surface area. The boy photographed his structure so that he could share it with his friends as well as having a copy himself as he took pride in what he had initiated.

The bush site the children had chosen this day had previously been used for an Aboriginal ceremony and white beach sand had been placed in a clearing. Children started to dig in this space and were excited to discover that below the the white sand they could find dark sand, stones and even some glass and plasterboard. They wondered how this could have happened and a number of different theories were offered by the children. They did not ask any  of the adult for their opinions!                        

As they compared holes, they noticed that all  the soil layers were of different depths in the  sand holes so fetching the tape measure they then set about measuring the depths of the layers in the holes and then comparing the differences between the holes.

One of the younger boys sat quietly gathering the different piles of sand into mini mountains next to each hole. He explained that all this sand came out of that hole and that the big hole had more sand and a bigger mountain than the small hole but if they did some more digging then they could make bigger mountains. The children discussed this with some claiming that sand from other holes could have got mixed up. I was impressed with his knowledge of displacement!

When it was time to go back to the school the children all tidied up making sure all the tools were packed and that no wire or twine had been left behind that could injure any bush creatures. They ran back along the track, some of them so confident in that terrain that they walked backwards, took an exciting short cut through a dry ditch to then enjoy their lunch outdoors - they all ate very well! A new rope web was very popular and the hammock was used to lie in as well as to turn themselves into a cocoon.

I thank all the children as well as parents and teachers for allowing me this opportunity to share my love of the wild space with them - I have been invited back and will most certainly be there when I have a day off .... as Wells N M (2000) stated."Proximity to, views of and daily exposure to natural settings increase children’s ability to focus and enhance cognitive abilities."
I KNOW they increase mine too!

“If we want children to flourish, to become truly empowered, then let us allow 

them to love the earth before we ask them to save it. Perhaps this is what 

Thoreau had in mind when he said, “the more slowly trees grow at first, the 

sounder they are at the core, and I think the same is true of human beings.”
-                                                      David Sobel, Beyond Ecophobia

What I learn at Kindergarten!

“Every time we teach a child something, we keep him from inventing it himself. On the other hand, that which we allow him to discover for himself will remain with him visible for the rest of his life.” Piaget

"More than a quarter of Australian fifth graders believe yogurt is grown on trees and three out of four of them think cotton is an animal product, according to a study from the Australian Council of Education Research."

 

Children who believe that cotton-wool grows on sheep? Now where could they possibly have got that idea from? Could it have come from adult's intentional teaching? I will let you decide after reading this light hearted journey around an early years environment! Could "THEY" be YOU?

Little Emily (4) was taking me on a guided tour; "That is Spring up there, THEY told us, that is my lamb, oh, maybe not that  one, I forgot which one. THEY gave us a paper and there was a lamb on it and then we had to put that white glue on and then that white stuff THEY call cotton wool. It was really hard, it was very sticky and I did it wrong and THEY came and changed it, THEY said the tail was wrong. I did one of those flowers too but we had to make yellow flowers and had to paint a bit of egg box with yellow and green sticks. I wanted a pink flower but THEY said these ones are not pink. Pink is my favourite."

Celebrating individuality and creativity?

"We also have dough, you can roll it like mum rolls the biscuit dough, but ours is bright red or blue or green and THEY say we can't put it in our mouth. You can make cupcakes and little shapes and pasta BUT you have to sit at the table and you can't take it to the home corner to cook it in the oven. THEY say it is too messy. I made a birthday cake for my baby but THEY said it was time to tidy up and THEY squashed it. I was sad, I wanted to show my baby but THEY said tidy-up time. My daddy cooks in the kitchen, there is no carpet in my kitchen."

 "This is where we can do cooking. This round shape with white at the bottom has some brown stuff on top - THEY call it Spaghetti Bolognaise and you have to take turns to share it THEY say and it is really hard to stir in the pot, it goes bump, bump. We also have potatoes and carrots and onions but you can't cut pieces, they don't go soft or lumpy like my dad's in the cupboard, feel them, when I put them in my mouth I can't taste it and THEY tell me not to eat them cause I have germs! THEY are silly cause I am not eating them, just pretend!"

"This is where the dinosaurs go. We made that volcano! We take newspaper and then THEY put it in watery stuff and then you have to wait and wait for it to go hard. THEY make a hole in the middle....... mmmm I think mountains have a hole in the middle? Then THEY put some white powder in, like my baby's powder, and then some water stuff but it smells bad and you have to hold your nose and then the bubbles came out the top. THEY say that's a volcano. I don't know who put the white powder and smelly stuff in the hole at the top of the big mountain when the dinosaurs came, maybe a giant cause mountains are very big. My dad says the red stuff that comes out is lava and is very hot and burns but our volcanoes just had bubbles and it wasn't hot."

Bubbles from volcanoes - is that really what we want children to learn?

"Those balls up there, see the ones on the string? Those are balloons but THEY said put yucky wet paper round them and then they got hard and then THEY said we must paint them. We had to make lots, THEY said lots but I was tired. I wanted to paint mine with lots of colours and dots but THEY said that is not what Planets look like. I don't know what that is....something in the sky I can't see, maybe they are in the sky balloons!"

"This is the place where THEY say we can play with water. Those are fish but they can't go under the water by themselves, I push them and then they just pop up. My fish at home can swim under the water. THEY put blue stuff in the water because THEY say water is blue, the sea is blue. I don't know, my water in the bath is no colour. When I play in the mud I can make the water brown and mummy laughs and says I am mucky! THEY say I can't play in the mud cause it's dirty."

 

"This is our fire. THEY say take some plastic stones, THEY say real stones are too dangerous so we can't have those, and you put them in a circle, then some paper in the middle cause THEY say sticks are too dangerous and then you squash some red tissue paper in there and THEY say that's a fire! Fire is not that hot, you can even touch it! At camp we make fire and we cook food and that fire is hot and can burn if you touch. I don't touch real fire cause I know it's hot. If you want to put out fire you have to blow and blow, I blow my candles at home and they make smoke. THEY say candles are dangerous and when it's birthday time THEY fetch a little candle but THEY have to put the fire on with the little button at the bottom and you can't blow it out, THEY put it out with the little button again." 

Real fire - mesmerizing,an opportunity to be together and share while learning.

"That's our tools, they're pretend! THEY say real ones are dangerous. The yellow saw doesn't hurt, look you can saw your hand! The hammer, we have a red hammer but THEY say you can't use it to hammer nails because the hammer breaks....THEY say just tap the blue block and then it is safe. Jason's grandad got him a saw that really cuts wood and he brought it but They said it was too dangerous and took it away and put it on the high place. Jason says tools here are really boring cause they don't even work."

"Our coats, that pink one is mine, THEY tell us we have to put them on, THEY say it is cold when the clouds come or the wind is there. I run and run and run and go red and my heart goes boom, boom very fast. I tell them I want to take my coat off but THEY say it is too cold and cross their arms like this and make shivery faces when THEY stand by the door. When it rains THEY say we can't go out, sometimes it doesn't rain and THEY say we can't go out. I love to play in the rain and splash in the puddles, THEY say keep away cause you will get wet!"

Trusting children to self risk assess leads to competent, confident and able children.

"The trees - they are not for climbing THEY say it is too dangerous. My mummy lets me climb to the top of the tree in our garden, to my big brother's tree-house. She says are you feeling safe and I nod my head like this. My tree looks the same but THEY say these are too dangerous. I don't know why. I like to climb and THEY say I can go on the little slide but I have to slide down on my bottom, THEY say it's too dangerous on my tummy. Sometime we quickly climb up and we jump from the top, that is best fun! THEY keep saying be careful but I don't know why?"

"Those are vegetables but we can't go in there, THEY say the tomatoes are poisonous and can kill us. My dad lets me help to plant tomatoes and then I eat them when they are red but I don't die, my tomatoes are not the same, I love tomatoes but not these ones, THEY say they are too dangerous."

Experiencing the delight of growth - the time it takes for tomatoes to change colour - another valuable learning experience

"You see there by the fence. All those sticks. THEY say sticks are dangerous and when THEY see one fallen off the tree THEY throw it over the fence. When we find one we hide it, sometimes the boys make guns but THEY  say that is bad and we can't make guns. They are just pretend and can't really shoot but THEY say guns are bad. My daddy has a real gun and he is good, I love my daddy, he is a policeman!"

"These are beans, well not the white stuff but THEY say you need the white stuff and THEY call it cotton wool and THEY say you put this hard bean on it, close it with more soft stuff and then THEY say put water on, water every day, not blue water, just water like the bath. When THEY say you can open it then some green and white bits are coming out! I like beans. I know, sheep make cotton wool so we can grow beans on the plate and clouds are made of cotton-wool, THEY say so!! I love coming to Kindergarten, THEY know everything and when I am big I want to be like THEM"

I wonder how many adults are brave enough to admit that THEY might have been responsible for generations of children with these or similar misconceptions? I have to admit to the volcano 'experiment' - sorry children!!

Exploring the properties of real materials - natural stones and water.

"Children are investigators, little scientists. They are busy forming their ideas, developing their own frameworks of understanding - how things work, what belongs together, they are making connections between their own experiences and the world around them and then transfer this knowledge to other situation. This is the time adults should support those little explorers by offering real and true experiences to allow the appropriate connections to be made."

We do have to laugh at ourselves at times........ I certainly do!

"Childhood has it's own way of seeing, thinking, and feeling, and nothing is more foolish than to try to substitute ours for theirs."       Jean Jacques Rousseau

Loose Parts - Nature Indoors and Outdoors

"Children are the only brave philosophers. 
And brave philosophers are, inevitably, children".

YEVGENY ZAMYATIN, 

When I am stressed, I choose to be in nature where I find peace! I believe that young children have a natural affinity to nature – they will find bugs in the most unlikely places such as in car parks, little hands reach out through fences surrounding artificial play spaces to touch the weeds on the other side. Just watch the delight in a child’s face when they spy a puddle and the disappointment as the adult guides them away from this magical play opportunity. 

Transient art sculpture created by a 20 month old child in Family Daycare WA

 Childhood is precious and as adults we have the responsibility to support the building of childhood memories by allowing children motivational and memorable opportunities. Asking the majority of adults about their childhood - they usually recall these special moments as being outdoors; usually with no adult in sight, lots of time to develop their ideas, very few resources and often doing something they were told not to do! I certainly remember climbing onto the shed roof and doing somersaults through the air and into the compost heap, fine until I landed on one of the pumpkins growing wild! I also remember hours of trying to create fairy boats that really float using leaves and pieces of bark and decorating sandcastles using shells, seaweed and sticks. Do we offer our children these opportunities that will build such childhood memories? 

Sand and water that can be mixed offers a very high play affordance!

What 'resources' do we need to offer children for effective and memorable play and learning both indoors and outdoors?

Most important is the skilled adult! Somebody who understands what children need, is able to empower children to take the lead and can analyse the learning taking place without needing to structure activities or opportunities.  

The loose parts theory was first developed by Simon Nicholson, architect, who suggested that if children have access to a range of materials which have no defined purpose then they will access a wider range of play types and be more creative in the ways they play. “In any environment, both the degree of inventiveness and creativity, and the possibility of discovery, are directly proportional to the number and kind of variables in it”.   Nicholson. S. 1971

  

Adults analyse the learning. Cornish College, Melbourne

 ‘Loose Parts’ are materials that children are able to collect, move,  transport, attach, use on their own or combined with other open ended materials and can be made into many different objects. There is no right or wrong way of using them so children can be as creative as they want to be without feeling that they are not using them correctly. This means children have full control and can direct the play activity.

 

Nature’s store cupboard offers us the widest range of loose parts; some of the advantages nature offers is that the natural resources are highly sensorial, come in so many different forms which offer selection and challenge, are freely available and inexpensive. They also come in ranges and tones of colour that reflect the gentle colours of Nature’s palette instead of the standard very bright primary colours I so often find in young children’s environments. Too many bright colours are visually distracting and I feel add to the visual clutter in an environment that many children and adults struggle to concentrate in.

The best is that they offer a very high play affordance!

Children take ownership of their objects which become their treasures as they have been allowed the choice to select from amongst a large and complex selection with each child choosing specifically what is special to them - favourite colours, shapes, sizes, textures. They will combine their ‘treasures’ with other open ended materials they have free access to -  both natural and man made, offering them many hours of effective learning both indoors and outdoors. 

  

Seashells for children to collect - treasures they choose, colourful, broken - each one a chosen treasure for the child

So what do we need??
The type of natural resources that motivate and stimulate young children are sticks, stones, shells, water, soil, sand, seedpods, pinecones, wild grasses, plants, leaves, flowers and more. Objects that can be lined up, collected, arranged, hidden, used for construction. These should be available both indoors and outdoors – the outdoors tends to offers opportunities for large scale play which generally allows children more freedom. Adults tend to be more relaxed allowing children to 'make a mess' and allowing them greater freedom !

Offer these objects on their own or combine with man made open ended materials such as:

• ·         containers of various sizes and made of various materials; buckets, bottles, boxes

• ·         tools; saws, drills, rakes, metal and wooden spoons, spades

• ·         resources: guttering, boxes, long sticks, cellophane, large bits of fabric, assortment of balls

• ·         materials to join objects: string, twine, Sellotape, masking tape, wire

A cubby for children and one for fairies made indoors with natural materials collected. Cornish College, Melbourne

By offering children these inexpensive and easily accessible resources we allow children free exploration and we can see their own creative way of thinking and doing. As the psychologist Eric Erickson stated, we can see their “natural genius of childhood and their spirit of place.” 

"The natural connections children make to formal learning through the use of open ended and naturalistic resources should be a motivation to all adults to ensure that these are freely available to young children both indoors and outdoors."

"There are children playing in the street who could solve some of my top problems in physics, because they have modes of sensory perception that I lost long ago".

J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER,