Nature Kindergartens
A book review
Nature Kindergartens sound like fun; children spend most of the time outdoors every day. Explore Claire Warden’s thorough thoughts on nature’s gift to children and Niki Buchan’s photos of children deeply engrossed in the myriad activities of nature.

Nurturing children's biophilia
Randy White & Vicki L. Stoecklin
When it comes to environmental education, the best learning environments are informal and naturalistic outdoor nature-scapes where children have unmediated opportunities for adventure and self-initiated play, exploration and discovery.

Exploration of nature: Critical to child development
Helen Huleatt

All children are eager to connect with nature; given a chance, they develop a strong love for the earth and everything upon it. Their senses are wide open to the great and the small – as children watch moon and stars, they are awed to catch a glimpse of our planet’s place in the universe, while tiny creatures and objects grip their imaginations too.

The mud centre: Recapturing childhood
Becky J. Jensen and Julie A. Bullard

Mud is an art medium, one that we can mold, dry, and decorate. Unlike many other media, mud permits us to make mistakes. We can experiment repeatedly, knowing there is a limitless free supply.

Outdoor play
Excerpted from Play, Development and Early Education by Johnson, Christie and Wardle

Playgrounds are places where children’s play can take off and flourish. Good outdoor playgrounds are large enough and designed in such a way that children’s play can come to full expression, where children can make a mess, run, jump and hide, where they can shout, whistle and explore the natural world.

Playing in the gutters: Enhancing children's cognitive and social play
Sue A. Dinwiddie

Traditionally the sand area has provided opportunities for manipulation, construction, and discovery as children experiment with pouring, digging, and mixing sand with water. Last year we enriched our sand area with the introduction of plastic rain gutters.

Lighting the fire
Hands-on investigation, play and outdoor learning in primary education.

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