3 and 4 year olds can climb mountains! I know this, because I went up a mountain recently with some very capable young children. They trekked for over 2 hours to get to the top of Mount Kau Kau, one of the great walks in Wellington, New Zealand.
This excursion was part of the Nature Explore component of Daisies Early Education and Care Centre‘s curriculum. Many of these children have been taking part in nature explore excursions since infancy, and on this particular day they had decided that they wanted to get to the very top of the mountain.
In this video Dr Anne Meade talks about the learning that takes place in nature, and how educators can go about creating their own nature programmes in their centres and communities.
Wonderful, inspirational
[…] Anne has focused on early childhood education for most of her career spanning over 40 years, as a teacher of young children, a researcher, lecturer, author, and policy developer. Many teachers say Anne is the reason they got into teaching. See more from Anne here: ‘Imagine a classroom without walls’. […]
[…] Outdoor play and forest schools are an increasingly important part of the ECE landscape. But sometimes it’s difficult for parents to grasp why a child’s clothes getting wet and muddy is a good thing. It’s just playing, right? With Storypark, outdoor programmes are able to share videos of the child’s interactions and activities. A picture may paint a thousand words, but a video can tell the whole story about the relationships that were developing, confidence that was building, science experiments that were happening, improvements in balance, spatial awareness and language. Combined with links to aspects of the curriculum, schema, dispositions or other learning philosophies a parent is able to see past the muddy clothes and far better appreciate the experience and benefit to their child. […]
[…] Imagine a classroom without walls – Nature explore curriculum at Daisies Early Education and C… […]