NATURE IS ALL OUR CHILDREN NEED TODAY

This is a series of Articles under the educational program of CNNA which advocates Nature based learning opportunities for children. The goal is simple: unless children live in Nature, the will not develop any love for it, and only love can take them to the point of Protection. Providing Nature based learning is the most essential part of creating Environmental stewardship in children, who will take care of this planet)

By Erum Khan

We were the last generation who played outside, ran freely in the fields, jumped on puddles, climbed trees, had real pets, dug holes, smell flowers, woke up at dawn, played in Mud pie kitchens in our backyards, noticed the rainbows, felt the rain, could detect squirrels, and discover bugs……..

Although today’s children have better Internet connections, they never get the opportunity to connect with Nature…On one hand, with the advent of technology, humans are evolving their brains, exploring new Planets, reaching new heights of human civilization, but on the other hand they are loosing humanity, facing the death of great civilizations, reaching the new heights of spiritual degradation and drowning into the depth of corruption on all emotional and social parameters.

This is the first time in the history of mankind that we started fearing Nature, so much that we ask our children to go inside when it rains, to hide themselves inside the man-made structures when it snows, to cover themselves more when the sun shines, to wear boots when contacted with sand, to watch out when they sit near streams or lakes, to shout when they witness lizards or bugs, to kill when they encounter ants, to stay away from dirt and soil when they want to go crazy playing on it, to lock themselves indoors when they encounter windy days, to become deaf so that they can never hear the sounds of birds chirping and the squirrels chittering, to go blind when a flower is blossoming, to be ignorant to see the wonders of nature all in their backyards.

Gone are the days when children walked to school, when they ran freely in the fields, when they took the back streets to enter the woods, when they climbed trees and discover nests of birds, when they wandered and explore the gardens, when they could feel the sand and jump on puddles, when they monitor wandering animals and discover their habitats, when they collected flowers and made necklaces, when they dug cave like holes and hid treasures, when they created their own mud kitchens, when they discovered the changing sky and could predict the weather, when they spotted the injured birds, when they could predict the perfect season to fly their kites, when they could calculate the high tides on summer days….There are millions of explorations and discoveries which were made by children everyday, every moment.

But gone are the days……

Contrary to what is happening now in our modern day human societies, we can still Observe children and their love for Nature, their learning appetite and their Awe-based exploration. But we need to give them a natural environment to observe their behavior and its connection with nature.

MY OBSERVATIONS ABOUT CHILD’S LEARNING:

I could see how children dive into an Imaginary world, where they exist with their own fantasy: it’s wonderful to witness their wilderness and curiosity. I was wondering and feeling ashamed how we adult think about children , how much we underestimate their powers, their motivation level, their curiosity, and sense of Awe….it’s like I’m discovering HUMAN BEINGS on my own apart from what I knew about them.

Every child learns in his own way, I discovered that each one experienced a unique way of grasping, so it’s all about INDIVIDUAL UNIQUE LEARNIN , which cannot be generalized .That’s the beauty of natural learning. As my Journey of Observation continued, I started exploring more deeply, and became more interested into knowing HOW CHILDREN LEARN NATURALLY rather than focusing on HOW I made them learn the way I choose.  Amazing discoveries kept bombarded my senses and I was recording those facts to see how we as adults ignored the Power of Play in the learning process. Observing the natural Play of children, I discovered another truth that Nature is a force to tap the natural CURIOSITY in children which automatically guides them to Explore.

 “Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.”

– John Lubbock

The “immense concentration of a child” is the natural outcome when he works in nature, we need not to do anything to build up the span of attention in children or speed up their curiosity or raise their concentration level. It’s already there in their SOULS. Stickers and behavior Charts (artificial reward systems) never work in reality, it only makes a child greedy and ignorant.

“No use to shout at them to pay attention. If the situations, the materials, the problems before the child do not interest him, his attention will slip off to what does interest him, and no amount of exhortation of threats will bring it back.”– John Holt

CHILDREN HAVE THEIR UNIQUE GOALS:

Children can never be seen so satisfied as can be seen when they reach their goals and targets by themselves .And it is not we (adults) who can direct them towards their UNIQUE GOALS, its embedded inside them and they are the best judges and leaders of their destiny, if only we can think differently. In the words of Maria Montessori,” “When children come into contact with NATURE, they reveal their strength”.

Hence, the need for Nature based schools and learning environment is more deeper today than anytime in the history of man. And if we want to ‘inspire’ the young minds, motivate more Innovators and Change-makers, we have to Reinvent the idea of Nature schools.

“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in” – Rachel Car

Watch the Nature sounds Video:   https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2smvyl

About the Writer  Erum is the Founder of CNNA that works to connect children with Nature through specially designed Nature based curriculum. She is a proactive researcher and blogger and writes regularly under her blog “Children learn Best in their Free-Play”. As a member of HRCP and ISPCAN, IPA, ARNEC, AMS (American Montessori Society), PMA (Pakistan Montessori Association) and ACEI (USA), she is contributing towards raising the standard of education and Education Diplomacy. Currently she is working on the Science of Observation and its impact on the learning process. Erum is available for Teacher training workshops and courses through CNNA)