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All across Scandinavia small children
are running wild! From Lapland to
Jutland, you will see flocks of youngsters
chasing through meadows and woodland,
with mud-spattered faces and small
rucksacks on their backs. You will find them
splashing in streams, crawling through the
undergrowth, clambering up trees or
sitting quietly on a log eating a sandwich.
These are children from one of the many ‘naturbornehaver’ (nature kindergartens)
that are currently mushrooming up all over
Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.
Yes, this is the pedagogical hit of our
time - the startlingly simple concept of
taking children out in nature as often as
possible, for as long as possible, in all
weathers and in all seasons. And research
shows that these “nature” children gain far
more than rosy cheeks and bright eyes; for
it is now evident that nature nursery school
children are socially, physically and
intellectually at an advantage over their
contemporaries in conventional nursery
schools. No wonder then, that the rate of
growth in this area of child-care is
phenomenal. In Denmark, nearly all
county councils now have one or two such
schools.
Although there are many variations on
the theme, nature nursery schools are most
often based in a forest. “A forest gives the
perfect frame for a child’s natural physical
development,” explains Inger Pedersen,
leader of Soro Forest Kindergarten. “I am
convinced that when a child experiences
the freedom and stimulation offered by the
forest, the result is a more balanced and
peaceful child who is able deal with social
and intellectual challenges far more
effectively.”
The forest offers a multitude of
learning opportunities. Children can run
around as much as they want; noise is
absorbed by the immensity of the sky.
Children can use their bodies to the full;
climbing , swinging, crawling, carrying,
leaping. What’s more, the forest is filled
with an abundance of playthings: a stick
transforms into a horse or into a baton to
conduct a brass band. Imagination can
literally run wild through the trees.
For these children, the world is
teeming with life: slugs and beetles, wild
raspberries and hazelnuts, woodpeckers
and jays. What better way could there be
to learn about animals, plants and the
changing of the seasons? What more
effective way to teach children about basic
ecological concerns, when they arise so
spontaneously and in such a genuine
context?
The benefits of nature nursery schools
are not just reserved for the children.
Bethina, who works in ‘Blue-Sky Nature
Kindergarten’, tells how she now suffers
much less stress than when she worked in
a conventional kindergarten. “I don’t come
home so tired in the evening, and I’m hardly
ever sick nowadays. It’s just nice being
outside on a picnic every day - and getting
paid for it!” The three curses for any Danish
nursery worker are known as the three S’s,
‘Sounds, Snot and Stress’, but in a nature
nursery school, these three problems are
significantly reduced. It is not surprising,
therefore, that trained personnel, who are
in great demand here in Denmark, are
flocking to the jobs that take them out
under blue and grey skies.
Most often, such nursery schools are
‘green’. They buy organic and
environmentally-friendly products, and
work with the concept of environmental
sustainability, e.g. composting and energysaving.
They give children a chance to
establish a meaningful, intimate and
responsible relationship with the natural
world. Today, I was out with the nursery
school my son attends. I watched my son
climbing a pine tree, sure-footed as a
mountain goat, his body strong and supple,
focussing with intense concentration on the
task at hand. He reached the top and
shouted jubilantly. In that moment I was
confirmed in my belief that we must let our
children experience nature more. It must
be a regular daily practice for them to touch
the earth, to hear bird song, to collect
berries and mushrooms and get to know
animals and plants. In wind, rain, snow and
shine, let the children run wild!
(Reprinted with permission from Resurgence, Volume 199 Mar/Apr 2000, p 44. )
You ask why I make my home in the mountain forest,
and I smile,
and am silent,
and even my soul remains quiet:
it lives in the other world
which no one owns.
The peach trees blossom.
The water flows.
—Li Po
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