Outdoor Joy in Learning

Yesterday was a perfect preschool day, and very little of it was spent at the Preschool. We went into the woods! I have been enjoying teaching a mixed-age group of children, from almost three to already four, and this outing brought out the best in all of them. The older children familiar with the ropes, were buddied up with younger children and made sure to follow the edict made famous in our made-up song, "Don't Run Your Buddy Into a Tree!"

We found road signs to interpret and read and insects and logs and leaves and mushrooms and mysteries. We were walking the Abington Art Center's Art Trail, so there were also many sculptures to explore. The greatest glee was had rolling down huge hills or jumping high into the air. After walking through the woods for a long time, I even corralled the little people into an impromptu Meeting for Worship with a Concern for the Sounds of Nature. Our classroom Moments of Silence have been far from silent this year as they have been busy testing boundaries, but, somehow, in the middle of the woods, with woodpeckers and the wind whistling in the trees, we had a long pause of still, quiet listening. Afterwards, they each shared what they had heard, and I was so gladdened to hear how many of them had recognized the woodpeckers distinctive foraging. While Nature Deficit Disorder is a very real thing, these young children, at least, are not suffering too much.

At the end of our trip, we ran into another class from our school, The Little Frogs, and then joined them in climbing hills, playing peek-a-boo in the "Bears' House," and leaping from the outdoor stage. When we returned to the classroom, we talked about what our favorite part had been, and the almost unanimous answer was, "When we saw the Little Frogs!" Now, one take on this is that it was the last thing that happened, but I like to think that it is because these young children have already developed such meaningful bonds with their friends, that seeing them in an unusual place was really exciting!
So now I've bragged about what a great day we had with the children, I'm going to brag some more (and then get to the point, I promise). Today was a Faculty In-Service Day, and we joined the Lower School in a field trip to Briar Bush Nature Center. The Lower School (where I will be teaching next year with a new mixed-age pre-k program) is in the process of developing an Outdoor Classroom with The Arbor Day Foundation, and so we got to frolic, I mean, learn in the woods about outdoor education. After spending the morning in the woods, we were all energized and excited about the possibilities. There was a palpable buzz as well as a deep, grounded feeling in the group.
And so the moral of the story: people, big and small, need experiences in nature. There is oodles of research on how important this is, how the brain synapses fire better, more creatively, etc when exposed to outdoor experiences. Even our eyesight is better! And while many many experiences from the classroom can be moved outside to optimize the learning, the open-ended exploration, the still quiet moments, and the jubilant jumping, rolling and running are all deep and joyful learning experiences in themselves. So I invite you to go play outside!