Nature – The Inspiration for
Children’s Artistic Activities
Taking a spring trip with the children
Hungary - Kecskemét
2007-09.
Preface
Young children are active learners, using all of their senses and eagerly absorbing information about their environment. What better time to start the process of environmental sensitivity and responsibility than in early childhood?! They are primed for learning in the most direct manner—by experiencing the natural environment first-hand.
We as environmental educators, and teachers can look to the field of early childhood education for guidance when planning quality programs for young children. Preschoolers are capable and enthusiastic participants given the right combination of age-appropriate activities and techniques.
Preschool children have a unique set of physical, cognitive, social and emotional attributes that set them apart from any other group. Far from limitations, these attributes give the interpreter an exceptional opportunity to combine a knowledge of child development with appropriate interpretive techniques in a program that everyone can enjoy!
Nature education is critically important in an early childhood program for three reasons:
1. Nature education is important for its own sake. The natural world has inspired awe and wonder in human beings for more generations than we can count. Yet children today, especially urban children, are increasingly divorced from or frightened by this wonder, unaware of its power and beauty.
2. In a world increasingly threatened by the effects of human behavior, we need a custodial generation of young people committed to finding solutions to ecological problems.
3. Nature is a wonderful early childhood curriculum area. The natural world is patterned, yet ever-changing. Birth, growth, and death--topics of abiding interest to young children’s opening minds--are central to it. And the observation, classification, and communication skills that develop in the study of nature lead to the skills and dispositions children will need to succeed in school.
Taking a spring trip with the children
We are going to a trip, backpacks are pulling our back.
It is much nicer to eat the cherry right from the tree!
I would rather wear my earrings than eat them.
I would like to take home this little dog with me!
Is it really the wheat the white bread is baked of?
What a nice smell! I am a bit afraid a bee would sting my nose.
I will not pick this flower just have a closer look.
I like the silky fur of this cat. It surely brings good luck to me!
Three weeks old cats are the loveliest of all.
Am I really hearing the croaking of the frogs?
Little snail go ahead and come up to my finger!
There is no need to rush!
Can you see me Japanese cock?
Let me touch your nice long tail feather!
The snail shell looks much different through the multiplier.
With a little luck I can catch a grasshopper!
This cock can really make his voice heard!
How lucky these ducks and geese are to have a pool
on a hot day like this!
She likes children, doesn’t she?
This horse is really peaceful. We can stroke her.
We are watching with open mouth as he shows how
our ancestors used the arrow.
This is the way he takes aim and stretch the string.
We are delighted!
We go back to the kindergarten.
We are a bit tired, but luckily our backpacks are empty!
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