Spring in Aotearoa!

Spring has arrived in Aotearoa, there is no doubt about it!

The fruit trees are in full blossom,

and the hen has gone broody.

Now the Spring showers are arriving too!

First we try to catch the rain,

but  who can resist a puddle?

All we need is a raincoat and a bowl,
and we pour and pour,

and we catch and catch,

and we get wetter and wetter.

Spring, who doesn't like the Spring?

- Anja

As cute as a button

For the first time we are having snow at preschool!!! Surreal!

As cute as a button ...

... and they are clever too, balancing objects on their heads!

 Snow and children, a perfect match!

- Anja

The inspiration of my journey

Yesterday afternoon I took my daughter Esmee for an evening walk to Pauatahanui Inlet, the local wetlands. As soon as we got on the walking track she zoomed of, down to the stream where she spotted pukekos before I had even put foot on the track. She followed some ducks down the stream and came running back over the path, wondering what the big black and white birds were, making a lot of noise up in the tree. Having watched the magpies she returned to the stream and tried to walk over the streambed. This soon turned out too slippery and muddy. Watching Esmee exploring the stream and its surroundings, enjoying every moment, happy to be out there, made me think of my own childhood.

As a child I spend my playtime, which was any time not spend at school, in our big backyard, the endless fields at the back of our house. I realise now how important this has been to my growing up. The wonderful experiences I had as a child, the opportunities for free outdoor play and daily interactions with the natural environment, have shaped me who I am today and inspired my passion for children and nature. It is something I am very thankful for.

While I think of yesterday's childhood and today's adulthood, I can see how it all comes together, how yesterday's experiences and today's knowledge guide tomorrow's passion. The journey of following my passion of reconnecting our children with nature started the very first moment my parents took me outside, the moment the sun touched my face and the wind touched my skin for the first time. And over all those years many more factors have contributed to the journey.

I'd like to say thank you to the people, the places and the opportunities who inspired me over the years and enlighten my passion:

My parents, who permitted me to freerange outdoors, despite me being a girl, and who gave me the time and opportunities to go outside and explore on my own account, to fall and get up, to discover and create, to imagine and to dream. You are forever in my heart.

My childhood buddy, 6 months younger then me, we grew up together until our pathways went in different directions. We shared every minute of free time in the fields; catching frogs, tracking rabbits, exploring caves, climbing trees, building huts, roasting potatoes over a campfire. We were one.

The village I grew up in, a safe heaven every child should have. And its villagers, who, unknowingly to me, looked over us while we were roaming the fields and we were thinking we were invisible and on top of the world. Many times we would come home, parents waiting for us, and we would be scalded for picking (steeling) an apple from someones orchard. A little bird told them. It does take a village to raise a child....

My childhood playspace, the big backyard, the place where I learned about our planet Earth, where I first connected with the natural world, where I had my endless adventures and discoveries. I miss the space.

My husband and children, my extended family and my friends, who are all over the world, and who have helped me along my path. My children who haven't lost their awe and wonder of the natural world and who continue to share it with me. And my friends, wherever in the world you are, we are all connected. Nature's wonders know no boundaries.

The teachers at our preschool, who share with me the vision, passion and dedication to reconnect our children with the outdoors and whose philosophical conversations and reflections are a daily inspiration. You are awesome.

The parents of our preschoolers, who I have had and still have the pleasure of working with. Whose feedback is a source of encouragement and satisfaction. I hope you will inspire your child's sense of wonder for years and years to come.

Our children at our preschool, who are my biggest inspiration, my greatest teachers and the best guides. You are our most precious resource.

The new found community across the globe, who read my blog, tweets, emails, who encourage me and who share with me their experiences, knowledge and passion for reconnecting our children with nature. Together we can create the tipping point.

THANK YOU!

What and who is your inspiration and who would you like to thank?

For most of my childhood, nature's backyard behind our house has called me. Exploring the caves, roaming the fields, wandering through the forest, I loved being outside. These childhood experiences inspired me to reconnect today's plugged in children with the natural environment, to expose them to the beauty of the natural world. Knowingly or unknowingly, my parents have given me the best gift they could give me as a child, a freerange childhood for which I am forever thankful. The journey continues...

A symphony of tones

Recently I was talking to a fellow Montessori teacher from another preschool. We were discussing our outdoor environments, which are quite different from each other. Her environment follows a more traditional approach of a manicured lawn, sandpit, steel climbing structures, and a playhouse. Our environment is more natural, with logs and rocks, shrubs and bushes, sand and mud and a "wild" area of weeds, natives, seedlings, and any living creature that makes itself at home there. The teacher is looking at changing her outdoor environment, taking away some of the traditional playground items and bringing in more natural elements. We started talking about the fun (or is it entertainment?) the children have with those traditional items and we asked ourselves the question what are the needs (real or perceived?) of the children?

I thought about a passage in the book "The Tao of Montessori" by Catherine McTamaney, which I am currently reading. In it she writes:

"Simple environments, few choices. Are these the qualities of a boring classroom? In Montessori, they are the cornerstones of the children's imagination. When we debate the role of fantasy in our classrooms, we come back to these real items, these few, orderly materials presented with such care. The child who absorbs everything around her, is offered only those things that are real. In doing so, have we taken all the fun out? No. Rather, we have respected the inner vision of the child. By experiencing stimuli, colors, sounds, flavors in isolation instead of cacophony, the child observes the world around her and develops a more profound understanding of it than if we offered her syrupy "fun". The world is a symphony, Begin with a single note.

I thought of this "single note", and how we expose the children at our preschool to the natural world, one step at a time. How we observe the weta with their long antennae when they are hiding in our weta hotel. How we marvel at the delicate monarch butterfly when it emerges from its chrysalis. How we protect the little acorn seedling from being stepped upon when it sprouts from the earth in our wild corner. These little gems in our garden are one by one a single note of natures symphony. Our children take real joy in being in our garden. They do not ask for a plastic truck or digger, they do not miss their "playhouse" which now functions as a henhouse, they do not look for steel bars as they rather balance and climb on the driftwood and logs that provide a more natural challenge.

Our preschool garden is protected from bright coloured, noisy, steel and plastic toys and entertainment equipment. Instead, the children have access to natural elements, real, small, simple, and beautiful. McTamaney continues:

" The child, in offering her attention to the tiniest detail, respects the wonder of her world. She does not overlook the miraculous seed. She attends to the color of the rabbit's eyes. By protecting the space from too much color, too much noise, too much distraction, we preserve in the child the ability to wonder. We offer her the ability to hear each tone, to appreciate the complexity of the symphony by understanding first each simple sound."

And isn't that what nature does so well, a beautiful symphony of tones you wouldn't want to miss?

The Tao of Montessori. Reflections on Compassionate Teaching (2005, 2007) by Catherine McTamaney, Ed.D. iUniverse Star. Lincoln, NE

A new computer mouse and a little green bike

Many years ago, when computers were starting to make their entrance in people's households, and educational software wasn't much more then a click, wait and watch application, my husband was introducing the computer to our eldest, Femke, who was three at the time. We had just installed Mercer Mayer's "Grandma and Me" software, a Living Book application (remember those?). Femke, who is now sixteen, was sitting on her dad's lap, staring at the computer screen. He was showing her the computer mouse and explaining how it moves across the screen and how you can click it and something will happen. When finished with his "lesson", he looked at her in anticipation and asked, "and what does the mouse do?" and Femke said: "peep, peep", hopped off and walked off to play. Now, fourteen years later, with one or more computers in people's homes, I don't think a three year old will give a similar answer.

Esmee, our youngest, who is six, has her own computer. We didn't go out and buy her one, she has been given our old computer when we upgraded to a new one, as happens in many households these days. Yesterday Esmee got a new computer mouse. It is pink, half clear ("mum, you can see inside it"), it is illuminated and it lights up red when in use. Even I have to admit it looks really awesome. Esmee has been excited about it all day, telling everybody around her about her new computer mouse. I have been observing this excitement from a distance and can't help but reminisce about the time when I was six years old and what it was that I got excited about then. It certainly wasn't a computer mouse. What I vividly remember from being six years old is my bike. I remember the moment the training wheels came off and my father's strong hands where holding me while I was learning to ride my bike. I remember when I rode the first few meters on my own. I remember the sense of pride and feeling of achievement when I finally could ride my bike without holding the handlebars with my hands, I had practiced for weeks. I was so proud of my bike that I looked after it for many years to come. As a matter of fact, I still look after it right now. I took this little bike with me all across the world when we moved. All our three children learned to ride on this little bike. I love my bike. Will Esmee feel the same about her "awesome" computer mouse in years to come? Will she practise for weeks, feel a sense of achievement, be proud and build confidence? Will she look after her mouse, carry it with her and share it with her children? Most likely not. Then, what will give her a sense of pride, a feeling of achievement and build her confidence?

Camiel, then 8 years old, on my good old little green bike.

Like many children today, Esmee likes to watch tv and play on the computer. Because she has readily access to both of them, it is important that we, as parents, monitor and guide her screentime. Although she got a new computer mouse yesterday and certainly spent time on the computer to try out her new mouse, she spent most of the day outside in the garden, digging, watering, looking for worms and snails, caring for our pets, playing, running, climbing and exploring. She joined us in the spa pool at night to do some stargazing and to listen to the morepork (native owl). Esmee is growing up in a world of digital technology and virtual communication and socialising. This world is here to stay. We hope that by exposing her to the natural world at a young age, she will grow up with an appreciation for nature, that she will love the outdoors and that she will be able to to find the right balance in her life when grown up, where she feels at ease in both the indoors and outdoors world. Most of all, we hope that her outdoor adventures will provide her with opportunities that will give her a sense of pride, a feeling of achievement and build her confidence, just like my little green bike did for me many years ago.


To guide and combine Esmee's love for computers, storytelling and her outdoor activities I have set up a blog for her. Esmee "writes" at the Apple Kid, where she shares her view on the natural world around her.