----Continue with previous post

As i shared the art work of young children with you and their expressions. i agree as it is mentioned in chapter 7 , that creativity of preschool children differs from that of schoolaged children.Pre school children's art work is purely authentic self-expression.It is not done to find solution to some problem or to reach some goal. I like the way author has explained the fourth grade" slump". It's very true that children by that age /stage have very much of structured environment in school and of formal education such as sitting in rows, raising hands before speaking, following specific rules of class and school and daily schedules. Being so much in structured environment curbs the orginality of a child by the time he reaches fourth grade. As it is mentioned in this chapter "conventional behavior is unlikely to be original, and described preschool children as preconventional because they did not produce the art that was a clear representation of reality-a kind of conventional thinking-but instead drew from their own prefrences and uninhibited feelings". I examined the art work of the little boy in my care who drew the picture of heart with hands and legs. and another boy who draws the pics of super heroes in his pics as well as he shows his super hero imaginations in his pretend play.Which coincides what Piaget (1962) says about imaginative play, as he also observed in preschoolers the peak of imaginative behavior. As we know that children's creativity is effected by many factors, one of the most strong factor is family.Parents are the first teachers of their children, they provide opportunities, resources,teach values to their child, as well as provide some structure in life. Children do need some unstructured time and freedom of expression to learn about themselves, but meanwhile they do need some structure and discipline as well in life. The idea of balance that was introduced in this chapter applies to discipline. If a child gets guidance and discipline by the parent along with some freedom, their creativity flourishes. As "Schmukler (1985) mentions in her discussion of , "facilitating family environment",she emphasized children' play and imagination as bases for creative skill." she also says that the development of child's creativity depends on opportunities of play and parent and mostly it is mothers who play an important role in the creative development of a child. Another thought in this chapter that i very much agree with is in context of children's creative development ," Wallach &Kogan,(1965) found that a permissive school environment allowed children to think divergently and creatively".Children do not perform well in test like environment, where as if they are asked same questions in non test like environment the results will be better. My son and daughter is very much stressed out when they have tests or exams. They will teach the same thing to other friendsvery well and they will get higher grades than my children, but when it comes to themself and giving tests they get exteremly stressed, which brings their scores litle down.Even when i put myself in their shoes i see myself stressed in test like environment.But same subject i will dicuss very confidently and with full understanding in normal environment.

chapter 17 very much coincides with chapter 7, as it does mention how much adult guidance is needed in providing opportunities and support to the child to be creative in play . If a teacher is there to support a child's creativity and provide opportunities that child will be a creative adult in life. As this chapter shows from it's title, 'creating play environment' children are again dependent of adult support and facilitation. Culture, family situations, society, accessibility to play grounds, finances, as well as environment effects play of a child.In chapter 17 it is discussed how important play is in child's life and it plays an important role in cognitive development of a child. i noticed children in my care, when we play outdoors children are very focussed and more calm as well as happy as compare being inside. Their attention span shortens indoors, they are less tolerant and gets irritated by other friends much quicker than while playing outdoors.Although they do play well indoors also and enjoy playing together. But the feeling of more free and independent outdoors i think make them more composed. As i read this chapter it was interesting to recognize how much children's play has been affected by the saftey issues, technology, and how much we now a days have confined our children into structure and supervised play. Children's play spaces should be where they can play and explore as well as they should have freedom of movement. Out door play is very beneficial for children's social and emotional development as well as for cognitive and academic development. Sobel (1993) believes that outdoor spaces for children should be away from adult viewing. children love to play in their secret places and hide in trees. They do not like to be observed by the adults all the time.while reading this chapter i came across the section of Gardening: on pg 316.Where it describes the benefits of gardening with children, and described gardening as an activity related to play environment, it is a work/play activity in which children do need direct assistance of their adults but it is fun for both children and adults. Where as children do learn to understand through gardening the relationship and connection man has with the universe. as said by (Brosterman,1997). "Gardens allow children to experience the cycles of nature and develop habits of responsibility and nurturance and allow children to find satisfaction in doing something useful (Ravkin, 1995)." As we did a project with children of planting a vegetable garden, I noticed children showed responsibility and care for earth. They did worry to water the plants every day, were concerned if worms going to harm the plant or not, looking at newly planted plants and watch them grow. It was interesting to see how coneccted they were with plants.

Reflection on Chapter7 and 17 of HandBook.And Progress in project.

With the progress in my project of bringing awareness of importance of nature and out door play in children's life. I got great incentive and feed back from these two chapters as i read them.It was interesting to learn how much emphasis is done in this chapter to let the children express their creativity. As we all understand being parents and early childhood educationists, children are very creative it's a matter of giving them opportunity. We see children's creativity in their pretend play ,art, etc as they express themselves in an unihibited fashion. Children learn to recognize their own uniqueness and the capabilities they possess through creative self expression. Although it is necessary for a child to express their creativity of thought and if children are not given opportunities or encouraged to utilize their imagination,explore possibilities,try new things,consider new actions,invent understandings, and experiment they will not be able to discover themselves and will not be able to handle the stress of peers, and other pressures of the world. For that matter parents and teachers together should be supportive to child's imaginative play and experimentation. as well as provide guidance,feedback and structure, and most of all appropriate values. As it is mentioned in this capter 7, "Parenting (and teaching,for that matter) is very much a matter of balance"(Runco& Gaynor,1993). I agree, children's creativity is affected by many different factors, such as culture, family, financial status of home, environment and also each individual's personality. As i see it in my day care every child expresses in their own way and i see the effects of their home life and culture in their art.Their temprament and stresses they have, happiness and fears. i also see their strong bond with their parents and extended family also their love for me. It is amazing how well children express themselves through art. Also it amazes me to see the creativity in art work of very young children. I have one child who is from broken family, half week he goes to dad and half week with mom, The stress he goes through and the love he has in his heart for his real dad and his step dad, is amazing. The way he expresses it in his stories ,that i ask them to tell a story while drawing a painting. another little guy always fear of dark night and always tells us in his pictures that he draws about dark night and always mentions someone dies. and later gets better and everything is fne.I love the creativity and expressions of these 3-5yrs old through their story telling and art. i want to share some of their art with you and their stories that i wrote while they were dictating it to me. enjoy and i will continue rest of my thoughts.

Chapter 6 of Hand book and chapter 10 of children's Experiences.

In this Chapter David L.Gallahue and John C. Ozmun beutifully explains what does development means.As it is the change in function over time. The change in cognitive,affective, and motor domains over passage of time. This chapter focusses on motor development of children which is defined as adaptive change in motor behavior across the life span of a normally developing child. It is important to understand motor development in terms of product and process. Knowledge of product is as the outcomes which provides us with the descriptive profiles of developmental change in motor behavior.Which also provides us information of "what" in motor development.such as what are stages of motor development etc. Knowledge of process as the underlying mechanism of motor development.Which explains "how" and "why" of motor development stages in children. As in table 6.1 on pg 106 gallahue's phases of motor development (2006) explains how movement skills become increasingly unpridictable with the change in phases of development. Such as reflexive movement phse of early infancy to the rdimentary movement phase of infancy and toddler hood,Fundamental movement phase of early childhood, and finally to the specialized phase of later childhood and beyond. In this chapter two aspects of motor development has been emphasized,1) Aquisition of fundamental Movement skills and 2)Children's Physical activity and Physical fitness. As Gallahue and Ozmun explains by getting children involved in different movement experiences can enhance their knowledge of their bodies and capabilities.With the experiences children gather they build the perceptions about themselves as well as world around them.

Sinclair(1973) did an interesting longitudinal study of children 2-6 yrs of USA to study motor development of young children. Her 6 month study results showed that movement skill aquisition are age related during early childhood years. On pg 108-109 table 6.2A-C explains in depth the emergence sequenceand approximate age -range for several fundamental stability,locomotor,and manipulative skills. It is very informative to learn in table 6.3 about the common tests we can do to learn about the fitness of a child. Another important information that is provided in this chapter was the data of recent survey (National Center for Health Statistics,2001) clearly reveals that children in united states are heavior than as compare to their counterparts 20 yrs ago. And this is all because of the lack of physical activity which tends to promote obesity in children.

As proceeding in this chapter we learn the benefits and different surveys and studies done on the importance of physical fitness of children. It is essential to know how much muscle strength, joints and heart healthy as well as to improve balance and coordination of body is important to lead a healthy developing normal child. Adult intervention in providing opportunities to children to play and and get invoved in aerobics as well as different movement activities can help in reduction of obesity rate in children.

In my day care we strongly believe in outdoor activity, which is mainly walks through the creek and climbing trees and running and rolling on the ground.we play balancing game on the logs and frog race games as well as we do competition on standing on one leg. I think this all promotes physical fitness and falls into all aspects of physically fit healthy developing child. Physical fitness also promote healthy minds. Along with physical activity we must introduce children to healthy eating habits as well. If our children, as well all know , live in a fast food society, if we do not promote healthy eating habits in our children they will not be able to continue physical activities. Also i very much emphasize on any kind of physical activity in the form of play . As play promotes emotional and social development of children as well.

I read an article in a Scientific American Mind related to "The serious need for play"by Melinda Wenner in which she explains thatStuart Brown's studies show that Play -deprived childhood disrupts normal social, emotional and cognitive development in humans and animals. i am adding the web site to share this magazine article with you all.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-serious-need-for-play&print=true

Another Qualitative research paper that i read also supports the readings of Capter 6 as well as the previous article by Melinda Wenner. The study done in this research article by Richard Baily, "Physical education and sport in schools: A review of Benefits and Outcomes". This paper focuses on the benefits of physical education for both children as well as for educational system. Further it provides research evidence in terms of children's development in different domains ,physical, lifestyle,affective, social, cognitive. This paper is focused on the benefits of physical education and sport as oit shows through it's title.It further explains that physical inactivity has been identified as a major risk factor for coronary heart disease, as well as beings associated with premature morality and obesity. the PES programs has been establised to promote physical activities amongst children,and they are cost effective ways so to upbring healthy future adults who can lead a physically active life.

I have a little girl in my day care who is 2 1/2 yrs almost. she was very petite and unsocial child, did not want to eat at all day and mommy was fine with that. Also had great stanger anxiety, she would cling to me and will not go to any one else.Either mom or me.If anyone just say hi to her it is a big problem. She would cry very loud.Gradually i brought her into block games and later outdoor games( which initially she would not do) This gradual transition brought a very visible change in her, she's eating better, plays with others,as well as share her toys.talks and sings with us.Participate in outdoor play and running. Still there is a room for more progress which she will achieve soon but i see the effects of physical activity upon children.

This reminds me of another article that i ahve been reading, It is from European Journal of Public health, This paper is about the "Physical activity Patterns of Kindergarten Children in comparison to teenagers and young adults".by Eric Sigmund,Mark De Ste Croix, Ludmila Miklankova,Karel Fromel. This qualitative study also supports physical education and increasing number of obesity and heart problems in children and other related problems with children's physical health in schools gave thought to researchers to study the Physical Activity in pre school children. The reason of this study was based on the increasing rate of obesity and low physical activity rate in young children. This study focused to identify the PA of preschool children in comparison to the PA of teen agers and young adults.

It was an interesting study.The participants of this study were 104 Czech preschool children aged 5-7yrs and 117 teen agers aged 12-17yrs and young adults aged 18-24yrs. participants were monitored over 7 days of the weedend.Their PA was evaluated on the basis of activity energy expenditure (AEE-kcalkg -1 day-1).

Interesting results were found in this study related to activity energy expenditure of children,teen ager and young adults. The AEE of preschoolers was significantly higher in comparison to all age groups. Their AEE was higher both on weekends as well as on weekdays. Another fact that was found in one longitudinal study of 3-5 yrs old revealed that obesity is associated with parent and child. Children with higher socioeconomic status who own more movement stimulating toys are more physically active at home as well as in their kindergarten break session time, as compare to the children with low socioeconomic status.

It was concluded in this study that if organized activity such as 50-70 min of walking , 20 mn twice daily excercise on carpet, in preschool along with unorganized activity time and space for their further healthy development in life.

This study supported my project also as well as of chapter 6 how important is physical movement in childhood for the rest of healthy life mentally and physically.

Chapter 10 of children's experiences, further explains childrens involvement in research. It is important to involve children and let them design their own research agenda. Youth -adult partnerships in research gives adults and youth equal opportunities to make decisions about the design and conduct of the research study. As it is mentioned on pg 167, about the longitudinal study of Oldfather (1995), in her study, views of learning and motivation was the key of multiple partnerships with students. As students helped in the research with data interpetation, participating in conferences and presentation, and eventually leading studies of their own. It is emphasized in this chapter that we involve children in research, it opens the door for both adults, children and youth to communicate and ngotiate with each other. As it is mentioned on pg170 of Researchingchildren's experiences, "authentic collaboration involves authentic relationships in which partners learn about each other and each other's world in the process of working together on shared interests".

This study reminds me one of my old project that we did on healthy eating habits in children and promoting healthy foods. I involved my day care children in my project and First we talked about the health and how our health is affected by different things. Children gave me different views and most of them were quite true, such as i asked them, " What makes us sick?" Children answered, "germs", "Not washing hands", "canddies, they give you stomach ache" "cake". (came from Hungry caterpillar story 'cause we did read it in the morning).

Children made the menu with me for the week and then we did introduce all healthy foods, which children emphasized at home too. Now after a year we see children's pattern of food intake has changed almost 90%. I involved parents in this project and they participated in it well too.Now as i learn the importance of children's involvement in research i check on my own project and try to perform my project in the manner which is better for children.

My project of, " Children's Experience with Nature and outdoor Play"is proceeding in footsteps of the researches done previously. As i involved children 100% as well as adults in my project and finds the confidence and responsibility they show while they are handling plants and watering plants. Few of the children wanted to plant peas in the vegetable garden and examine the vine climb up on the strings very carefully every day. Children planned what to put to save our plants from deers and rabbits.Few of the children had vegetable garden experience from home by seeing their fathers doing it.But i gave them opportunity to do it by themselves, and their prior experience gave them confidence to give suggestions. Our prior experience on going on a nature walk gave them information what animals come close to our house and what animals come close to their own houses.In this way my project sparked in them a curiosity and interest in Nature and to experience and observe it any where they go.

I encourage parents and children to be more outdoors and enjoy nature and be aware of it, Than just sit inside and play ninetendo, or other tech. games.Which promotes, lack of appetite in children, they tend to eat more junk food and aggression and lack of tolerance in them increases as well as lot of medical problems arise.Such as obesity, bad eyesight, ADHD,lack of communication skills, emotional problems. Where as i noticed in my children since 6months, even children with aggressive temprament become much calm after being exposed to nature and being involved in our project. Their social skills are getting better. I have a girl in my day care who was very shy and nervous little girl. She would hang around my neck all day and will not leave me. but gradually being around with all of us in the garden and going on walks exploring nature she is very fond of nature around us and has become very social and communicative. My study emphasizes on parental involvement in nature exploring as well. We,(me and children ) planned a picnic and invited the parents to go on a nature walk with all of us. In my opinion if we bring awareness of environment and love of nature, in younger age they will be more caring towards environment and being outdoors will be much more healthier as adults of present times. I povided parents some information on importance of nature for children and outdoor play. Also invited them to listen a lecture of Elizabeth Goodenough at Oakland University. As my project is proceeding i see awarness and willingness of adults and children to be more outdoors and explore nature than being indoors and play video games.I see children are taking incentive in making plans for outdoor activity and what they like to plan. Chapter 10 reminded me of Reggio approach also which i very much apply in my day care program and invo;ve children in making plans for their projects.

update of children's interaction with nature in photographic form

I wanted to share some pictures of children interacting with nature and we can see amazement in their expressions.As well as  how much calm and focussed they are in their adventures.While we went out in a creek for nature walk, Children loved to find different bugs and little plants and flowers and shared their discoveries with friends and me.Also while preparing for vegetable garden they were quite focused what they want to plant and where. Every moment they were enjoying to feel and touch dirt and explore nature around themselves. I could observe how much connected they were when they were outdoors.

children's interview and project update.

Interviewing parents and learning about their perspective about play and children's interaction with nature was interesting . It brought into my knowledge that parents are very much aware of the benefits of nature. But because of   different reasons such as time, work, stress,and safety and security now a days prevents them from letting children outdooors. Parents think that if they provide their children with video games and other technical toys, children are learning to be much smarter and they are safe indoors. Forgetting that interaction with nature is important for their physical and mental health as well as helps children cope with social problems and releases stress. Also  adults forget that children's opinion has value too. We must listen to their views also. When i interviewed children 100% children wanted to be out doors and loved to play in natural environment,such as climbing trees, walking in rain,watching bugs and snails,finding rolli pollies in creeks.

My interview questions to children were :

1.Do you like to play indoors or outdoors?

2.what do you enjoy most outside?Like to play on slide,trees, sand box,running and playing What do you like?

3.Why do you like to play outdoors or indoors?(i asked according to child's previous answer)

4.What does your teacher do with you outside?

5.Do you like to play alone or with your friends outside?

6.What is your favortie play   indoors?

7. If you cannot go outside because of weather what do you play with your friends, or do you like to play alone?

8.Do you enjoy playing indors as much you enjoy playing outdoors.

9.what do you play with your mom and dad, do you like going on picnics and nature walks?

Another thing i noticed in children's interviews was they always like to play with  their friends outside and share their toys.After my interviews i observed while playing  inside they mostly wants to play by themself.They usually do not want to share their cars or other toys with other children and usually disagreements and fights over some toy start very quickly.Although with teachers interference they do settle down and agree to share but their patience is less than when they are outside. Mostly children were in swimming or gymanastics, some children do go on nature walks and cycling with their fathers. More fathers are invoved in childrens outdoor activity such as taking them to walks and playing with them outside.Which is very good. If they do not go out usually they like to play video games wii and watch movies. One of the girl said she likes play with playdough and likes to write when she cannot go out because of weather or someother reason. she's six years old. She showed me the book named "The Egg". Boys mostly liked to play video games and watch movies and girls liked to play pretend plays with moms or dads or with their dolls/toys etc. I noticed most of them have very less interaction with others at home and every one is busy in themself.

Younger group of children were also very excited to give their interviews. i asked them i want to know how they feel about all play plans so we can plan according to your wishes. they were very excited to tell me about their views.When i asked them do you like to play outdoors or indoors, they all shouted in a chorus outside. i said well why do you like it outside, what's so much fun out there.There was a little pause and answer came , "because i do like it". The other child added because i can climb trees. second said because i can slide.then everyone started giving opinions. It was really interesting to learn.

As i have noticed after interviews when i introduced children our vegetable garden project theywere all very excited and wanted to start it as quick as posible.We first taked about the plants we want to grow in vegetable garden.What is necessary for plant growth. Some children while preparing the vegetable garden found some worms in the dirt and i explained them how important are worms for the healthy soil.They were all aged between 2 1/2 to 4 yrs old. They all planned to gether what they want to grow and where they want to plant specific plants and with adult help planted all plants. Observed when an adult put the fence around the garden to protect it from deers. Which brought  back the memory of our deer track hunt. They all said yes deers do come here we did see deer poop ,remember? every day now they check on their plants and water them.

Children's experience with nature and outdoor play. Nature nurtures development.

Nature and children cannot be separated. Whenever we let a child play outside they love to jump in puddles, walk in rain, find bugs and snails as well as love to play in mud and on trees.As Dr.Tedd Mitchell say, "If you can't get to a pond or lake, then find a puddle".

Children are born with a connection and an innate attraction for nature. If an infant is fussy and we take him outside ,the child usually calms down, seeing leaves moving, observing nature.Nature has soothing effects on children and adults as well. As Richard Louv says," Kids who play in natural areas--- those with bushes and trees---have been shown to engage in more creative and cooperative play". If a child is provided ample and regular opportunities for unstructured play,specially outdoors then they are likely to have a greater chances of being more cooperative with others, as well as much happier,healthier and smarter kids.

Researchers at children's hospital of Philadelphia has reported this study. A survey of teen participants in wilderness program found that their interaction with nature enhanced their self esteem, confidence and intiative.Which shows that teens as well can benefit from nature. Parents usually think that if a child is in sports he is active and has enough play time,but when it comes to their mental and physical well being, children need something else. Nature! they need to interact with nature.children's medical and mental health experts affirms that deep forests or natural parklands can be the best playgrounds for children. 

As Richard Louv's wonderful book, "last Child in Woods: saving our children from Nature_Deficit Disorder". Through which he brings into attention how much our children are getting disconnected from nature. Although it is because of  many reasons we are disconnecting our children from nature  such as safety,security, time,lack of natural spaces, more traffic and many other. Researchers noted that from 1997-2003 there was a drop of 50% in kids who participated in outdoor activities such as hiking,walking,cycling,fishing according to a study performed by the University of Maryland.

Government is also trying to support reseachers point of view by acknowledging their hard work to bring awareness among people about the importance of nature in the lives of children.In some states,including Connecticut,california,and Maine,have launched initiatives to get more young people outdoors.And on the Federal level, the pending No Child Left Inside Act seeks to provide funding for environmental education.Although some work is in progress towards saving the children from Nature Deficit disorder but still it needs lot to be done.
I was very keen to learn how  children and parents (participants of my project study) give views about outdoor play and how much is their involvement with their children in outdoor activity.I interviewed 15 parents 7 on internet and 8interviews were face to face.Also i did 7 individual interviews of children age between 3 to 11yrs old and 2 group interviews age 2 1/2 to 4 yrs old. I did use photoelicitation technique, and talked in very informal setting in my daycare where children are very comfrtable talking to me.All of the children were my current and previous students.It was an interesting experience.I got diverse views on outdoor play and children's experience with nature.I developed a questionnaire of 12following questions for parents.
1.What do you think by term play?
2. Why Play is important for children?
3.What kind of play you recommend for children?
4.What do you think of outdoor play vs. indoor play?
5.What children should play outside?and also what is best play for indoors in your opinion?
6.Do you mind if your child play in dirt and explore nature?
7. Do you think outdoor play enhances social and emotional development of children?
8.What kind of play do you play with your children?
9.What does your child play at home?what kind of toys, equipment he uses most and loves to play with.
10.What activities you do together as family?
11.What do you think how much average time chidrenshould spend in outdoor activiyg?
12 What do you think of safety and security issues that are hindering children's outdoor play Now a days?If you fear about it how does you overcome your fear? and let children enjoy outdoors.

I focused my interview question around my hypothesis,"Outdoor Play and Nature Enhances Social and Emotional Development".Keeping in mind my theory i developed following objective questions.

* In my study population how do parents and children define the term play?

*  What strategies are appealing to the children in regards to outdoor play and nature.

* What activities families prefer to do together as family, outdoors.

The responses i recieved from parents, that fall into the category of my first objective question were very similar. To majority of the parents term play was unstructured & enjoyable activity which is a source of fun to children.Play realeses energy in them and it promotes mental and physical growth in children as well as enhances social development.It also keeps children active and creative.

 Responses to my second objective were quite diverse.50% of the responses were about playing sports. Which keeps children healthy physically  and mentally. It should be organised sport.15% said  Our children enjoy video games and computer games and they are very smart because they play video games.And it stimulates their brain. 30% responses to my second objective was according to the researches done which shows the how important outdoor activity and nature's role is in the life of  children. 25% responses were about children's liking for total outdoor play and interaction with nature is the best strategy to be used in terms of children's growth and development. But 100% of parents responded similar, that children must get  dirty and explore nature and children love to be outdoors in woods/creeks.Exploring nature provides vast learning opportunities to children. i agree with that response and believe we must provide children opportunities to spend more time outside to explore the nature and have some unstructured and independent play time.

 Response to my third objective question again was diverse. Usually mothers do not play with children and Fathers are to some extent are invoved in physical play with children in  outdoors and indoor play.Majority of the parents take children for sports and play some kind of sport with children. While indoors they watch movies together or play some board game but mostly children play by themselves.But walking was common in every response,a small group does take children for camping and hiking and explore nature together with children. It was interesting to know how parents interpret play. Where as play in terms of researchers is an unorganised activity that promotes creativity and imagination and give a child independence and true joy of heart.Play also supports children's interaction with nature. 

If we recall our childhoods we will see ourselves playing outdoors most of the time and interacting with nature, climbing trees,finding frogs in ponds and swamps,looking for beehives and somtimes getting stung by the bees, climbing roofs, I remember whent in wind storm some baby birds die and fall off of the tree me and my brothers would bury them and make their graves and if some puppy or cat is weak and hungry we would take some milk from home and feed them and our mom use to laugh and sometimes get mad that we feed the kitties and puppies and later they do not leave our house. Our parents use to take us for hiking and morning walks every day. Every sunday was a picnic day. But do children have it all now a days.No! for that matter we have to bring awarness about the outdoor and nature's importance in our lives.

"There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in."

                                                Graham Greene ,The power and The Glory (1940)

Brief reflection on children interviews and experiencing nature project progress

 

As I have been interviewing parents and children, I learned about outdoor play through their eyes. In response to my first question to children, “Do you like to play inside or outside”? Every child responded, “ I like to play outside”. They were very keen to have their voice be heard through interviews. All boys replied they love to climb trees and sand boxes. Girls liked to play by swings and in sand box mostly. The children I interviewed were from my Day care and are very comfortable with my camera and talking to me. It was easy for them to express their views on my inquiry about outdoor play and experience with nature. While going through chapter 6, about interviewing, in Researching children’s experiences I learned different techniques of interviewing children and asking them questions to which children express their true opinions. As it is mentioned on pg 93 questions and answers are forms of communication that consists of two primary features, “They both contain informational and relational intentions”. (Tammivaara &Enright, 1986,p.219, emphasis in original). I took group interviews as well as individual interviews. But the answers I received from children were very much similar and all children showed deep interest in exploring nature.

As our project of experiencing nature is in progress, and children are working on their vegetable garden and experience nature in woods. It’s interesting to learn how much children become calm and relaxed as well as more co operative with each other during out door activity. Later we use photoelicitation-interviewing technique with the photographs we take of children while exploring nature. Interviewing children was an interesting experience. Learning about their perspective of outdoor play and experiencing nature and joining them in their exploration was full of fun experience. I noticed that Children and nature are inseparable, all children love to play in mud, water, sand, and likes to explore bugs. Learning takes place outdoors, where children are free to explore and broaden their imagination, run around and interact with nature as well as reach their optimum physical and intellectual development.

 I also increased my knowledge by reading several articles on the benefits of outdoor play. As I am writing, I recall the following depiction of play from Elizabeth Goodenough’s book “Where do the Children Play”:

            

   “Play is the purest, most spiritual activity of man at this stage, and at the same time typical of human life as a whole---- of the inner hidden natural life man and all things. It gives, therefore, joy, freedom, contentment, inner and outer rest, peace with the world”.

                                                               Friedrich Froebel (1826)

                                                    

         This reminds me of a book I read few years back, Dibs in Search of Self   by Virginia M. Axline. It is about a boy who was deprived of play and outdoor experiences. Although he belonged to a very educated parents but he was not allowed to experience nature and play as an ordinary child. Just being deprived of such experiences he lost his childhood and was misunderstood as a challenged child. Ultimately he found his way to the world with the support and help of a teacher.  

            Through my ongoing research I realized that adults tend to forget the most valued features while planning for children’s play areas as well as curriculums. These may include water, sand, dirt, trees, bushes, and tall grass etc. While I was interviewing children I noticed they all love the outdoors and enjoy directly interacting with nature. Also when I got adults involved in outdoor experience along with children, they all enjoyed it very much altogether.