{"id":236,"date":"2014-02-20T19:12:41","date_gmt":"2014-02-20T19:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopher-ark.com\/blog\/?p=236"},"modified":"2014-02-20T19:12:41","modified_gmt":"2014-02-20T19:12:41","slug":"out-into-the-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopher-ark.com\/blog\/2014\/02\/20\/out-into-the-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"Out into the garden"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most wonderful things that we can do for the children in our care today is to get them out into the garden, the park, the woods and the fields.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A place in the woods for young children<\/p><\/div>\n

Outdoors is better than indoors, and the natural outdoor environment is best. \u00a0Our indoor dominated practice is challenged by the ‘forest school’ movement and Richard Louv\u2019s talk of \u2018nature deficit disorder\u2019.\u00a0 Perhaps more importantly it is called into question by fundamental principles.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where did God put man but in the garden?\u00a0 T<\/i>he Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed <\/i><\/strong>(Gen 29<\/sup>).\u00a0 Generally in Scripture the garden is associated with good and the city with evil.\u00a0 There are notable exceptions, of course.\u00a0 But the first city in the Bible was built by Cain after he had murdered his brother, Abel.\u00a0 Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son\u2014Enoch <\/i><\/strong>(Gen 416-17<\/sup>). The ideal, heavenly \u2018city\u2019 is described in terms of the natural environment: \u00a0In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life <\/i><\/strong>(first seen in the Garden of Eden), <\/i><\/b>which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations<\/strong> <\/i>(Rev 222<\/sup>).<\/span><\/p>\n

In the beginning there was a connected-ness: between man and God such that they could commune in the garden; between man and woman \u2013 she was made from him and for him; and between him and the created environment.\u00a0 All that connected-ness was seriously damaged through Adam\u2019s disobedience.\u00a0 The relationship with God and between Adam and Eve was spoiled.\u00a0 Even the relationship between man and nature was affected.\u00a0 Salvation is about restoration and reconciliation through Christ.\u00a0 Re-connections are established in this world, and perfected in the next.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a non-theological way Ferre Laevers in work on \u2018Wellbeing and Involvement\u2019 speaks about \u2018link\u00e8d-ness\u2019.\u00a0 He says that the meaning of \u2018religion\u2019 is \u2018re-linking\u2019.\u00a0 He says that the ultimate goal of his approach to education is \u201cthe fundamental attitude of \u2018connectedness\u2019 with everything that lives, the sense that we are part of history, of the cosmos, of the \u2018transcendental\u2019.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Long before Ferre Laevers, the great grandfather of early education Friedrich Froebel spoke about connectedness with nature and the spiritual significance of it.\u00a0 In the pioneering days Froebel secured much outdoor opportunity for children.\u00a0 In his kindergartens<\/i> (children\u2019s gardens) the young could be found playing games outside, tending the deliberately laid out planting beds and roaming the woods.\u00a0 Reflecting his own childhood lived on the edges of the Black Forest, Froebel wrote: \u201cTo climb a new tree means to the boy the discovery of a new world.\u00a0 The outlook from above shows everything so different from the ordinary cramped and distorted side-view.\u00a0 How clear and distinct everything lies beneath him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

We find a similar value placed on children being outside in the work of Margaret McMillan.\u00a0 Recording the development of her open-air nurseries she wrote, \u201cChildren want space at all ages. \u2026to move, to run, to find things out by new movement, to \u2018feel one\u2019s life in every limb\u2019, that is the life of early childhood. \u2026 Bare sites and open spaces, let us find them.\u201d\u00a0 McMillan wrote further of the freedom of the natural environment: \u201cIn the summer mornings all the children, but especially the toddlers, are glad, looking forward to the long, long day with all its wonders.\u00a0 The little ones run about in the grass.\u00a0 They climb the plank laid across the garden seat under the mulberry tree, they run down the hillocks in the meadow, and swing or ride under the streaming plane tree.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Margaret McMillan\u2019s words are suggestive of what is a defining virtue of the natural environment and it superiority over all else.\u00a0 It is freedom.\u00a0 The less natural, the less freedom there is.\u00a0 In contrast to the natural world, Desmond Morris wrote of the \u2018concrete jungle\u2019, of the \u2018human zoo\u2019.\u00a0 The city is for humans what the cage is for zoo animals.\u00a0 Similarly the classroom may be experienced as incarceration by the young child bursting with curiosity and energy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Susan Isaacs wrote, \u201cTo be boxed up in the small nursery or sitting room of the ordinary middle class villa or superior cottage is a very trying experience for vigorous, healthy children of three to five years of age and a source of great irritation and nervous strain.\u00a0 Space has in itself a calming and beneficent effect.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But let these be the final words: The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations<\/i>.<\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

BIBLIOGRAPHY<\/h5>\n
Louv, Richard, Last Child in the Woods<\/b>, Atlantic Books <\/i>2009<\/span><\/h5>\n
Laevers, Ferre, Experiential Education at Work<\/b>, Centrum voor ErvaringsGericht Onderwijs vzw<\/i> 1997<\/span><\/h5>\n
Froebel, Friedrich, The Education of Man<\/b>, Dover Publications <\/i>2005<\/span><\/h5>\n
McMillan, Margaret, The Nursery School<\/b>, Dent<\/i> 1919<\/span><\/h5>\n
Morris, Desmond, The Human Zoo<\/b>, Jonathan Cape <\/i>1969<\/span><\/h5>\n
Isaacs, Susan, The Educational Value of the Nursery School<\/b>, The British Association of Early Childhood Education<\/i> 2013<\/span><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most wonderful things that we can do for the children in our care today is to get them out into the garden, the park, the woods and the fields. Outdoors is better than indoors, and the natural … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nursery-school"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2d1Zf-3O","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gopher-ark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gopher-ark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gopher-ark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gopher-ark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gopher-ark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gopher-ark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":237,"href":"https:\/\/www.gopher-ark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions\/237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gopher-ark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gopher-ark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gopher-ark.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}