Renewed energy

It's been an amazing few days on the Central Coast with Claire Warden participating in the Nature Pedagogies Course. It's difficult to quantify the value of a few days with people of like mind, a highly respected facilitator and access to amazing educators in a highly regarded early learning setting. Alkira Learning Centre in Wamberal was an inspiring space to learn in. Thank you to Claire and her team for re igniting my passion for learning in the outdoors. 

The photos in this post kind of sum it up for me. We were taught the skills of making twine from grasses, how to lash elements of nature together to create something (mine was a house for fairies) and expected to demonstrate our knowledge of the lines of enquiry that would come from the activity. 

In the two hours that it took to gather materials, make the twine, problem solve how to put it all together and sit in gorgeous sunshine in a leech infested field I learnt some really important things.

It takes time; big chunks of it, uninterrupted and without interference to allow for flow (that place you go where there's the perfect balance of challenge and calm). 

You have to be resilient, because things don't always work out. It's important to celebrate the fails as well as the successes. I had to keep trying, trial various methods, ask people's advice, see what others were doing and problem solve the whole time. When I lost a piece of twine I'd made I felt like giving up. It took me half an hour to make 30cms of the stuff! 

It's the perfect place for collaboration. I showed Leanne how to make twine and she in turn showed me how to weave a small basket with grasses (I've yet to try my hand at it but will certainly give it a try). 

Playing, creating, making and simply being in the outdoors provides enormous learning opportunities that can form a line of enquiry. In my case there was deep consideration of engineering, the science of strengthening and placing materials to support a structure, mathematical knowledge of shape, measurement and number. Not to mention the social and linguistic aspects of the endevour. 

Now it might have been easier or less messy and less risky to give us a worksheet about fairy houses, or a colouring in activity. What are your thoughts?