This I Believe: Go Outside and Play
This I believe. The “this” is exposing children to their world. Their world being the space they presently occupy. Children are curious and I want to embrace that curiosity and run with it. “How do seeds grow?” “What do plants need?” “Why are plants important to people?” These questions are to be explored and not neglected. I love that young minds generate their own curiosities in life. My job is to guide them into discovery and questioning their world. Learning is about asking questions and wobbling with finding answers, which leads to more questioning. My thought process is “this”: If children are encouraged to ask questions, I can find curriculum that matches those questions, therefore exposing children to their world and they will find connections with their learning and those experiences will add up to new discoveries and circle back to more questioning and the learning journey continues.
My learning journey not only took place formally at school but also at one of the places I grew up at. As a child, my family spent lots of time at our apple orchard and I recall countless memories interacting with my world first hand. I witnessed the symbiotic relationship between bees and apple trees. Each spring, our orchard would invite bees from artificial hives to stay a while and do their work. I would ask, “why we placed hives in the orchard?” The adults would explain it is good for the apple trees. As they would try to explain or show me answers to many of my questions.
Beyond questioning, some of the best learning occurred during play. I believe I connected with my environment because I was given the space and freedom to interact with it. I spent time outside observing and counting woolly bear caterpillars and daddy longleg spiders. My cousins and I made dandelion bracelets and made up dances to the latest pop music. My family took turns using the tire swing in the front yard. I collected wildflower seeds and blackberries. These experiences a lot of times overflowed into the writing I did as a student and how I yearned to share with others.
Stemming from my childhood connections with land, I went on to study the environment and education. These two degrees fused into advocating for local environmental education. It is important that I make visible the learning opportunities that can occur in our own backyards. I don’t have to travel across the globe to teach my students about how the environment is important. I can turn to my own teaching place to find relevant curriculum that students can relate to. I believe if they can use their senses to learn and are able to taste, smell, touch, and see an apple first hand they will remember it. I want students to remember and create memories.
Memories that they can return to later in life when they are in a new place and trying to connect with it. I believe exposing children to their world around them, in particular land, through play is one of the best options to address the environmental issues. Why? If play brings our youth outside and they find joy in it, that connects them. They will ‘feel’ for the land and want to do something to maintain its childlike innocence. The questions, the discoveries, the learning journey all can be made possible by telling our children, “go outside and play!”
