Nature
Outside whatever the weather
We demonstrate that you can have fun in nature whatever the weather. Nature provides countless opportunities for discovering, problem-solving, physical development, creativity, cognitive, social and emotional and collective knowledge.
CLP settings are situated near forests and country areas. We want children to have the opportunity to climb rocks, build dens, investigate nature together with their peers and adults learning about the great outdoors.
We use nature in all areas of our pedagogy. We use a lot of nature’s natural resources and materials for art projects, for building and creating and using our imagination. It’s very important to us that children learn to both have a good understanding and relationship with nature and learn to move independently in all terrains.
Forest gnome
The forest gnome is our friend who lives in the forest and teaches use about nature. This is part of our forest school activities.
The forest gnome usually accompanies use on our trips and the children help to protect their home that is situated in the forest near each daycare. Each setting has their own forest teacher, who has the pedagogical knowledge and training to support children’s learning and development.
Own garden
In our garden we grow crops such as vegetables and berries. The children are part of the whole process and its amazing to observe their excitement when we start to see our plants grow. The children participate in choosing together what crops we want to grow and then we plant the seeds. We water and feed them and eventually when they are ready, we take them into the garden to be planted. We harvest and cook together, berries for cakes, vegetables for salads and soups etc.
Trips
We take advantage of the nature around us by going on many trips. We allow the children lots of time for free play, climbing, and investigating. We pick berries and mushrooms. We learn about different animal footprints, natures colours, and seasonal changes i.e. in winter we talk about winter animals and how the forest sleeps. In the spring we talk about how everything starts to wake up such as the ice melting and river starts to flow, and how the small buds on the trees start to come alive.
