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ARTEFACT - As I walk through the bush, I feel my breaths becoming slower, my mind is slowing down, and my senses are coming alive with each step. The rustling of leaves and sticks beneath my feet. The birds are singing and talking between each other, almost alarming each other about the weather that seems to be changing quickly. The wind gust starts gently at first but then suddenly picks up, stirring the branches, birds and creating a symphony almost with the leaves and branches swaying. The smell of eucalyptus fills my nose, grounding me in the present moment, whilst feeling a deep connection to the land I walk on. As I continue walking to hear a kookaburra singing in the distance. My mind open, imagining the stories that could be stemmed from these surroundings. Walking on, I feel as I take each breath it's comes from deeper within, I feel it almost nourishing my body, my soul feeling lighter. With the rhythmic sounds it almost sounds like a natural theatre, it allows me to feel to let go, to be fully present in its dance, connecting my mind body and spirt to harmony.

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Creative Response - Short Story - Birds and the Breeze - A Windy Adventure - By Emily Croft

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Creative Response - Short Story - Birds and the Breeze - A Windy Adventure - By Emily Croft

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Birds and the Breeze - A windy Adventure

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Image 1. I took this picture that first initiated one of the birds in my story. As it looks like just a shadow, I thought I could use this to my advantage and make this any bird I could imagine.

Image 2. Up within this tree there is a small bird singing out to the other birds

Image 3. These trees where swaying and dancing in the wind, the shape of how this tree was going I wondered how long it had stood the test of times, and how tall it stood proudly within its place.

Image 4. This bird stood so proudly, and was so loud within in the bushland, almost warning all the birds of the storm that was approaching. It was beautiful listing to it singing out and communicating with its voice.

Image 5. This bird was dancing about within the wind. This picture inspired the wind to be part of the story I created, as I watched, and he flew everywhere and was almost like watching what would be a bird dancing.

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Whilst walking all I could hear was how loud the wind was. I could have stayed out there all day, even though wind I feel it can unsettle me and make me feel uneasy, though I loved watching the tress sway in the wind, watching how elastic it was. The song Elastic heart by Sia (I love the piano version) came into my head that I started to hum in my head. As Victor Wooten says in his talk "Allot of us are taught out of our musical freedom." (Wooten, 2013). It made me think that our musical ability is influenced by other people, and we are almost confined to structures and rules. Listening and watching the leaves and branches coming together it was like watching them dance and make music in their own language, that they had the freedom to do whatever it was that pleased them. Embracing the musical freedom for me would be encouraging experimentation, improvising, whilst almost finding my own voice without feeling restricted our bound to external expectations.

Whilst thinking about writing my story, I had already thought that I wanted birds in it. Where I live, there are birds everywhere. I do love to sit out and listen to all the different birds that are out there and their calls as they speak. When I was walking it made me think that incorporating the wind would be great as a character and intertwining the 2 (birds and the wind) to compel my story.

This area that I have filmed my artefact in, is the beautiful place I get to work every day, and even luckier to be able to take our children out into bush once a week. When I was reading the "Natural Sensory Learning" and the part where it stated "When children use their senses as they explore their world through sensory play, they are actively building nerve connections in the brain’s pathways, which is crucial to brain development. And, when we slow down, we can also see all the learning and social skills that are being developed through play in nature." (Gano & Krull, 2020) It made me reminisce about when I was younger and brought back amazing memories of when I use to ride my horse through bushland and when I would make cubby huts/houses out of sticks. If I really go back and think, I was a child that would lose track of time allot, I would play and forget about the world. Being a child, some of those times, they were some of the best memories I have, bushland, friends, horses and make jumps or hideouts and just play all day. For young children to be free, to be able to explore and wonder, use their imagination, make believe, it's the best gift I believe as educators that we could provide for a child.

We have had so much wind of late that I thought why not include this into my Artefact as well as my story, this was a big influence to get my thoughts and imagination running.

Doing this video and writing my story it was nice for me to put back on a "child's hat." Upon reading the article "Nature and Young Children: Encouraging Creative Play and Learning in Natural Environments" she states how "Most of what children need to learn during their early childhood years cannot be taught. It’s discovered through play." (Wilson, R. 2007) It links back to (Gano & Krull, 2020) as well. Children can be put into any environment, and if given the chance to do so, possibilities of learning can be endless. It comes back to how with drama, music & movement as well as sound, are incorporated into a child's world every single day without even realizing it. How a child interpretates something can be totally different to the next, as Wooten says, "It's the same as music, you are free to feel whatever you feel when you hear it. How you feel and interpretate a song, doesn't mean someone else is going to feel the same." (Wooten, 2013) Music, movement, drama, how lucky we are to have all this in our world and to be able to express it in any which way we feel free to do so.

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Gano, D., & Krull, S. (2020, July). Natural Sensory Learning. Www.communityplaythings.com. https://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/natural-sensory-learning

Sia - Topic. (2020, May 7). Elastic Heart (Piano Version). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MyJ98YFwsY

Wilson, Ruth, and Ruth Wilson. Nature and Young Children : Encouraging Creative Play and Learning in Natural Environments, Routledge, 2007. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/vu/detail.action?docID=324894.

Wooten, V. (2013, May 29). Music as a Language: Victor Wooten at TEDxGabriolaIsland. YouTube. https://youtu.be/2zvjW9arAZ0