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Bess Beavis - S4684252 (1. reading response) 

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Bess Beavis - S4684252 (1. reading response) 

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Ruth Wilson's interpretation of nature play, imaginative play and the importance it holds in the early years, resonated with my own philosophy. The idea that a child should be a child is something very important to me. The way a child freely explores and imagines is something we tend to forget as adults and I believe our stress levels would be lower if we again embraced some of these techniques.
When it comes to Education, I have often debated over the educational school system. I am not fond of the cookie cutter approach to learning that sees many children fail or feel not good enough due to their different learning styles.
Howard Gardner believed in multiple intelligences that highlighted different aspects of learning. In 1999 he included Naturalistic Intelligence as the 8th intelligence to add to the list, leaving many to see that these differences hold strong connections to the way we learn.
I myself, have often felt at peace in nature and I believe so much can be learnt in the simplistic environment that surrounds us. The sounds we hear, the things we see, smell and touch. The little stories that can be created from just sitting back and observing form a beautiful language that connects us back to place and country.

Ruth Wilson spoke of the pressures placed upon children and the reality is that these children grow up to place these pressures upon themselves. Getting back to nature and understanding that learning in play can be so much more indepth with our hands, ears, eyes, nose and mouth seems to me to be the only step forward for our generations.

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.

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This photo was taken after the first video was made. When recording for part D I immediately thought of the photo which inspired 'Where does a beetle live?'

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This was the inspiration for my assignment.

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2. On Country Visit Part A - D First, main artefact (sounds and texture)

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2. On Country Visit Part A - D First, main artefact (sounds and texture)

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3. Creative response - parts A-B - Where would a beetle live? (Language response - speech video)

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3. Creative response - parts A-B - Where would a beetle live? (Language response - speech video)

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This video shows the draft of my idea before I act it out from a child's perspective.

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The tiny little beetle in the photograph inspired me when I was in the space recording the sounds and different textures.

I thought of how the beetle was on a mission to get to his destination and how he travels through different textures such as rocks, leaves, bark, dirt, grass and branches. I thought about all the sounds he must hear and if they were amplified to such a tiny little creature. I wondered if to him these sounds meant certain things that helped him make his decision on the path he was going to take.

This then helped me decide on the game a child could play. There are a few children at my Kinder that absolutely love bugs. I could quite easily see one of them coming up to me to show me a bug and then ask me questions about where they live. They could image different places to do to that would suit where the beetle might want to live. Running around to the different areas suggesting 'What about here?' or 'This spot might keep them warm".

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Part A: This created game is all about feeling, seeing, and absorbing the senses around you. The video depicts the sounds made in the different areas, the textures the beetle travels across and what sensations may help the beetle feel safe. It is in itself a rhythm, as the beetle navigates through the motions to reach his final conclusion that is home.

Across this game/experience you witness many sensations. You can hear the wind, the leaves swaying and even a crow off in the distance. You can experience the many different textures as you follow the path of the beetle. Some of these are the bark on the tree, the rocks, dirt and plants in the garden. You can smell the different items as you move across the tree, leaves and plants below.

This experience directly connects me to my own childhood and love of nature. It also reminds me of the little things children appreciate. My daughter who is 6 loves the different textures, colours and shapes of rocks. She has been collecting them for as long as I can remember and always shows me new ones that she finds at our home, the kindergarten, out on walks or other places/people we visit. It shows her innocence and wonder in the environment which is something I absolutely treasure and one of the reasons I love the Early Years profession so much.

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There were many readings I felt connected to in my research for this experience. Vea Vecchi (2010) spoke of how not being in a relationship with our surroundings deems a loss of artifacts that are critical to our experiences (Cooper, 2011). I saw this in the context that not referencing the elements before me in the video (for example grooves in the tree) would lose some of the content that I was trying to portray.

Likewise, I connected Dadirri to both my experience and Vecchi's notion. Both saw the importance of connection to surroundings and the needed recognition of slowing down to listen, see, feel, smell and taste what is among us (Ungunmerr-Baumann, 2002).

This is something that immediately resonates with my experience and my own practices.
I want children to be confident to ask questions about their interests. I want children to see the beauty in everyday things and know that showing care to the elements around them in turn, keeps the world growing and a healthier place.

In my current program we have just began to introduce insects after reading The Hungry Caterpillar. I am to take out the children in search of homes the different insects live. I will lay on the ground with the children to see things from a different perspective. This way we can see and feel the textures around us. Children can find rhythm by noticing the sway of the trees or the movement of the birds that fly overhead.

Sound, motion and texture is an everyday part of nature and in fact our everyday practice. This assignment has allowed me to open up these elements and share them further in my own programming.

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Cooper, M 2012, ‘Is beauty a way of knowing?’, in C Edwards, L Gandini & G Forman (eds), The hundred languages of children: the Reggio Emilia experience in transformation, 3rd edn, ABC-CLIO, LLC, pp. 295–302.

ISBN: 9780313359620

Ungunmerr-Baumann, MR 2002, Dadirri: Inner deep listening and quiet still awareness, Emmaus Productions, pp. 1–4, accessed from http://www.dadirri.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Dadirri-Inner-Deep-Listening-M-R-Ungunmerr-Bauman-Refl1.pdf.

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.