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I chose to take my on country walk at the Plenty Gorge on Wurundjeri land.  The Plenty Gorge is only 100 metres from my home but the area spans across multiple suburbs so there is always a new area to discover.

As I entered the Gorge I made sure I was not only hearing but also listening, I kept my eyes on the area and connected my whole self to the experience in what felt like a similar experience to Dadirri which Miriam Rose writes about in her refection of Dadirri. (Ungunmerr, 1988).

The day I visited Melbourne was experiencing high winds so the first thing I heard was the wind howling. The strong winds had the river red gum trees moving violently from side to side causing a dramatic effect. Over the howling wind I could just hear the distant noise of birds chirping. I stopped walking and tried to distinguish what bird call I was hearing. I could hear the distinct sound of a warbling magpie singing its song but also many other species of bird sounds being made. The smell of the Gorge is very distinct. It’s the smell I associate with nature. It’s a collection of gum leaves, soil, wattle and dampness especially at this time of the year.

As I continued into the Gorge to a section I hadn’t experienced before. I listened as my shoes crunched the leaves beneath my feet.  The violent wind and the cold weather have kept the bushwalkers and mountain bikers away today.  The crunching beneath my feet was so loud that I began to take regular checks over my shoulder as I had that eery feeling of not being alone.

I came across a small pond I hadn’t seen before. I stood still.  I saw a flock of ducks notice me. 2 ducks waddled down to the pond and entered the water creating ripples in the water. The remaining ducks almost strut their way into the pond a few minutes after the first. The ducks make no other sounds apart from the soft sounds of their webbed feet crunching the leaves beneath them. The wind continued to howl, and the trees continued to sway.

I caught myself wondering, just as I often did when I was a child about how these ducks knew each other. Were they a family of ducks? Or just duck friends all catching up? I watched on as the ducks almost danced through the water together like synchronised swimmers would.

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Later when reflecting on my on country walk I am caught thinking about the ducks again and I find myself creating elaborate stories of who they were and what they were doing. I know that in our modern world children are regularly exposed to books and tv shows with talking animals, so I decide that this is where my creative piece is heading.

I write a short creative piece about a family of ducks called “The Wilsons”. The Wilsons are a family of ducks that are on an adventure. The Wilson’s have left their farm home seeking to find a new home, one with water.

In my creative piece I let my imagination take over and invent a story for the flock of ducks I had seen. Creating the story takes me back to some great memories from my childhood where I loved to play with my toys and pretend, they were real. Id invent storylines for them and have them act them out, Reflecting on this I suppose when I was younger I felt I had more time, more time to just be. Our lives as we grow older a filled will all the “to do’s” and unfortunately I feel this part of us (our imagination) is not used as often as it is during childhood.

When creating my creative piece, I wanted to encourage children to use their imagination by listening to my story. I had hoped that my descriptive words would set the drama and scene for them.

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Research shows that when children are given opportunities to play outdoors in nature, children engage in disposition for learning such as collaboration, creativity, imaginative and inventiveness (Lark Wallin, 2019).

Wilson (2018) states that natural environments stimulate play, development and learning in children. Nature must therefore be seen as an essential component of children’s environments (Wilson, 2018).  This statement clearly shows the importance of children being given opportunities to play in nature and what development can occur when they are given these opportunities.

When looking at my future practice I plan to provide children with lots of opportunities to engage in our natural environment. In a perfect world this would include running a bush kinder program and where not possible bringing as much of the natural environment into my setting through natural loose parts such as sticks, pinecones, plants and stones. The inclusion of running an indoor/outdoor program throughout the day would also be priority as my current belief is that children should be given a sense of agency to make decision on where they would like to spend their time. Indoor/outdoor programs I believe also recognise the Reggio Emilia approach that the environment is the child’s third teacher (ACECQA, 2018).

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References:
ACECQA. (2018). LINKS TO THE NATIONAL QUALITY STANDARD. https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-04/QA3_TheEnvironmentAsTheThirdTeacher.pdf

Lark Wallin, M. (2019, June). The Importance of Pretend Play in Natural Settings. Www.communityplaythings.com. https://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/the-importance-of-pretend-play-in-natural-settings#:~:text=When%20children%20are%20given%20the%20time%20and%20space%20to%20play

Ungunmerr, M.-R. (1988). Dadirri. Miriam Rose Foundation. https://www.miriamrosefoundation.org.au/dadirri/

Wilson, R. A. (2018). Nature and young children : encouraging creative play and learning in natural environments. Routledge.