Colour ; The smiles of Nature by Adhisha Pathirathne

There were many languages within this video, firstly the birds chirping, the soft wind blowing and the movement of the clouds. Each language is beautiful in its own way and in unison they bring peace, they are nature. I could smell the fresh air , hear and see the birds flying one by one from the fence to the tree and back.

Honestly even though this is just an assignment, it was an amazing experience. To have a couple of minutes to myself away from the usual drama of life. Sitting actually being able to take in nature, to admire it and to take it all in. This experience really gave me some peace, brought me back to earth away from my busy life. I have two babies under 2 years old, during the week, my husband works and I am usually stuck inside the house attending to the needs of my children and keeping them occupied. I barely go outside of the house. This experience was an eye opener, for me as much as I enjoyed the outdoors, I should take my children out too. Being outside, just watching the clouds, to see the blue sky and the green trees is so pleasant to the eye and the heart.

My thoughts during this time… it was a very emotional experience for me. I started off thinking about how happy I am with my husband and my children but then suddenly I went back in time to what life was like as a child. It broke me down for a couple of seconds, however the birds chirping brought me back and I forced myself to not reflect on what makes me sad as I have so much more that I can be happy about.

My artifact is a short 60 seconds video of the sounds, the sight and movement I experienced. I sat outside watching and listening to nature.

“The natural world offers an incredible wealth of sensory experiences and open-ended materials for motoric manipulation.”(WILSON R ,2007)
As mentioned by Wilson R children playing in nature offers extremely great experiences for children to engage in creative play.

In regards to how my experience will affect my future practices in the early childhood education setting, I think I will engage the children to be more aware of nature. To listen, to watch , to engage and to appreciate it. Even asking children aged 4 or over to just sit in silence for even 30 seconds listening to the birds chirping. It is a form of meditation. For children it will definitely bring them peace and time for them to regulate their emotions.

"Our human capacity for early musical learning makes issues of adult intervention critical" (p. 262). Berger and Cooper (2003)

As mentioned by Berger and Cooper, early musical learning is essential for children to make critical decisions in their adult lives.

References:

Wilson, R, 2007, Children, creative play, and the natural environment, in R. Wilson (edn) Nature and Young Children : Encouraging Creative Play and Learning in Natural Environments, Routledge. Ch 1, pp 1-18. Children, creative play, and the natural environment

BOND, V.L. (no date) Follow and Facilitate: What Music Educators Can Learn From the Reggio Emilia Approach.[Preprint].

Berger, A. A., & Cooper, S. (2003). Musical play: A case study of preschool children and parents. Journal of Research in Music Education, 51, 151-165. doi: 10.2307/3345848

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