Urban Wild
  • About
  • Programs
  • Registration
    • Spring Registration
    • Summer Registration
    • Fall Registration
    • Winter Registration
    • Nature Play Saturdays
  • Gallery
  • Case Study
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Newsletters

Exploring the Parent-Child-Nature Relationship

Reflections, Readings and Research

Study Reflection 3                                                    May 7th, 2016                                                    Shannon Terrace

5/17/2016

0 Comments

 
What I feel
Excitement, satisfaction, cohesiveness, community, fun

 
What I saw
Community of plants and animals
A community of children
Comforts increasing in exploring and with the “routine” of the program
For older children a desire to take more initiative or ownership or have choice in their explorations and take the lead
Children starting to become a flock, a herd or a pack -leading and following
For myself: Wanting to stick to the planned program, keep on schedule. Adult world.
Children living more from moment to moment, feeling to feeling, experience to experience (assumption).  How to blend these worlds? Have the experience work for both adult and child? How to learn from eachother?

 
Ground Squirrel Town
Heads popping up
Children leaning in
Cautious curiosity quickly turning into play and boundary testing
Boundary testing…always creating immediate friends and allies
How close, how fast and how many?  
Boundaries between our above ground human world swirling and mixing with
Ground squirrel town
Mysterious homes below
Maybe, subtly and gently
Becoming part of our homes, ourselves
Temporarily 
Maybe more

 
What I think
A group of families is starting to become a community of families

 
What I Wonder: 
  1. What would have happened during the program if we had just followed the lead of the children down a path of their choosing? Maybe chaos, maybe more Band-Aids, maybe more discovery, surprises and understanding.
  2. When does a group of families become a community of families? What elements can support a community of families developing? Is it just time spent together? I think it is more than that. Shared experiences, care for the whole group and group experience….the setting. Are natural settings key? Nature as partner in shaping community…


​
Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    Alex O'Rourke 
    Environmental Educator, Parent, Former Child in Nature

    Archives

    May 2021
    September 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2019
    December 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    May 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016

    Categories

    All
    Readings
    Reflections
    Research

    RSS Feed

  • About
  • Programs
  • Registration
    • Spring Registration
    • Summer Registration
    • Fall Registration
    • Winter Registration
    • Nature Play Saturdays
  • Gallery
  • Case Study
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Newsletters