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  Ka taea e au te mātakitaki – I can watch

  So much of my early learning comes from what I see.

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• Nature For Infants and Toddlers<

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  Nature For Infants and Toddlers (transcript)

  [Graphic: Nature Explore logo | Nature for Infants & Toddlers | © 2012 Dimensions Research Educational Foundation / Nature Explore]
  [Music]
  [Graphic: Nature Explore logo]
  [Text on screen: Denise Topil | Infant Teacher]
  Denise Topil:
  I think it’s really important to take the infants outdoors because you have to start at the beginning. If they start little, then they’ll be comfortable being outside. It gives them a chance to experience multisensory experiences that are so good that it’s the best way that all children learn.
  If we only experience snow in the texture table inside, then our infants will grow up with no idea of where it comes from.
  Can you smell them? Can you smell them? Smell.
  [Text on screen: Nancy Rosenow | Executive Director | Nature Explore | Dimensions Educational Research Foundation]
  Nancy Rosenow:
  When I go around the country meeting with various organisations, a lot of administrators and licensing people are concerned about infants and toddlers going out and interacting with the natural world. But we know, we’ve seen over and over how beneficial it is and we can do it in a way that really is safe for them.
  Denise Topil:
  I think safety for children when you go outside is extremely important but on the other end of the spectrum, it’s very important to give them challenges also. Going outside does change that experience of walking. It gives them a little more challenge to learning to walk and learning to move because indoors, we have flat surfaces, flat floors. We might have levels for them to climb on, but when we go outside into our Nature Explore classroom, the ground’s not flat.
  We do not see any signs of frustration. They might fall, but they get right back up and they keep going. They are very persistent when they’re trying to manoeuvre that space.
  [Text on screen: Krista Kuening | Infant Teacher]
  Krista Kuening:
  He would struggle when he was just a year walking up and it was kind of a climbing or he even crawled up to get around. And then many times he would come out here and walk around that circle. So it was fun to see him standing up and actually walking on the rocks now that he’s improved so much.
  Nancy Rosenow:
  Then our well-meaning attempts to keep children safe, what we’ve really done is protect them too much and we know that when children are exploring the natural world, maybe putting fingers in their mouth after they’ve touched dirt, we really are strengthening their immune system. And we also know that we need to help children know that the world is much more than red, yellow, blue plastic.
  The wonderful textures of nature, the beauty of growing plants are really important for very young children to interact with too.
  Anonymous Parent:
  One of the things that I’ve noticed with my youngest child is that he surprises me when we’re outside with the things that he notices. It’s not just the real obvious things like the flowers, but he’ll look at the flower long enough to find the insect,
  [Text on screen: Parent]
  Anonymous Parent:
  They’re teaching you to look longer or realise that there are so many dimensions to that flower.
  [Text on screen: Katie Mezger | Toddler Teacher]
  Katie Mezger:
  I do believe it is important to take them outside in all types of weather just because they get those different experiences through every season of the year.
  I develop those different experiences for the children by doing documentation and really looking at it and seeing what the documentation is and what they’re very interested in and then take the experiences that I can see is most common interest of most of our children, and bring it outside.
  I follow up with our outdoor experiences normally with an indoor activity just because I do feel that once they’ve done it outside, and they can put it on paper or they can build what they did outside. I feel that is making that specific experience better because it’s really pulling in what they did outside. They’re applying that new thinking that they have to nwe experiences that we have inside.
  Voiceover:
  There’s a phenomenon referred to as entrainment, where our bodies begin to sync up or mimic the rhythms of our surroundings. So imagine you’re in a peaceful surrounding where you see the beauty of nature, you feel the wind blowing softly, and maybe you hear the rhythms of a river and ocean. A shift occurs, and you start to feel calmer.
  Anonymous Parent:
  They’re so peaceful when they’re outside, they’re more comfortable and calm when they’re outside and I am too. Once you slow down enough to really engage a child of that age outside, you begin to realise how enjoyable it is for you as an adult to do the same.
  Denise Topil:
  I do feel that there are more benefits to being outdoors than there would be disadvantages and I had to stop and think I’m not sure I could come up with any disadvantages. If you’ve got parents or other teachers that you’re working with that aren’t sure about taking the children outside, just try it.
  [Music]
  [Text on screen: Nature Explore | Produced by Ann Watt | Dimensions Early Education Programs | Lincoln, Nebraska | Copyright 2011. All Rights Reserved.]

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  Nature For Infants and Toddlers

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  Whakatipu Te Pihinga Booklet 2, page 14 and 15

  Ngā taonga tākaro – Playing helps pēpi learn new things.

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  Whakatipu Te Pihinga Booklet 2, page 30 and 31

  Pretend play is a great way to develop imagination and creativity.

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