Learning From Nature
Nature study for preschoolers. Sounds mundane and predictable, like breakfast oats or a bedtime story. However, as soon as the first or second lesson is over, parents realize that their child was lucky to acquire a totally unique, hands-on experience of interacting with nature. What child never aspired to be a pioneer, to set course for the distant and unexplored that always awaits right around the corner?
Metaphor Academic Center students travel all the time and with growing enthusiasm. A unique syllabus created by one of our teachers targets older preschoolers. As soon as the syllabus was adopted by Metaphor, it became a huge success among our students. Children looks forward to these lessons where they don’t have to stay inside the four walls of a classroom, but instead are surrounded by trees, soft moss and rustling leaves under their feet, their teacher being their guide who can share so much about the wildlife!
The inexplicable nature becomes more and more familiar, close and predictable. You can grind up some medicinal juniper and smell its scent, find some edible nuts in the grass and crack them open with a regular rock, build a tent with your own hands, learn how to do the right roofing and flooring in it, and how to stay warm. Children learn how to behave and respond appropriately, whether there is a bee flying around, it suddenly started raining, or became too cold or extremely hot… Enacting these scenarios in a safe and peaceful atmosphere helps a child develop an adequate attitude to them and learn how to make decisions while staying careful and safe.