The educator and pedagogue Rosa Sensat he considered that nature is the most suitable environment for the normal evolution of the child, assuring him the right to fresh air, sunlight, water, physical exercise and joy. As she believed: the best school is open to the sky. Maria Montessori wrote: “By constructing an environment that is ever more remote from nature and therefore less and less appropriate for a child, the adult has increased his own powers and thereby further oppressed the child.” So for both pedagogues, nature is related to being free, with play and with the desire to experiment. In Montessori’s words: “When the little ones have freedom of contact with nature, their strength is soon revealed.”
For both adults and children, the environment comforts well-being and balances psychologically. Marta Martinez Lledo She has worked as a child and adolescent psychologist. She has been managing an online awareness and training project for years called Respectful Education. A year ago he joined forces with the psychologist Rockrose Repiso Dominguezwho currently works in the Social Services network of the Madrid City Council, to bring the experience to life Family Nature. With the idea that we live in an individualistic and agitated society in which we have condemned our well-being (both our own and that of the community) to the background, both psychologists consider that we are disconnected from nature and also from ourselves. They say that this is directly related to many of the most common mental health problems in the Western world, such as anxiety or depression. The cure, for them, is in the form of a tribe and space in the mountains. Family Nature It’s a vacation in the Sierra de Gredos, “an opportunity to open up to meet people and make friends,” they say.
About what children can learn in rural areas, Repiso assures that no park, however well designed it may be, stimulates psychophysical development as much as climbing trees, climbing rocks or swimming in a stream. Nature is the space in which curiosity overflows and fears face each other, and “they also learn to take care of themselves and calculate their limits”, she explains. He points to the example of the moment when they realize that the bugs are not bad and that if they are left alone they will not attack. Being in nature “the little ones can connect with other living beings in an experiential way, observe their behavior and begin to understand that, after all, we are not so different from our brothers and sisters on the planet.”
Martínez points out that “children, especially younger ones, need many experiences to sharpen their senses correctly.” For example, for the correct development of sight, it is necessary to be able to look at a distant horizon, which the mountain allows us to do. “Without realizing it, we spend a lot of time surrounded by short distances and many screens. Looking far away is an important exercise as a healthy habit for the development and care of the eyes”. Being outdoors forces us to stop the city’s speed clock and walk to the rhythm of other times: calm, observation and contact with oneself.
For the development of psychomotricity, the work of balance is constant in the mountains. “The roads are often full of challenges; a large stone that they have to climb or a step made of logs to cross a river,” says Martínez. These adventures teach them to control their bodies, to face negativity and try to overcome obstacles, something that according to psychologists increases self-esteem. They say that you also learn to be patient and pay attention, because in the natural world things have their times and do not work according to the immediacy that technology offers, for example. “In addition, going to the field is a perfect setting for unstructured play, which allows them to develop their imagination and creativity,” adds Martínez.
Repiso tells that he worked for a time in a school farm and some children came to tell him that they believed that the milk came directly from the bottles. “The lack of knowledge regarding very basic issues in environmental education is amazing.” When we allow children to explore freely in a natural environment, also providing them with information, “they easily incorporate, through meaningful and experiential learning, a great deal of knowledge about the world around them.” In the field they can see how the cycles of the seasons work, appreciate the trees and their changes, where tomatoes and strawberries come from and why everything is interconnected. Repiso recommends activities such as asking them to pick blackberries and make jams. He points out that minerals are also often a much-repeated focus of interest. Why don’t we propose to look for minerals and learn to classify them and at home look for their properties? As the psychologist Jean Piaget considered: “Boys and girls do not play to learn, but they learn because they play.”
“In today’s society we have to educate children in nature, get to know it again and recognize it as an inseparable and valuable part of our lives,” says Martínez Lledó. Environmental education is essential to build a future with inhabitants who are more careful and respectful of nature. “We need to make children aware of the most urgent environmental problems and promote sustainable living practices.” Educating in the love of the mountain and the ecosystem is also promoting the value of care. Because, as they say from Natura en Familia: “It is learning to value and respect the life of all living beings, and understand that we are all related and need each other.”
To learn about nature with books
Zahorí Books is a publisher specializing in illustrated children’s/juvenile books from various fields of knowledge. Nature is one of his strong themes. Co-founder Marta Lorés says that the goal is to bring environmentalism closer to boys and girls who, from a different, surprising point of view, invite them to read and learn while having fun. “The current situation of the planet and the climate emergency we are experiencing morally obliged us to commit ourselves and carry out informative work in this field for the little ones,” she says. Your Little Activist Club is an editorial project where its small partners are informed about the climate emergency, responsible consumption, the environment, life in the oceans, animal welfare or sustainable cities. “The club it gives news, presents young activists from all over the world, proposes activities in different parts of Spain and encourages the little ones to be active in the fight for a sustainable planet”, says Lorés.
Some beautiful books to continue learning about mountains, countryside and rural areas: Free at last! which explains why wild animals should live in their natural habitat instead of caged. Also welcome new world, that stands out for its optimistic and hopeful tone, since it presents more than 70 environmental projects that are being carried out in the world to mitigate and reverse the effects of the climate urgency. And, finally, highly recommended is also the earth is my frienda beautiful illustrated album where girls and boys from different parts of the planet tell about the work they do from their town or city to fight against climate change.
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