The library is closed, the museum is closed, swimming is cancelled, playgroup is cancelled, sports are cancelled, festivals, concerts and indoor arts are cancelled. We are stuck at home for the next 1-6 months with our children and no organised activities. Everything has been shut down.
But, and this is a big but, as Nature Play WA put it very nicely in their Instagram post yesterday, time in nature has not been cancelled.
What if, rather than see this time as arduous, we step back and return to the simple things? We slow down. We see things as our children do, with all their senses and all their curiosity. We take time to meander for hours (and yes, now we have hours to meander) and soak in all the beauty we can find out in our natural world. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll find a peacefulness that we thought was lost.
This morning I headed down to the Darebin Creek with my three-year old son for a quick walk while my partner was working from home. Although Archie was on his scooter, we didn’t get very far before he wanted to stop and look at the Brown Honey Beatle crawling through the leaf litter. We spent ten minutes watching the beatle and letting it crawl on us while also spotting a slater nearby. Off we went again but only 20 metres further along, we noticed some red berries – yum Ruby Saltbush. Of course they needed to be sampled and so we spent another five minutes there.
Our quick stroll turned into a two hour adventure, with creek play, digging for clay, sap discovery and dandelion blowing. And all that time, I didn’t have to worry about infection or handwashing or sneezing into my elbow. And I wasn’t being bombarded by news of the next Covid-19 panic buying session or stats on how many people now had the virus. I was able to connect with Archie and connect with our natural world.
This may not come naturally to you or your children. As Richard Louv wrote in his book The Last Child in the Woods, “For a whole generation of kids, direct experiences in the backyard, in the tool shed, in the fields and woods, has been replaced by indirect learning, through machines.” These days it is common for children to expect to be entertained and they don’t know what to do when boredom sets in. And at first, they might think that heading to a park with no playground is boring.
If you are not sure where to begin, start with your senses. Take your child for a walk to your local bushland or park, sit down in the grass or on a rock and just be. Spend a minute noticing what you see. Get down to your child’s height and notice the bees buzzing in the flowers or the ants crawling along a log. Feel the wind blowing around your face and hear the rustle of leaves in the trees over your head. Listen to the ravens cawing loudly, smell the dandelions crushed under your feet and take your shoes off. Talk to your child about what you discover and see what they have also found. Bring yourself into the now and you will find yourself heading home feeling lighter than you left.
Comment below by clicking on the title of the blog and tell me if you’d like to find out more. I’d love to share my ideas for nature play in the home and at the park over the coming months.
Victoria Milne is a bush playgroup facilitator and a passionate advocate for children spending time outdoors. She is an experienced primary teacher and owns a nature play business, consulting with parents as well as schools and kindergartens. Plus she loves getting muddy with her son, Archie.
Reference list: Louv, Richard (2005) The Last Child in the Woods, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hills, USA.