Exploring nature has become a favourite activity for kindergarten children at Goodstart Nerang – Nerang Connection Road thanks to their new Nature Play Passports.
The passports contain 10 ‘mission’ pages with suggestions on great places to go and things to do outdoors.
Goodstart early childhood teacher Erin Sorensen said the kindergarten class has already completed several missions since receiving their passports recently.
“We are so excited to introduce nature exploration into our kindergarten program. The natural world is a playground and provides a wonderful place of discovery for children,” Ms Sorensen said.
“In my class of 13 kindergarten children, we have been busy stamping missions and have even created some missions of our own. One of these was to collect shells at the beach where we went on an excursion to the local beach headland at Burleigh Heads.
“While we were there, children had an amazing time walking among the rock pools spotting fish, crabs and sea snails. We collected a variety of shells and enjoyed a picnic lunch before heading back to the centre.”
Ms Sorensen said it was interesting to observe the way children interacted in a different environment.
“The environment changed the way children played together and there were different group dynamics I observed which was really positive in terms of children’s developing social skills.
“We’ll definitely continue our nature exploration time and excursions, we plan to explore the rainforest for our next adventure. Being outdoors is a place for adventure, exploration and imagination as well as generating a deepening care and connectedness with our environment.”
Nature Play is a not-for-profit organisation established to increase the time children spend in unstructured play outdoors and in nature.
The passports contain 10 ‘mission’ pages with suggestions on great places to go and things to do outdoors.
Goodstart early childhood teacher Erin Sorensen said the kindergarten class has already completed several missions since receiving their passports recently.
“We are so excited to introduce nature exploration into our kindergarten program. The natural world is a playground and provides a wonderful place of discovery for children,” Ms Sorensen said.
“In my class of 13 kindergarten children, we have been busy stamping missions and have even created some missions of our own. One of these was to collect shells at the beach where we went on an excursion to the local beach headland at Burleigh Heads.
“While we were there, children had an amazing time walking among the rock pools spotting fish, crabs and sea snails. We collected a variety of shells and enjoyed a picnic lunch before heading back to the centre.”
Ms Sorensen said it was interesting to observe the way children interacted in a different environment.
“The environment changed the way children played together and there were different group dynamics I observed which was really positive in terms of children’s developing social skills.
“We’ll definitely continue our nature exploration time and excursions, we plan to explore the rainforest for our next adventure. Being outdoors is a place for adventure, exploration and imagination as well as generating a deepening care and connectedness with our environment.”
Nature Play is a not-for-profit organisation established to increase the time children spend in unstructured play outdoors and in nature.