In the be.Living courtyard, an imposing flowering ipê tree welcomes the children with beauty and joy, heralding the arrival of spring. It’s a privilege to have this powerful tree in our school yard, accompanying and contributing to our children’s learning process in so many ways.
Whether in the form of a tree, a vegetable garden, the sky, the wind or the earth trodden by bare feet, nature welcomes, moves and enchants the children, giving them a sense of belonging. It is an organic and natural environment to explore the senses, make discoveries, learn through play, and grow as a human being.
That’s why at be.Living we offer outdoor areas, filled with the presence of nature, so that our children, both in Early Childhood Education and Elementary School, can engage in memorable and inspiring experiences that will lead to significant learning.
“When children in Early Childhood Education play around the trunk of the ipê tree, they learn about time, about changes, about how long the flowers on the tree last. They notice that after a while, the flowers fall off… Without realizing it, they are experiencing the cycles of nature, something that is increasingly rare among those who live in urban centers. In the city, the senses are experienced in a very limited way, which is why it’s essential to provide children with experiences in outdoor spaces, especially where they have direct contact with nature, with different types of materials, sounds and aromas that allow them to explore all their senses,” explains Livia Ribeiro, from Reconectta, and Sustainability Advisor at be.Living.
Livia recalls that the term “unwalling childhood”, coined by scholars, proposes breaking away from the current trend of children and adolescents spending a lot of time indoors, whether at home, at school, on transport or in structured activities. As such, the school can be a place to reconnect with nature, establishing this link that is essential for the development and learning of all human beings. “Often, when we think of nature, we think of a big forest, but we need to remember that nature is also the school garden, for example. The be.Living garden is an outdoor area that I think is fantastic. It is a learning space both in terms of the curriculum, in the area of science, through which children can investigate and learn about plant parts, animals, life cycles, the seasons, as well as responsibility, care, affection and respect for all forms of life. It’s also a very valuable opportunity to learn how to grow your own food. Few children experience this in big cities. So, when I think of the school’s outdoor areas, the vegetable gardens – both in the Early Childhood Education unit and in the Elementary School unit – are spaces hold a very special place in my heart.”
Livia points out that, as well as being a place where it is possible to experience sustainability, whether through the vegetable garden, composting or other sustainable actions, the outdoor environment encourages research into the space itself. “When they’re outside, children can see if it’s raining, if it’s not raining, if things change color, they can feel where it’s warmer and where it’s colder. When a reading or conversation takes place outdoors, many things happen. You can hear the sounds of birds and other noises, experience different temperatures – something that doesn’t happen when you’re in an air-conditioned room, for example, where you’re neither cold nor hot.”
For our pedagogical coordinator Camila Maia, it is through contact with nature that children fully exercise their creativity. “Outdoors, children play symbolic games, using natural elements such as earth, falling leaves, sticks, tree bark, sand, in other words, unstructured materials that are not conventionally used and which therefore challenge children to employ all their creativity while enabling them to create very different storylines. In addition, the experience with these materials causes multiple sensations, deepening the experience of the senses. Contact with nature is a way for children to learn more about themselves, developing their perception of their own body and its components.”
Camila explains that the outdoors are also very important for the children’s motor development. “The ground, sand or grass are not totally even or rigid, they have unevenness that requires the children to test their balance. They have to push themselves up and down to get on and off the tree swing. In these spaces, they have freedom to run, test possibilities, and play with the body. A very common game children play is rolling in the grass. All of this allows them to experiment and improve their motor skills, while being invited to socialize and play freely.”
