Ecologies of Childhood: Linking Place, Play and Pedagogy

The tides are shifting in early childhood education towards recognizing the value of outdoor play based experiences and supporting children’s relationship with “nature”. Yet, most of our background and training in early childhood settings and child development research is focused on indoor and human-made elements of the environment (Davis, 1998; Davis, 2009; Fisher, 2013).

This hands-on,experiential workshop aims to widen our consideration of early childhood communities to include the local land, flora, and fauna that exist in our surroundings – which are inextricably part of the fabric of children’s encounters with the world.

Outdoor Preschools, Nature Kindergartens, and Forest Schools are leading the way in creating places where children play – and make meaning – with a wild array of ecological encounters.

This session will also highlight pedagogical approaches drawn from place-based learning; environmental education, and principles of Forest School, in relation to familiar early learning frameworks, such as How Does Learning Happen? and