3.2 Adults matter
Froebel’s pedagogic approach provides a potential model for practitioners to be ‘attentive and responsive’ adults who closely observe children in outdoor environments and follow their lead. However, his approach assumes that adults will have developed a strong connection with the natural world, so they are able to fulfil this role:
And very, very little is needed from those around the child, to give it what the years of childhood require. We need only to designate, to name, to give words to what the child does, perceives and finds.
Being knowledgeable about the natural world and being able to name elements that attract a child’s interest can feel like a barrier but is easily supported in contemporary practice by identification books or apps. Froebel’s thinking is unique in highlighting the two-way learning that observational and attentive practice can facilitate – in both adult and child. Rather radically, he suggests that adults can (re)learn to take delight in the natural world by observing young children – this turns conventional ways of thinking about the learning relationship upside down. Importantly, it suggests that both adults and children need to feel comfortable and have opportunities to engage with things that interest them during the time spent outside.
Listen further to Sacha Powell as she describes how Froebel’s ideas can help you to understand how best to support young children:
Transcript
NICOLA KEMP: So thinking particularly about babies and toddlers, how does Froebel contribute to our understanding of how to support them outdoors, making nature connections through our practice?
SACHA POWELL: Well, Froebel always stressed that babies are learning from birth and that they're learning holistically, in lots of different ways. And I think that what he would have or would continue to argue is that the outdoor, the natural environment in particular, and outdoor spaces, offer those multisensory holistic affordances that are so important for babies and toddlers.
They offer the opportunity for movement, whether that's gross or fine motor movement, and exploration, imagination, stimulation, and active learning using all senses. Because what Froebel recognised is that babies are thinking, feeling beings, and that the outdoor environment is a great place to express one's inner feelings outwardly and to do that in ever more sophisticated ways.
And of course, what the outdoor offers is open-ended opportunities for testing out ideas, saying, well, what does this do then? And what can I do with it? And what might I do with it? And how might I represent it in other ways? Or how might I make it represent something else, whether that's a stick or a stone or a blade of grass or a beetle or--
So I think that the outdoor is a never ending source of resource, opportunity, stimulation, but also relaxation, too, of course, because it can create a relaxing-- a more relaxing environment for some babies and toddlers. But the important thing to remember is who they're with.
And I think what Froebel talks about is how starting with the child-- in this case, a baby or toddler-- is really important. Look at what preoccupies them, what they're fascinated in, and we might learn new things ourselves and learn alongside a baby. But also work out how to support and extend what they're doing and learning and exploring, and in so doing, perhaps enable us to feel like we know more and feel more confident about being outdoors with babies and toddlers by revelling in their awe and wonder and exploration and imagination.