After many years in the making, Forestview Kindergarten has launched our In Nature Kindy Program! On a number of occasions throughout 2023, our Kindy kids have had the opportunity to venture out to the nearby Baldwin Swamp to learn about the various animals that live there, how we can protect our environment and how we can stay safe in nature.
We were so excited to be returning to our beautiful bushland again for our fourth bushwalk for the year. We were keen to see if we could locate many of the items we found last time to show our friends that were away last time.
First we did our safety checks and made sure everyone had on their safety vests and name tags (including the teachers) and we went through our safety checklist. Those who had been on the first bush walk became the teachers for the first-time bush visitors – was amazing to see how much they could remember and communicate.
One final head count check where we call out, “Here I am” when our name is called out.
We walked down past the swamp to our first gathering spot. On the way we spotted a baby swan. It was tricky to see but could be identified when we took our time to observe closely. We spotted a number of animals we had seen on previous walks and also found some new ones!
We then found a beautiful spot to sit and enjoy our healthy snack before we shared a story about a flying fox called Stellaluna and recording our ideas of what a flying fox looks like. We had to recall all the physical features such as a face, eyes, ears, wings, legs, claw feet and some of us even drew the flying foxes handing upside down in a tree. We keep our representations of the things we have seen in our In Nature Program journal.
Nature-based learning encourages collaboration, empathy, and respect for the environment, nurturing well-rounded individuals. Moreover, it instills a profound environmental awareness early on, promoting a lifelong connection to and stewardship of the natural world. We are very proud to have our In Nature Kindy Program come to fruition.