Nature Kindergarten | Frances Krusekopf | TEDxVictoria
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0:16 - 0:18Childhood.
-
0:19 - 0:25This is one of just a few photos of me
playing outside as a young child. -
0:26 - 0:30Growing up in the 1970s,
people didn't take many photos. -
0:30 - 0:35And they certainly didn't take photos
of children playing outside, -
0:35 - 0:39because it was very common
for a child to play outside. -
0:39 - 0:41(Laughter)
-
0:44 - 0:47(Applause)
-
0:51 - 0:56My sisters and I spent endless hours
transforming our backyard -
0:56 - 1:00into a cooking-show kitchen,
an airport, a hair salon, -
1:00 - 1:04or some other imaginary place.
-
1:04 - 1:08We would pull the contents
of our basement playroom outside -
1:08 - 1:12where there was more space
and greater possibilities. -
1:12 - 1:16Often, our play would go
to the back alley, -
1:16 - 1:20or it would go down the street
to our neighborhood friend's house. -
1:20 - 1:26I have no memory of my parents
being anywhere close by -
1:27 - 1:30or calling next door
to arrange a play date. -
1:31 - 1:34I imagine that these memories
sound familiar to many of you -
1:34 - 1:36sitting in the audience today.
-
1:37 - 1:40Think of yourself playing as a child.
-
1:41 - 1:47Now raise your hand
if your play took place outside. -
1:49 - 1:53Leave your hand up if your parents
were nowhere in sight. -
1:53 - 1:55(Laughter)
-
1:55 - 1:56Unfortunately,
-
1:56 - 2:03to far too many children today,
being outdoors is a far, foreign place. -
2:03 - 2:06Kids with an interest in going outside
-
2:06 - 2:09are often guided
by their parents or society -
2:09 - 2:13to stay indoors to avoid
discomfort and danger. -
2:13 - 2:19Or they are distracted
by a wide array of electronic devices -
2:19 - 2:21that passively entertain them.
-
2:22 - 2:25According to US research,
-
2:25 - 2:30over half of preschoolers
do not go outside on a daily basis -
2:30 - 2:31with their parents.
-
2:32 - 2:37This photograph of a couple
of preschoolers on their iPads worries me. -
2:38 - 2:41No. Actually, it scares me.
-
2:42 - 2:46Research in Canada suggests
that children ages six to eleven -
2:46 - 2:51spend seven and a half hours
being inactive every day. -
2:51 - 2:52In the UK,
-
2:52 - 2:55they found that over 40% of parents
-
2:55 - 3:01don't believe that children under the age
of 14 should go outside unsupervised. -
3:01 - 3:05So what is society doing about this?
-
3:06 - 3:10I want to tell you today about
how we developed a Nature Kindergarten -
3:10 - 3:12in our community
-
3:12 - 3:15to connect young children with nature.
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3:15 - 3:19My story begins in 2010
-
3:19 - 3:24when our family took a four-month
sabbatical to Munich, Germany. -
3:24 - 3:27Our son, Niko, was four at the time.
-
3:27 - 3:33And given my enthusiasm
about connecting children to the outdoors, -
3:33 - 3:38you can imagine how excited
I was to enroll him in a Waldkindergarten, -
3:38 - 3:40forest kindergarten.
-
3:41 - 3:45Forest preschools have been
part of a northern European tradition -
3:45 - 3:47for over 60 years.
-
3:48 - 3:50There is no bad weather,
-
3:50 - 3:52only bad clothing.
-
3:52 - 3:56Send the kids outside, rain or shine.
-
3:57 - 4:02Have you ever noticed
that it's usually adults, not children, -
4:02 - 4:05who don't want to go
outside in bad weather? -
4:05 - 4:07(Laughter)
-
4:07 - 4:10Northern Europeans have long understood
-
4:10 - 4:13the benefits of taking
young children outside, -
4:13 - 4:18and so they developed these programs
for three- to six-year-olds. -
4:19 - 4:20Each day,
-
4:20 - 4:24a trained early-childhood educator
would take the children outside -
4:24 - 4:28to learn and play in unstructured ways
-
4:28 - 4:31and often with limited adult supervision.
-
4:31 - 4:35While Niko's program
took place in a municipal forest, -
4:35 - 4:42these programs have also been successfully
established on farms and in city parks. -
4:43 - 4:49Ironically, Niko and I spent over an hour
commuting to his program - -
4:49 - 4:54first by bike, then by subway,
then by streetcar, and eventually on foot -
4:54 - 4:57to arrive at the forest.
-
4:57 - 5:01While the children
in Wurzelkinder Waldkindergarten -
5:01 - 5:05spent part of their day
in and around these caravans, -
5:05 - 5:09it was their daily excursion
to the forest or riverbank -
5:09 - 5:12that was the part
of the program that is unique. -
5:13 - 5:14Along the way,
-
5:14 - 5:20their educators would help them name
and notice berries, bugs, slugs. -
5:20 - 5:21And when they got there,
-
5:21 - 5:25they would sit on the forest floor
in a circular fashion, -
5:25 - 5:30give thanks to nature, enjoy a snack,
and then they would play. -
5:31 - 5:34Occasionally, I asked
for permission to participate. -
5:35 - 5:37I was amazed at what I saw.
-
5:37 - 5:42What a world of difference compared
to the co-op preschool model back home. -
5:42 - 5:49I was intrigued by how young children
walked one- to two-kilometer distances -
5:49 - 5:50without complaining
-
5:50 - 5:53and often out of the sight of an adult,
-
5:53 - 6:00how puddles became invitations
to create makeshift boats and get wet, -
6:00 - 6:02and how the educators stood back
-
6:02 - 6:06and allowed the children
to independently struggle -
6:06 - 6:09with the physics of getting
a stick into the ground -
6:09 - 6:12to make a goalpost for soccer.
-
6:13 - 6:16I appreciated the care and detail
-
6:16 - 6:19that went into making crafts
out of natural objects, -
6:19 - 6:21rather than paper and glitter,
-
6:21 - 6:26and how the change of seasons
were celebrated through song and dance. -
6:27 - 6:31I was shocked by the risks that were taken
-
6:31 - 6:36when young children were allowed to swim
in the fast-flowing Isar River, -
6:36 - 6:39when they tied ropes around trees,
-
6:39 - 6:44and the children would traverse
up and down the hillside in the dirt, -
6:44 - 6:50when four-year-olds, my son included,
were given sharp knives -
6:50 - 6:52so that they can whittle sticks
-
6:52 - 6:57in order to be able to roast
a sausage over an open flame. -
6:57 - 7:01"Risk," it turns out,
is not a four-letter word -
7:01 - 7:03to German parents and educators.
-
7:03 - 7:06It is a vehicle to independence.
-
7:08 - 7:10When I wasn't participating
in Niko's program, -
7:10 - 7:14I took that streetcar
a few stops further along, -
7:14 - 7:19and I sat in a cafe, and I leisurely read
a book or the newspaper. -
7:20 - 7:23While this was initially
self-indulgent bliss -
7:23 - 7:26for a full-time working mom
on sabbatical, -
7:27 - 7:32the novelty ended, and I became restless
to become productive. -
7:32 - 7:35I am German after all.
-
7:35 - 7:37(Laughter)
-
7:37 - 7:43So I shared my woes of non-productivity
with my remotely sympathetic spouse. -
7:44 - 7:50And it is he who I should credit
with the idea of a Nature Kindergarten -
7:50 - 7:52because he shifted my thinking,
-
7:52 - 7:56and my principled mind
started turning over new ideas. -
7:57 - 7:59By the time we returned to Canada,
-
7:59 - 8:02I had not only experienced
forest preschools firsthand, -
8:02 - 8:04but I'd also read a few books,
-
8:04 - 8:08and I talked to several
of Niko's educators. -
8:08 - 8:13As the person responsible for
the district's curriculum and programs, -
8:13 - 8:19I was well positioned to pitch the idea
of transplanting a Nature Kindergarten -
8:19 - 8:22to a school district in British Columbia.
-
8:22 - 8:27My supervisor trusted in my capacity
to start a new program, -
8:27 - 8:30and I knew where to find collaborators.
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8:30 - 8:34Early-childhood professor Enid Elliot
-
8:34 - 8:38was my first and
most critical collaborator. -
8:38 - 8:41Over a course of two years,
-
8:41 - 8:44Enid and I gathered
a community of individuals -
8:44 - 8:47from a wide variety of backgrounds
-
8:47 - 8:51who were generous
with their ideas and their time. -
8:52 - 8:56We all believed in the value
of our own time spent outside -
8:56 - 8:58as young children,
-
8:58 - 9:00the importance of play,
-
9:00 - 9:05and the need to respond to the factors
that were keeping children indoors today. -
9:06 - 9:10Together, we envisioned
a kindergarten program -
9:11 - 9:15at a school that was adjacent
to a forest and a lagoon. -
9:16 - 9:20And we envisioned children going outside
for two and a half hours every morning, -
9:20 - 9:22regardless of the weather.
-
9:23 - 9:26They would follow the mandated
kindergarten curriculum -
9:26 - 9:30outside in the morning
and indoors in the afternoon. -
9:31 - 9:35We hoped that nature
would become their third teacher, -
9:35 - 9:39that their mental
and physical health would improve, -
9:39 - 9:42that they would become
stewards of the environment, -
9:43 - 9:46and that they would learn
the Aboriginal ways of knowing -
9:46 - 9:49of the First Nations people.
-
9:50 - 9:57Meet Lisa and Erin, kindergarten teacher
and early-childhood educator. -
9:57 - 10:00Together, they took the idea
of a Nature Kindergarten -
10:00 - 10:03and transformed it into practice.
-
10:04 - 10:09Observing great teaching
leaves me feeling charged up and hopeful. -
10:10 - 10:14Spending a morning with Lisa,
Erin, and their students -
10:14 - 10:17always leaves me
with this energized feeling. -
10:18 - 10:23Each day, they go outside,
and they create a learning environment -
10:23 - 10:27that develops organically according to
what the kids are interested in -
10:27 - 10:32and the unknown wonders
of the natural world. -
10:32 - 10:38Through self-reflection, collaboration,
and the occasional frustrated tear, -
10:38 - 10:41they move their educational
practice forward. -
10:42 - 10:46To date, 65 children
have completed our program. -
10:46 - 10:48I am pleased to tell you
-
10:48 - 10:53that we have hardly used
our risk-management plan. -
10:53 - 10:57No child has ever been lost,
endangered by wildlife, -
10:57 - 10:59or seriously injured.
-
10:59 - 11:00Phew.
-
11:00 - 11:01(Laughter)
-
11:01 - 11:04Parents have overwhelmingly reported
-
11:04 - 11:07that the program has exceeded
their expectations. -
11:07 - 11:11And when researchers
compared the Nature Kindergarten -
11:11 - 11:14to a regular kindergarten class,
-
11:14 - 11:18they found significantly
greater gains in four areas. -
11:19 - 11:24Those four areas were locomotor skills,
assertiveness, cooperation, -
11:24 - 11:26and self-control.
-
11:27 - 11:29So let's go through them one by one.
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11:29 - 11:31Locomotor skills.
-
11:33 - 11:35This log in the background
of the photograph -
11:35 - 11:41is about 20 feet long, six inches wide,
and about five feet off the ground. -
11:41 - 11:42Last year,
-
11:42 - 11:47it sat in the Royal Roads Forest
and got noticed by our students. -
11:48 - 11:50At first, they hung off of it,
-
11:50 - 11:52then they bummed along it,
-
11:52 - 11:54then they crawled along it,
-
11:54 - 11:57and eventually - you guessed it -
-
11:57 - 12:02they walked across
this very long and skinny log. -
12:02 - 12:03Fortunately,
-
12:03 - 12:09there were no concerned playground
licensing officers anywhere close by. -
12:09 - 12:10(Laughter)
-
12:11 - 12:16We need to empower young children
to take age-appropriate risks -
12:16 - 12:17on their own.
-
12:17 - 12:24We know that by doing so, they will lead
healthier and safer lives as young adults. -
12:26 - 12:31These logs provide otherwise clumsy
and uncoordinated children -
12:31 - 12:35with the ability to prove themselves
to be expert climbers. -
12:36 - 12:39Picture Nature Kindergarten children
moving and playing -
12:39 - 12:42for two and a half hours every morning,
-
12:42 - 12:44and you won't be surprised to learn
-
12:44 - 12:50that they improve their strength
and agility to run, hop, and climb. -
12:52 - 12:54Assertiveness.
-
12:54 - 12:56Every day last year,
-
12:56 - 12:59the class walked past
a couple of anthills. -
12:59 - 13:02The children became connected to the ants
-
13:02 - 13:06as they do to most living things
in "their" forest." -
13:07 - 13:09As the year went along,
-
13:09 - 13:13they noticed that people were throwing
sticks and rocks on the anthills, -
13:13 - 13:15causing them to get damaged.
-
13:16 - 13:20The children identified themselves
as the ants' caretakers, -
13:20 - 13:22and they decided to voice their opinions.
-
13:23 - 13:27"You can't step on the anthills!
They're part of nature!" -
13:27 - 13:29"We need to take care of them!"
-
13:29 - 13:32"Ants help pollinate flowers!"
-
13:33 - 13:38So they got together as a group,
and they made signs and posters, -
13:38 - 13:42and they taught others
how to take care of the ants. -
13:44 - 13:45Lucky ants -
-
13:46 - 13:49four- and five-year-olds
taking care of them, -
13:49 - 13:52not squashing them with their boots.
-
13:52 - 13:54Cooperation.
-
13:54 - 13:58The children soon learn
that staying safe and happy in the forest -
13:58 - 14:02means cooperating
and caring for each other. -
14:02 - 14:05Cooperation is a team effort.
-
14:05 - 14:10"Help! This log is too heavy for me!"
-
14:10 - 14:12Ava's friends rush over,
-
14:12 - 14:15and they help her carry
the branch down the path. -
14:15 - 14:21"You have to walk
one, two, one, two, one, two!" -
14:21 - 14:24Ava's more confident friend
Eli offers up. -
14:24 - 14:29And soon, their classmates
start walking at a similar speed. -
14:30 - 14:34"My arm is getting sore.
When can we switch?" -
14:35 - 14:39"You have to keep going!"
yells Zoe from the back of the log. -
14:39 - 14:44No adults - just kids organizing kids.
-
14:46 - 14:47Self-control.
-
14:47 - 14:50Using sticks, rocks, and dirt,
-
14:50 - 14:54the children in the Nature Kindergarten
learn to focus themselves -
14:54 - 14:57during listening times in the forest.
-
14:58 - 15:01Being outdoors in the wide, open spaces
-
15:02 - 15:05makes it easy to accept noises and actions
-
15:05 - 15:10that may be considered too loud
or destructive indoors. -
15:10 - 15:15So the Nature Kindergarten children
realize that you can bark like a dog, -
15:15 - 15:18or you can dig a hole
next to your classmate, -
15:18 - 15:22and no one will be annoyed
with your unconventional ways. -
15:23 - 15:24We did it.
-
15:24 - 15:30We transplanted a forest preschool
to a school district in British Columbia. -
15:31 - 15:36What we didn't anticipate is how
the interest in this idea would grow. -
15:36 - 15:41The Nature Kindergarten
was at the front end of a wave of interest -
15:41 - 15:44in outdoor programs for young children.
-
15:44 - 15:49There are now over 20 programs
like this across the province, -
15:49 - 15:53with several examples
in different school districts. -
15:53 - 15:56(Applause)
-
16:02 - 16:04You can't do this overnight,
-
16:05 - 16:07so be thoughtful in your process
-
16:07 - 16:11and generous in how you
support your educators. -
16:12 - 16:17Every generation is different,
but nature is our constant. -
16:17 - 16:23Being outside as a young child
helped define who I am today, -
16:23 - 16:26what I value, and how I spend my time.
-
16:27 - 16:31I hope that my own children,
nieces and nephews, -
16:31 - 16:34and the children who I educate
-
16:34 - 16:37will develop this same
connection to nature. -
16:38 - 16:43The future of our planet
depends on raising children -
16:43 - 16:47who have reasons to protect
the world they live in. -
16:47 - 16:49(Applause)
- Title:
- Nature Kindergarten | Frances Krusekopf | TEDxVictoria
- Description:
-
Inspired by her child’s experience in a forest preschool in Germany, Frances Krusekopf has developed a pilot project for kindergarten children to take their learning outdoors - and it has begun to take off.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 17:04
Rhonda Jacobs approved English subtitles for Nature Kindergarten | Frances Krusekopf | TEDxVictoria | ||
Rhonda Jacobs accepted English subtitles for Nature Kindergarten | Frances Krusekopf | TEDxVictoria | ||
Rhonda Jacobs edited English subtitles for Nature Kindergarten | Frances Krusekopf | TEDxVictoria | ||
Rhonda Jacobs edited English subtitles for Nature Kindergarten | Frances Krusekopf | TEDxVictoria | ||
Mirjana Čutura edited English subtitles for Nature Kindergarten | Frances Krusekopf | TEDxVictoria | ||
Mirjana Čutura edited English subtitles for Nature Kindergarten | Frances Krusekopf | TEDxVictoria | ||
Mirjana Čutura edited English subtitles for Nature Kindergarten | Frances Krusekopf | TEDxVictoria | ||
Mirjana Čutura edited English subtitles for Nature Kindergarten | Frances Krusekopf | TEDxVictoria |