Now in its third edition, Nature and Young Children promotes the holistic development of children by connecting them with nature. It offers practical advice on how to set up indoor and outdoor nature play spaces as well as encouraging environmentally responsible attitudes, values and behaviour in your early childhood setting. With fully revised chapters in line with recent developments to policy and practice, and brand new material covering Early Childhood Education for Sustainability, the power of pro-nature poetry and philosophical discussions, and children living in urban environments, this book reveals just how important nature play can be in the development of young children. The user-friendly chapters offer guidance on: alternative settings for nature-focused programs culturally sensitive approaches to nature play in early childhood the role of the adult in nature-based learning using nature play for cross-curricular learning environmentally appropriate practices integrating nature education and peace education health, safety, and risky play. Highly accessible, detailed and now extensively updated, Nature and Young Children will provide all early years practitioners, teachers and students with a wealth of ideas on how to foster creative play and learning in nature-focused environments while also encouraging positive connections with nature.

From adding richness and variety to learning, to redesigning a playground, this highly accessible text will provide early years practitioners with a wealth of ideas on how to foster creative play and learning in the outdoor environment with a focus on interacting with the natural world.

Nature Education with Young Children is a thoughtful, sophisticated teacher resource that blends theory and practice on nature education, children's inquiry-based learning, and reflective teaching. The book’s guiding conceptual framework is founded upon the integration of four key ideas for effective and transformative nature education: • The power and value of equity and access to nature education • Effective teaching encompasses child development domains and integrates ECE curriculum • Children learn best through inquiry-based and child-centered teaching • Powerful teaching is founded upon teacher inquiry and reflection. Implementing nature study is one critical way that educators can integrate more science learning across the ECE curriculum and do so in an active, discovery-based manner. Nature Education with Young Children strives for an American version of what the Reggio Emilia educators do so well: creating a seamless integration of science concepts into the daily intellectual investigations that occur in classrooms everywhere.

Field-tested across the country, this comprehensive curriculum expands and extends the role science has traditionally played in the early childhood classroom. The first in a new series, Discovering Nature with Young Children explores the wide-ranging elements that make up the natural world around us. The curriculum replaces simple fact-feeding practices with the development of long-term scientific reasoning, including literacy skills and numeracy skills, such as hypothesis, inference, prediction, and estimation. A companion to the curriculum, this trainer’s guide serves as an indispensable handbook for trainers and administrators interested in introducing staff to the curriculum—from planning to implementation. Special sections outline the curriculum and introduce scientific reasoning to adults, and eight workshops detail the complete curriculum for staff members. The guide also includes strategies for supporting teachers over time through mentoring and guided discussions.

For much of human evolution, the natural world was one of the most important contexts of children's maturation. Indeed, the experience of nature was, and still may be, a critical component of human physical, emotional, intellectual, and even moral development. Yet scientific knowledge of the significance of nature during the different stages of childhood is sparse. This book provides scientific investigations and thought-provoking essays on children and nature. Children and Nature incorporates research from cognitive science, developmental psychology, ecology, education, environmental studies, evolutionary psychology, political science, primatology, psychiatry, and social psychology. The authors examine the evolutionary significance of nature during childhood; the formation of children's conceptions, values, and sympathies toward the natural world; how contact with nature affects children's physical and mental development; and the educational and political consequences of the weakened childhood experience of nature in modern society.

This is an essential text for students, teachers and practitioners in a range of early childhood education and care settings.

Young Children and the Environment is a practical, future-oriented resource that explores how early childhood educators can work with children, their families and wider community to tackle issues of sustainability. Now in its third edition, this seminal text covers Early Childhood Education for Sustainability, as well as the science of sustainability, public health, children's wellbeing, ethics and a broad range of environmental management topics. 'Stories from the Field' present practical ideas for early childhood educators to support their own learning and teaching in sustainability, and international case studies provide examples of how sustainability is taught to young children across the globe. Young Children and the Environment is a call to action for those who work with children to put in place practices for a sustainable future. This book is a vital resource for students and practitioners looking for guidance on how to implement change for the future of children and the environment.

Coastlines, rivers and natural waters have a huge amount to offer young children, providing a unique environment for their learning and development. The environment and its almost daunting size touches something deep within the children and – surprisingly – the large space brings them closer together. This book provides a comprehensive guide to Natural Water School provision by exploring its special pedagogy, the organisation and management of the Water School session and discussing the learning environment and its implications for children’s wellbeing and development. It clearly explains the key principles of this recently developed, contemporary approach and sets out a framework for setting up and leading a Natural Water School programme. The book shows how the aims and outcomes of early years education, including the Early Years Foundation Stage can all be achieved within the Natural Water School environment and is supported by examples and case studies throughout. Full of practical suggestions and activities, it includes: Activity ideas covering topics such as wildlife, sensory activities, crafts, social development, physical play and construction in different seasons Unique teaching tools to observe and develop the children Ideas for working with children of different ages and learning styles Detailed guidance on health and safety including risk assessments Offering a sound historical background, a solid pedagogical framework and a step-by-step guide to Natural Water School practice, this handy text will help students and practitioners to fully understand this new and increasingly popular approach to early years education and how it can benefit the children they care for.

This book presents new findings that deal with different facets of the well-being of children and their relevance to the proper treatment of children. The well-being of children is considered against the background of a wide variety of legal, political, medical, educational and familial perspectives. The book addresses diverse issues from a range of disciplinary perspectives using a variety of methods. It has three major sections with the essays in each section loosely organized about a common general theme. The first section focuses on issues concerning the relation between children’s well-being and autonomy or agency. The second section deals with child well-being insofar as the limits of parental authority are concerned. The third section has a more applied orientation and addresses a variety of public policy controversies involving the interpretation of children’s well-being.