Early-Childhood and Nature-Based Learning
These six summaries look at how young children, from birth to about age seven, connect with the natural world, and at teaching approaches designed for this stage. Two report on specific programs: a weekly nature program for four-year-olds at a Melbourne preschool, and an eight-week, hands-on project about waste and recycling with five-year-olds in Istanbul. A third follows student teachers in a U.S. college course as they learned to lead lessons outdoors. Two are reviews. One draws together 72 studies on teaching young children to care for the world around them. The other brings together 28 studies on what goes along with a stronger connection to nature. The sixth sets out a practical framework for planning nature play as a full kindergarten program. Taken together, they point to experiences that are hands-on and regular, with time for children to talk, draw, and play about what they discover. They also show that families matter, that the quality of outdoor time counts for more than the amount, and that confident, well-prepared educators make the difference.
For more, read the eePRO blog post: What Research on Early Childhood and Nature-Based Learning Tells Us About Practice
This review brings together 28 studies and indicates that children's connection to nature is shaped by family values, the quality of outdoor activities and even the weather—not simply by how much time they spend outside. The authors argue that programmes involving whole families may be more effective than those aimed at individual children.
Guidelines: Emphasis on skills building, Instructional effectiveness
When eight student teachers in a U.S. college literacy course spent a semester doing more than 35 hands-on outdoor activities, most said they felt more confident about teaching outdoors and planned to take young children outside.
Guidelines: Emphasis on skills building, Instructional effectiveness
A useful read if you teach "reduce, reuse, recycle" to preschoolers: 5-year-olds grasped recycling well through hands-on projects, but using less needed its own planned attention.
Guidelines: Depth of understanding, Emphasis on skills building
A review of 72 studies on teaching young children to care for their world, with practical ideas for pairing outdoor exploration with talk, drawing, drama, and stories.
Guidelines: Depth of understanding, Emphasis on skills building, Instructional effectiveness
This conceptual paper argues that nature play works best when planned as a whole curriculum—aims, content, delivery, and evaluation designed together—rather than as occasional outdoor add-ons.
Guidelines: Instructional effectiveness
Regular time in the bush may do more than build environmental awareness: teachers at a Melbourne preschool reported improvements in children's behaviour, empathy, and coping alongside their growing sustainable attitudes. Parents described children picking up litter, talking about the planet, and forming attachments to particular trees over the same period.
Guidelines: Emphasis on skills building