Rebecca Rainbow

Spring is (almost springing!)
The question I pose here is ‘How do children connect to nature?’ You of course may be reading this overshadowed by a large tree and a garden awash with spring bulbs and your child/ ren, happily playing in their tree house at the bottom of the garden.
Many children however, are less fortunate and experience nature as a ‘separate’ experience. A few years ago I took my class of inner city cheeky ones to ‘the countryside’. They professed to be street wise about towners’ but put in the open wilds they sat, eating their packed lunches in the woods with their hoods up in case insects would fall on their heads! They then spent the rest of the afternoon totally obsessed with a dead fox. Their focus on the dead animal and all that comes with such a morbid fascination with natures constant cycle slowly freed them up. They’d forgotten about rogue insects out to invade their sandwiches, and instead slowly opened up to the forgotten time waves that being in nature generates.
As we approach the natural cycles of say Equinox it is really important to pay reference to that great guide; The Sun which, at every turn governs how we live. Equinox, is when day and night are of equal length and is half way between the Winter and Summer Solstices (shortest and longest days). At Spring Equinox (usually around the 21st March) the days begin to gain light. In Autumn (around September the 21st), light decreases. In ancient times most celebrated these ‘times of balance’ in different ways. When your life is literally dependant on your limited crops gaining strength, this promise of longer days lifted spirits and brought joy.
These ‘wheels of the year’ directly affect children, probably more than adults. For them it means playing outside for longer. In the Winter it means not playing outside at all. (|Boo Hoo!) But how to explain the actual science of How and Why?
You could explain to them simply that our part of the planet is now, as each day passes, leaning closer and closer to the sun; flooding us with more light and more heat. Have some fun with a demonstration: Place something large like a ball / bean bag in the centre and pretend to orbit. As you orbit begin to lean more towards it (careful – don’t fall over!) This can give the idea of the closeness of Earth to the Sun. Leaning back as you orbit, creates the impression of the Suns rays having to reach further; making it cooler and darker.
Spring! Time to grow! Time to create! Make this real. Take any seeds – apples pips, beans. Soak in water overnight first. Place in compost, keep moist and place on the windowsill in any type of container. Experiment with any seeds. Make simple charts and measure which seeds grow more quickly. Does the seed with lots of water grow faster than the seed with a little etc etc. It could be a really fun natural experiment. Make a whole seed testing laboratory!
Whilst the government has removed statatory Science Tests at the end of KS2 in Primary Schools, they can, at any time do a sample test at any school. But with the dropping of official tests it now releases the children to really learn about Science naturally and with fun. We keep hearing research of how there are so many more jobs available in Science and Technology but how much fun is most science learning?
You are a natural teacher. Children just generally need a few materials, your willingness to let them make a bit of a mess and off they go! Your feedback and focused questioning, can help embedd such rich learning that will stay with them. A fictional, yet nonetheless life like example of this was in the film; Slum Dog Millionaire – the questions the young boy answered with prize winning accuracy were from real life experiences, not text books.
As for the balance of night and day. Children never seem to be amazed when planets, stars and the universe are mentioned. Because, like most of us, they have to be reminded that we are tiny specs on a tiny planet in an infinite universe. Wow! Just that visualisation of us orbiting around the glowing orb is enough to fire up their imagination and relieve them of the daily worries and thoughts that often inhabit most busy minds.
Enjoy that feeling of balance. Have a day with your child /ren Doing and Being; Do Be Do Be Do!
Don’t forget to water your seedlings. You never know what may grow!

Rebecca Rainbow Elliott.