In a world where everything needs to fall into a category and be controlled, the magical element of children’s play and the unpredictable healing power of the natural environment is often misunderstood, for they cannot fit neatly into boxes…
Through the years of doing Forest School, I’ve faced many criticisms and questions about the wild and “unruly” behaviours of our children when they play in the natural environment. Forest School or not, when children spend enough time in the woods, their natural instinct for play surfaces.
Children’s play relationship with the environment
It arises first as an acknowledgement of their relationships with Nature, touching and playing in the environment. Then, it increases in intensity to play-manipulation, via picking, collecting, and creating with what is provided in Nature.
As is Nature herself, children’s sense of creation comes also with a sense of destruction. Children would attempt to “destroy” and break down the complex elements they face, usually out of curiosity at first, then with menace (there are of course some, who have a high level of repression stored within them, that would be unleashed with fury upon all around them when triggered).
Once children fully connect with the environment through play and the engagement of life cycles, they start having a deeper relationship with the space and with themselves as well.
Through wild play, children demonstrate a pattern of engagement that most closely mirrors the pattern of Nature, as bestowed upon every child is a vibration of energy closest to the source of life, which is seemingly random yet purposeful at the same time. In the long run, this pattern of engagement leads to the overall health and biodiversity of the environment that they play in.
Stories from the Stars & Earth…
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At a garden in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, children of “Forest of Stars” wander and play vibrantly. They climb trees, build dens, dig, make mud kitchens, pick fruits, tumble, roll, spin and absolutely go wild under the tropical sun and rain conditions. They do this almost daily, from 8am to 11am, with little morning rituals and breaks in between. This makes for a full 2-3 hours of time under the sun, in their “forest”.
The environment that they call their forest grew in biodiversity over time. The space was previously unkempt with trash and exuded an element of lifelessness.
After 2 years of having the children and community play in her womb, the space has transformed into a land with life vibrating from all corners.
The Forest of Stars’ teachers and children made a conscious effort to recognise the land as a co-being, not some inanimate resource. They speak with the space and her creatures, while also playing in it, and taking only what they need. It was a pattern in sync with trust.
The environment blossomed.
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At a Desert space in Qatar, a group of children and community roam the sea of sand, playing and learning together in their Desert School.
Most of us know the Desert as being barren, but to the local folks, she expresses herself clearly to them.
In their play and engagement with the land, the desert school practitioners observed an amazing phenomenon. The desert space where children play in started to show signs of increased life energy, such as growth of plants, as compared with other places that children never play in. The desert is subtle in her own way, showing us what she enjoys.
The environment blossomed.
Where we are at now……
The pursuit for results and efficiency in the adult world have so often desensitised us to the connection that is shown to us through the play and engagement of our children with the environment.
I love this passage from Carol Black’s “On the Wildness of Children”, it sums up the essence of this connection really well……
“…World is too beautiful to substitute for, and the wildest of our children––the ones they have to put on Ritalin, the ones they have to put on Prozac–– know it. These children are the canaries in the coal mine, the ones who will not obey our masters, who will not take their place as cogs in the machine that is destroying the earth. They are not the ones who have a “disorder.” They are the ones who still hold the perfect Kosmos in their hearts.”
Nature blossoms in the arms of our Children, as they similarly do within her.
Written by : Darren Quek
Edited by : Wei Shimin
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