As a teacher in post-secondary education, I undertook a group of student «teachers of early
childhood» who were invited to visit kindergartens in the urban center of Thessaloniki in
Greece.
I thought it was important to focus on Froebel not only because is the creator of
kindergartens, but because I believe that it is important for children’s development the
engagement with nature.
In the urban center of Thessaloniki, unfortunately, nature in kindergartens is something you
do not encounter but something you are always looking for, and this was our springboard
thought.
After talking about the values promoted by Froebel and the importance of nature for our
internal development and social cultivation, I showed pictures of kindergartens dealing with
Frebelian education and made a comparison with the pre-existing images/knowledge we
have about kindergartens in Greece.
Then the learning became experiential. They collected materials from nature (fallen leaves
from bushes, trees, stones, wood, etc.), the purpose was to observe nature (as their
students will need to do later), to develop their imagination, to come close to the natural
environment, to experiment in a playful way and finally to make a collage with these
materials that will hide feelings, thoughts and images they felt throughout the process.
After presenting their collages, they listened to the emotions they felt throughout the
process. They concluded that it was a graceful learning process. Finally, we discussed with
the whole group how this could be done with preschool students. Collages could be the
springboard idea but also the education result. The aim is to give children to understand how
we connect with nature because this is how respect and care for it begins.