I’ve had the pleasure over the last three years to specialize my work in providing nature-based early childhood programs to day cares, learning centers and preschools through our Preschool Environmental Education Project (PEEP). These first introductory programs with children as young as one year old are when we:
- Plant the seed of curiosity, wonder and mystery
- Provide an environment of imagination, growth and learning
- Model the process and joy of discovery
- Encourage physical, intellectual, social and emotional growth through play and reflection
The journey described above is not one long life-time trajectory. Just like the seasons, this process is cyclical and offers new opportunities at each stage. Nature can be simply a sensory experience or one that can engage the intellect in extremely complex ways. A butterfly can be so many things to someone throughout their lives — from a delicate, fluttering shape passing in view to amazing insects that make a four generation journey to the north with a 1500 mile migration from Wisconsin back to Mexico!
Think of water, flowers, birds, trees, apples, rocks and the countless number of things we think of as nature and try to remember or imagine what those items meant to you when you first saw, felt, heard, tasted and smelled them. Then try to follow your knowledge of it growing through the years. Each are now concepts filled with connections for you, such as pollination, photosynthesis, decomposition or nutrition. Finally, consider the vast potential in these fascinating topics that could literally take a lifetime to explore. As an entomologist, you could study insects your whole life and still be uncovering new species and mysteries every day.
The connections made between you and nature in turn provide opportunities to connect with others that share in your passion. So, if you have the passion for nature, and you have lots of people who share this passion, the only piece to this puzzle is access! Here is where the Urban Ecology Center enters as an unassuming ambassador of connection: creating accessible, engaging, affordable experiences for everyone.
The inspiration for this article came from an amazing intergenerational program I did in the spring. After a fun, interactive story about maple sugaring, the preschoolers served the elders pancakes covered with real maple syrup boiled down by staff and volunteers in Riverside Park. Seeing a 4 year-old child serve a 92 year-old “grand-friend”, then sit down to share this sweet treat was so moving. It all became so perfectly clear. We all need nature and we all need each other.
This is the seed of connection that grows in every Urban Ecology Center. I feel honored to be part of an organization that helps tend these essential relationships.
