Glen Education Carnegie

Immersing in Nature 

Ling Deng, Early Childhood Educator

When we think about what is worthy of children’s time I think back to a beautiful learning opportunity that evolved when a parent brought in a big bunch of flowers for our room. The flowers were Jerusalem Artichokes.

It was the season for Jerusalem artichoke flower which were blooming in our front garden.  

Our volunteer gardener Karen (Christian’s mum), was preparing the garden for our upcoming working bee.  I chose to place the flowers into a vase, which then inspired me to set up a provocation and invite children to join in an art experience so they could create their own Jerusalem Artichoke flower painting. 

Children curiously explored this method using the materials provided which included forks, cotton tips, and brushes with green, yellow and brown acrylic paints. To my surprise each child was able to use their eyes to interpret and then paint these gorgeous flowers ‘in their own way’. The children’s work of arts was absolutely outstanding and were displayed in our room for all their families to see! Also, the amazing arts meant a big ‘thank you’ from our group to the great gardener Karen.

When children are inspired by new experiences through nature-based art, they learn how to appreciate the natural wonders of their environment that they were connected with. 

We chose to privilege this experience to enhance the children’s appreciation of our environment and to place value in the contribution of our families.