SIK-Holz_schulhof2016_en

Nature Area ‹ SIK-Holz®
09
The child's interest
depends on the
possibility of making
his own discoveries.
m. montessori
Natural Area
Experience and understand nature
With relatively small financial means, dreary schoolyards
can be turned into open air laboratories for
a dynamic and enthusiastic learning experience. To
achieve this, every schoolyard needs a sustainable
"green framework" of trees, shrubs, lawns and flower
beds. The more diversity, the better. It is comparatively
easy to bring a beautiful flower field to the schoolyard.
It requires only a pieces of open soil. Already in the
first year many wild herbs will grow.
The interaction of flora and fauna can be increased
within the areas of the schoolyard which are not
frequented very much. By creating heaps of leaves and
stones, and ideally also a small pond, many birds, insects
and small animals will be attracted to the schoolyard.
Nesting boxes and insect hotels can be built to
observe those animals. Each child should also be able
to experience the life of a plant from sowing to harvest
during his school days. No great efforts are necessary
for this. A small bed for each child, about half a
square meter, is sufficient. Raised beds with a height
of 50 cm are especially advantageous. Here, children
who use wheelchairs or carry prostheses can also do
garden work. Another way to create a little garden for
each child is to use mobile vegetable boxes that can be
taken home during the holidays. After the harvest, the
vegetables can be prepared and eaten together. Or it is
processed into jam, dried fruit or tea. All of these are
defining social experiences with very complex learning
contents. In the computer age these things must not
be lost.
Each child should also learn how waste food and plant
matter become valuable compost. Here the importance
of earthworms, snails, beetles and other bugs can be
learned through observation. Simple compost containers
can be constructed by stacking and wedging some
wooden boards. By evenly mixing dry and wet waste,
annoying odors are prevented. But these also belong to
the sensual experience of nature in a schoolyard.
Other sensory experiences in the schoolyard can be
self-built wind chimes that hang in the trees and
appeal to the sense of hearing. Or the familiar touch
path, which, by touching natural elements with feet
or hands, trains the tactile sense and the temperature
sense. The sense of balance is trained by interesting
opportunities for movement. There are many examples
for this on the following pages. Only the entirety of
the senses lets us experience the dimensions of our self.