"Without the nature there is nothing. Nature is the basis for everything." (Fred Jüssi - Estonian natureman) Project: "See - Our Nature!" From this project is taking part 6 kindergartens from different European countries - Estonia, Bulgaria, Italy, Latvia, Cyprus and Croatia. In the fast-changing world there is a knowledge that nature is the basis for everything. We tend to care, love and protect things that we know. So we need to get to know and understand nature to protect it. And we need to start it very early on because the early years (0-6) are very important in children's development. There is a broad consensus that the experiences of very young children shape the foundations of their later life. The idea for the project came from the need that the education, learning and also the world itself has changed. We have so many artificial things and technology around us that it is hard to understand what is real and what is not. We want the children to connect with the nature to understand the beauty, diversity and importance of it. Through nature education we want to enhance children knowledge about nature (plants, animals, climate, seasons and so on), improve their health and well-being (outdoor education), give knowledge about technology use in nature and finally educate environmentally conscious people. The project objective is to give the children broad knowledge of nature through outdoor education and observing the nature. Through outdoor education the children can be active learners in a real environment. We would establish the connection child-nature through motivated learning and in the same time increasing teachers professional competences. We will reach the objectives through three ways. Firstly each partner institution will choose 2 places (like by the sea and in the forest, or by the sea and city park). They will photograph it from the same place during the two school year every month. So we will have photo series of this nature and how it changes trough the seasons. We will make a video and picture books "See - Our Nature!" from them. In addition we will make a short story or poem with the pictures. Through the observing these places we will be able to learn about our local nature, seasonal changes and show it to our partner institutions children. The second way is through planned activities in the children groups on given themes. We will make mostly outdoor activities. Each meeting has its own theme (like forest, sea, climate and so on) and before the meeting we will make learning activities with the children. We will share them in our blog and the best ones will be put in our e-books. The third way are the joint staff training events that will be in given themes and we will show each other different ways/methods to make nature education teaching and learning interesting. The added value of the project is the possibility to carry it out transnationally and to learn and share with teachers from different countries, educational systems, cultural backgrounds and with different nature environments.
"Without the nature there is nothing. Nature is the basis for everything." (Fred Jüssi - Estonian natureman) Project: "See - Our Nature!" From this project is taking part 6 kindergartens from different European countries - Estonia, Bulgaria, Italy, Latvia, Cyprus and Croatia. In the fast-changing world there is a knowledge that nature is the basis for everything. We tend to care, love and protect things that we know. So we need to get to know and understand nature to protect it. And we need to start it very early on because the early years (0-6) are very important in children's development. There is a broad consensus that the experiences of very young children shape the foundations of their later life. The idea for the project came from the need that the education, learning and also the world itself has changed. We have so many artificial things and technology around us that it is hard to understand what is real and what is not. We want the children to connect with the nature to understand the beauty, diversity and importance of it. Through nature education we want to enhance children knowledge about nature (plants, animals, climate, seasons and so on), improve their health and well-being (outdoor education), give knowledge about technology use in nature and finally educate environmentally conscious people. The project objective is to give the children broad knowledge of nature through outdoor education and observing the nature. Through outdoor education the children can be active learners in a real environment. We would establish the connection child-nature through motivated learning and in the same time increasing teachers professional competences. We will reach the objectives through three ways. Firstly each partner institution will choose 2 places (like by the sea and in the forest, or by the sea and city park). They will photograph it from the same place during the two school year every month. So we will have photo series of this nature and how it changes trough the seasons. We will make a video and picture books "See - Our Nature!" from them. In addition we will make a short story or poem with the pictures. Through the observing these places we will be able to learn about our local nature, seasonal changes and show it to our partner institutions children. The second way is through planned activities in the children groups on given themes. We will make mostly outdoor activities. Each meeting has its own theme (like forest, sea, climate and so on) and before the meeting we will make learning activities with the children. We will share them in our blog and the best ones will be put in our e-books. The third way are the joint staff training events that will be in given themes and we will show each other different ways/methods to make nature education teaching and learning interesting. The added value of the project is the possibility to carry it out transnationally and to learn and share with teachers from different countries, educational systems, cultural backgrounds and with different nature environments.