The practice aims to stimulate the learning of pre-school aged children through educational activities that increase the care for the environment.
The laboratory is divided in two parts:
- There are practical educational activities that stimulate the contact with the natural elements and teach about the relationship between cultivation – production – nutrition.
- With the help of children’s parents, a garden is realised and managed further on with the children, by experiencing the concrete practice of gardening and concepts like ecological cycle, ecosystem, metabolism.
Objectives
Materials
Implementation
Evaluation
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Children’s interest, fun and passion.
The understanding of the meaning of the activities
The stories about the laboratory told by the children to their parents and to the teachers
The passion and fun shown by the teachers and the group members
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Boredom, lack of understanding and no interest showed sometimes by the children: in this case the best way is to find other ways of involvement.
Συμβουλές
Aims
Through direct experience and experimentation, children discover and get familiarized with:
- Flavours, colours, smells, sounds
- Shapes, growth, transformation
- Water, land, air, humidity, drought
- Tools, utensils and materials (only for children’s use)
- The feeling of waiting
The main aim is to help children understand concepts like ecological cycle, ecosystem, metabolism, the respect for the nature and to give them knowledge about rural environment and culture, since they don’t normally have the possibility to be in contact with this reality.
Outcomes
The results with most impact registered in this first phase of the activities is the enthusiasm, passion and interest showed by the children. Through play and practical activities they understand the relation between the seed and the plant, the cycle of the seeding, the watering and the sprout; the love and care that the agricultural production requires and therefore the respect for what we eat.
