Leap into Nature and EYLF

Having two young children has meant my interest in the way they learn and develop has increased.  One of the key documents that I have been reading is the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia.  There are sections which also link in quite well with Leap into Nature and the objective of having an outdoor, nature-based playgroup, where the main focus is unstructured play and play-based learning. 

The document lists five key learning outcomes, the main elements that caught my eye were related to Outcome 2: ' Children are connected with and contribute to their world'.  In this section, I found the following points most relevant. Children:

• become socially responsible and show respect for the environment;
  
• demonstrate an increasing knowledge of, and respect for natural (and constructed) environments;
  
• explore, infer, predict and hypothesise in order to develop an increased understanding of the interdependence between land, people, plants and animals;
  
• show growing appreciation and care for natural (and constructed) environments;
  
• explore relationships with other living and non-living things and observe, notice and respond to change; and
  
• develop an awareness of the impact of human activity on environments and the interdependence of living things (Commonwealth of Australia 2009) .
  

These points encapsulate what I would love to develop in my own children and those that wish to be a part of Leap into Nature sessions.

You can download the EYLF from http://education.gov.au/early-years-learning-framework
Reference: Commonwealth of Australia (2009) The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia: Becoming, Being and Belonging. Produced by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations for the Council of Australian Governments, Canberra.