The children that got to discover nature and meet the little pancake mouse

By the fjord, there is a garden. Great leaves in the grass are tossed about by the wind. Into the garden, children come running. Laughing, they throw leaves in the air.

“Come over here! I hear something.”

Maritha Berger Nylund waves the kids over.

They crouch together over a little hole in the ground.

“Down there, between the roots, lives a little mouse,” she says.

They’re located at HVL’s Stord campus, where kindergarteners play their own important part, in addition to the students and educators.

Villvettene kindergarten lies down the hill from the campus buildings, in a park area colloquially known as the school garden. There is no visible border between the garden and the kindergarten. Whereas most kindergartens in Norway are surrounded by a protective fence and gate, here, there are no such obstacles.

Not that big, yet covered in dirt

The pitter patter of little feet, kicking up the dry autumn leaves, gets louder and louder. A small group of children are on their way to reap some of what they sowed during spring.

In one part of the garden, the kindergarteners also get to be gardeners.

The students at the kindergarten teacher program spend lots of time here, alongside the kids. They learn from one another, developing the area together.

By spending time in with the kids in the garden, the students learn how to use nature and the local resources throughout the year. They experiment, explore, play and talk with the children, and through all this, they get to reflect on the role nature plays in a good childhood.

“Sometimes the children have more knowledge about the vegetables than the students do. When that happens, you can tell that they feel important,” she says.

“During childhood, kids are often put aside, because it is easier to accomplish tasks without them. Perhaps you cook your meals without including the children, because it gets done faster that way. As an adult, you usually just want to get things done,” Nylund explains.

However, one should be wary of excluding the children from practical tasks, according to Nylund and Nappen.

“If the children are given responsibilities, they also get to influence the way in which a task is accomplished. As a result, they will understand their role in the world differently, as well as their role in nature, which they are part of. That is of huge significance,” says Nappen.

Head, heart and hands

If we take a closer look at these seemingly small experiences, they are, in fact, not at all small. They can have a large impact for the way the child understands and moves about in the world. The projects in the garden by the fjord are about building a friendship with nature, about feeling that our actions have consequences for everything around us.

“We are concerned with learning not just with your head, but also, with your heart and hands,” says Kari Grutle Nappen.

The holistic approach gives children the opportunity to work manually and create something tangible. This enables them to builds skills, and furthermore, gives them a deep feeling of responsibility for both the task at hand and the community as a whole. Learning to treat nature with respect in this way also contributes to giving the kids knowledge about sustainability and the role they play in it.

Adversity and the feeling of mastery

Some days are wet or cold. The north wind tears at your clothes, and both children and adults daydream of being inside, all warm and cozy.

However, the vegetable garden awaits. Without the proper care, valuable produce may go to waste.

“The children know that it won´t be fun at all times, but that is part of the challenge of practical work. When they have accomplished their tasks, perhaps getting both cold and tired in the process, that is when they get the feeling of mastery: I endured that bad weather. I went through that adversity."

Maritha and the children crouch down once more.

The pancake mice have something to say.

The story of the pancake mice came into being years ago, when one of the employees in the kindergarten arrived late. She had walked past the tree root many times, but this morning, a very special story ended up unfolding. Instead of explaining to the kids why she was late, she told them what she heard.

“I heard them yelling: Katrine! These tiny, little voices. That is when I saw the itsy, bitsy mice.”

After this morning, the mice became an important part of life in the kindergarten. Shortly thereafter, they found out that these mice loved pancakes, just like the kids did.

Noticing particularities

“When we didn’t see the mice again, we imagined that they might have gone on vacation, and that we would have to write them letters,” Maritha recalls.

“By combining the world of fantasy with what goes on in nature, we can, for instance, learn a lot about mice. This way of looking at nature is something we work hard to make the students see. If they find confidence in themselves and in their role, they have a good chance of succeeding in just that”, says Nylund.

 

Text: Mari-Louise Uldbæk Stephan

Photography: Ingvild Festervoll Melien and Kari Grutle Nappen