Applications for the 2024 Fall & 2025 Winter Sessions are now open - Programs will resume on August 19th
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VALUE OF UNSTRUCTURED OUTDOOR PLAY-BASED LEARNING
WHY NATURE?
Human beings are born with a genetic predisposition to be in direct contact with nature; The first years of a child's life are the most important since it is the period in which they will learn skills and attitudes that will become the basis of their personality for a lifetime, which is why their experiences during this training period will determine their way of facing the world, the level of self-confidence, how to interact with others, as well as their ability to understand and manage their own emotions while being part of a community.
Our OUTDOOR PROGRAMS are designed to positively connect adults and young children with nature through immersion activities that stimulate their innate curiosity about the natural world.
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Adults have the support of our Facilitators at the Parent & Child Institute to delve deeper into their feelings of dysregulation when emotional flooding occurs and begins to affect the attunement and the development of the "Secure Attachment" relationship with the children in their care.
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Older children attending Adventures in the Forest can express freely, without words, and through non-directed play their needs, traumas, misattunement with their main caregiver, to explore their emotions and learn how to integrate awareness into their feelings with the help of their Mentors as external regulators.
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One of the cornerstones of this educational philosophy and therapeutic approach is that there is no predetermined curriculum,
Rather, the lesson plans flow organically from what nature presents us with and from children's interests each day.
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We trust their interest reflects what they are developmentally ready to learn. We believe that young children learn best through direct experience with the natural world.
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Our goal is to tap into their sense of wonder about nature while teaching values and basic natural science principles in the field. Our role is that of a Facilitator, a Mentor and a Guide, actively modeling curiosity and engagement in nature while allowing children's interest to lead the day.
Emotional
Nature is a healing salve for anxiety and inner conflicted emotions.
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Often children reveal stress from their home life either physically or verbally. At MNP we believe It is important guide, help and give space to children to feel comfortable to talk about their feelings and troubles.
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At the same time we maintain the position that simply being in nature is therapeutic and to resist taking on the role of child-therapist or confidante.
Social
We look for children to recognize both their own abilities and those of others.
Competition is prevalent in our world, looking for the final winner in every step of our life.
The Forest kindergarten model values cooperation, teamwork and encourages the idea that we can accomplish more when we work together without taking away the right of the children to express their desires and to develop the ability to be comfortable by themselves.
Physical
There are so many physical benefits as a result of spending time outside that we could not list them all here. Benefits for children supported by scientific studies includes:
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*Increase creativity and imagination.
*Boost the immune system
*20 minutes outdoors improves the ability to focus, even in children diagnosed with ADHD.
*Reduce the risk of myopia on children and
*Helps fight anxiety and stress.