In early childhood we have the opportunity to give children adventurous, deep, passion-instilling experiences that lay the foundation for their adult being in positive, compassionate, practical and truthful ways. Education lives in the day-to-day interactions between teacher and students. I take the children outside on walks or to play in the woods almost every day and it is here that we are reminded that we are not the only ones who come to the woods. Really, we are the visitors and the wild animals are the ones whose home we are in. We learn to take care of the small creatures we see, and the ones we do not; we take care of the plants and trees, and each other. If children see garbage they will pick it up or bring it to me. I do my own meditations for connecting with the nature behind our school and my own walks in the woods so that I am comfortable and confident when I go with the children. Because children can sense if we are unsure or not knowing what we’re doing.
A dear memory I have of the children in my Kindergarten took place last winter. There was no snow on the ground. The days were sunny but the nights were cold, the perfect weather for maple sap to flow. We had been checking the buckets on the tapped sugar maple trees each day on our morning walk to see if any sap had come. Sometimes we found that the sap was still frozen in the bucket, sometimes we found it dripping right there in front of our eyes from the tree. This always excited the children greatly! They liked to run from tree to tree, yelling to me how full the buckets were or if they were frozen.
One morning I knew the sap was unfrozen and flowing so I stashed a handful of paper cups in my pocket as we went on our morning walk. We found a big sugar maple tree that had a full bucket, and formed a ring, hand in hand, around its trunk. The children anxiously nudged each other and wanted desperately to have a taste of sap. But before we were to drink from the tree, I wondered out loud to them how we could ask this Old Maple tree for a taste of her sap. One little girl closed her eyes and placed her hand on the trunk of the tree, so quiet and listening. Then her friend followed, and soon all ten children were around the tree, hands placed gently on the bark with closed eyes. That first little girl was asking the tree for some sap, but she was asking with her heart. All the other children were asking with their hearts too, for a taste of sap. Her hand came off the tree, and she looked at me and said the tree had told her yes. Then each child agreed that the tree had told them they could have a taste of sap. We drank small cups of fresh, ice-cold maple sap in the forest that morning, my heart feeling warm and my soul feeling happy and inspired by the healing we all received. It is sad that we no longer understand this kind of connection or information gathering from that place in our heart. With the help of these young children and the help of nature, I am inspired every day I go to work.
