Pocket adventures: Nurturing young children’s wellbeing and development through art-in-nature early childhood education

Abstract

Introduction: This chapter introduces the work of Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination (CCI), an arts and wellbeing charity which seeks to widen young people’s access to green spaces. CCI’s work is driven by a vision of an inclusive, accessible and creative society. The chapter uses a two-part theoretical framework, human-centred design and eco-capabilities. Methods: The chapter explores young children’s lived experiences in a CCI initiative based in a nature reserve. It draws on observations of children and interviews with families and the artist-educator leading the project. Findings: The chapter discusses how art-in-nature impacted young children’s capacities for play, creativity and wellbeing, with particular attention to children’s capacities for schematic play, socio-dramatic play and stewardship of the environment. Implications: The findings suggest how art-in-nature environments can be designed to promote imaginative play, creative expression and wellbeing. Arts-in-nature can provide sensory-rich experiences, an abundance of natural stimuli, unstructured playtime that supports autonomy and opportunities to practise ecological stewardship. The chapter also suggests the potential of designing for entangled eco-capabilities or cultivating multiple types of self-growth in nature. These eco-capabilities are envisaged as growing together in overlapping and symbiotic ways, like trees with shared roots.