Week 8, Term 2 2026
“The land is where our roots are. The children must be taught to feel and live in harmony with the Earth”
Maria Montessori 🌱
“I go to nature to be soothed and healed,
And to have my senses put in tune once more”
John Burroughs 🍂
American Naturalist 1837-1921
The cornerstone of Montessori is nature and it is reflected within its pedagogy. Dr Montessori viewed it as an extension of the classroom and she recognised that the child under six learns primarily through their senses so where better to experience them fully than in nature.
Over time our senses have become electrified in that so much of the information received by the child is through something that requires electricity be it the air conditioning, lights, sounds or even the motorised rocking of a cot or seat. We are reducing our children's senses to mainly vision and sound.
Twenty years ago author and journalist Richard Louv wrote a book called Last Child In the Woods and in it he coined the phrase nature deficit. He reflected on how much less time children were spending outside and the skills they were losing. Few people were talking about it at the time but a slow movement grew from it. Ten years later he wrote The Essential Guide to a Nature Rich Life - Vitamin N by which time more and more research was showing the benefits of nature and the ill effects of not connecting with it.
What are your connections to nature?
How might you connect your child to the natural world around them?
This is another gift that your child can bring you by giving you the reason to reconnect to what it is that you love in nature or to discover something new.
Growing plants in a pot or garden.
Getting a compost bin and a worm farm.
Sitting outside everyday for as little as 2 minutes and just observing all your senses.
Invest in a good backpack to take your baby hiking with you.
Have a farm stay.
Enjoying a sunset
“Time in nature is not a leisure time; it's an essential investment in our children's health (and also by the way in our own)”
Richard Louv
Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
Recipe of the week:
Slow Cooked Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Soup
The Food Doula https://www.thefooddoula.com/blog/spiced-cauliflower-and-sweet-potato-soup
Ingredients
½ medium cauliflower, chopped into florets
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
1 red onion roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves peeled
6-7 cups of chicken bone broth
½ cup raw cashew
½ cup uncooked, washed lentils
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt and pepper.
Method
Place all the ingredients in a slow cooker for 6-8hrs on low or 3hrs on high and leave to cook.
When it's done let it cool before blending.
Warm what you need when you need it and enjoy a warm hug🤗
Batch freezes for another day too.
