Nature Calls - Taking the Classroom Outside

Binoy is a teacher in a Government middle school in Nazira Assam. His interest in birds led him to design different activities for children, including ‘Bird Bingo’ where he makes small groups of 3-4 children, gives them a Bingo sheet, a pencil and a notebook and sends them out to explore the school campus. They make notes of whatever they observe on the walk and are encouraged to share their experiences once back in the classroom. There are small prizes for the winners.

Geeta is a physics teacher in a private school in Bangalore. She coordinates the nature club in the school and includes birds and nature into the curriculum whenever she can. For example, she teaches the relationship between pressure and surface area by showing certain birds’ feet which distribute their weight in such a way that they are able to walk on floating vegetation. Frequent nature walks at neighbourhood lakes also help in seeing the practical examples, keeping the children’s interest alive.

Despite all the pressures of the curriculum and academics, these teachers have made it possible to create meaningful nature experiences within the classroom that help children connect with the natural world. This also has a lot of hidden benefits. A growing body of research indicates that direct exposure to nature is essential for healthy childhood development, and improves focus, observation skills and mental health.

But what is nature and how can one connect with it? Contrary to what we might think, nature and wildlife isn’t just out there in the forests and wildlife sanctuaries but all around us in the form of insects, reptiles and birds. Watching birds is an easy way to get children outdoors, whether it is to a neighbourhood lake or park, or in the school campus. Birds provide a window to nature: they inspire us and enrich our lives with their beautiful colours and their enchanting songs.

Discovering and learning about birds together with your students can be an immensely rewarding and enjoyable experience for all. These suggestions may help in this journey:

Become familiar with the birds around your school campus. Refer to these interactive, mobile-friendly posters with calls of common Indian birds found in different habitats (early-bird.in/interactive). You can also install the free app Merlin (merlin.allaboutbirds.org) on your phone. Download the pack relevant to your region to browse photos, description and calls of the birds in your area.

Story-telling is a great way to get young children (age 9 and below) to connect with birds and nature! The Storyweaver platform (storyweaver.org.in) run by Pratham Books is a free repository of thousands of stories which you can browse and read aloud to children. It also allows you to create and upload your own stories.

Using art and creative activities works wonders with children of all age groups. Refer to the website of John Muir Laws (johnmuirlaws.com) to get started with nature journaling. Here is a set of videos on YouTube to learn to draw a bird, and other art/creative activities (bit.ly/art-activities).

Games are a valuable tool to make learning fun. Early Bird has games like Bird Bingo and Bird Survivor that can be freely downloaded and printed out for use in the classroom (early-bird.in/english). Also refer to the ‘Joy of Learning’ handbook (arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/joynew.pdf) from Center for Environment Education which compiles art, craft and games for children.

Take up regular activities and projects related to nature as part of the school’s eco club. The biodiversity booklet published by Wipro Earthian (https://issuu.com/wiprofoundation/docs/sustainability_and_biodiversity_booklet) has ideas on activities.