Strategies of Cultivating Early Children's Emotional Affinity towards Nature

The significance of nature to children’s development is immeasurable. In nature, children can get great spiritual pleasure and emotional experience, but as the electronics and the impact of the urbanization, more and more... [ view full abstract ]

The significance of nature to children’s development is immeasurable. In nature, children can get great spiritual pleasure and emotional experience, but as the electronics and the impact of the urbanization, more and more children suffer from "nature deficit disorder", so it is essential and urgent to cultivate children’s emotional affinity towards Nature. The research chose 1,000 kids as the subject to explore the effect of nature to their emotional development by action research method. Full use is made of the surrounding resources, community resources, etc., and teachers and parents to cultivate children's affinity to nature. After three years’ research, two strategies of emotional affinity cultivation are proved effective. One is close- to- nature activity strategy and the other is activity assurance strategy. The former is the core strategy while the latter aims to provide insurance for close-to-nature activities and create a psychological atmosphere. Close- to- nature activity strategy involves four aspects. The first is the emotional objective, so the theme of the activity should be selected according to children's interests and feelings towards nature. Other aspects are less control of children by teachers, continuous activities, and encouragement of interaction between children. Activity assurance strategy includes five aspects: creating environment that children can get close to and interact with nature, establishing close- to -nature day, teachers’ involvement in the activity as partners, providing more communicating opportunities among peers and parents’ participation in various forms and channels.

   Key word: emotional affinity towards nature; early children; close-to-nature activity; strategy