Natural Curriculum

He has made everything beautiful in its time”. Ecclesiastes 2:14

“… I am fearfully and wonderfully made …” Psalm 139:14

Do we trust that the Creator knew what He was doing when He created infants - when animals are mobile virtually from the moment of birth but human babies are not? Do we need to “teach” children to move or are they so intricately and wonderfully made that these skills will develop in their own time?

Pikler believed that babies and toddlers who are allowed to move according to their own developmental timetable display increased balance, coordination and physical skills. Thus babies and toddlers are not put into positions they cannot get into by themselves. They are allowed to move naturally, at will, and freely, and to learn and move according to the unfolding of their own timetable (known as "Free Movement"). So you will not see walkers or highchairs, infants being placed on their stomachs for “tummy time”, or babies being propped up into a sitting position. If they cannot get into a position without adult assistance then they are not yet ready to be in that position.

Respect the child’s own developmental timetable.

Teachers also respect the child’s ability to resolve their own conflict. Obviously if a child is about to be hit over the head with a metal bucket, the teacher intervenes, but generally teachers wait and allow children time to solve their own interpersonal problems. And they can! At times a teacher might guide, for example, “Are you able to find another toy the same for A?” or “C was playing with that. Do you think she might like it back?” Teachers removing a toy from a child who has taken it off another and returning it to the first child does not build the necessary skills for resolving conflict.

Teachers slow down and observe more. This is one skill new teachers or students on practicum often find most difficult. It can feel as if we’re “doing nothing” but this is not the case. Often a teacher is waiting for a sign from the child that they are being invited into the child’s world to wonder and explore. The natural environment is the perfect place for this to happen, but it can happen anywhere. This slowing down goes hand-in-hand with providing a calm and peaceful curriculum.

Any discussion of Natural Curriculum would not be complete without mentioning the natural environment. Use it. Enjoy it. Make the most of mud and bugs and wind in the hair and rain on the face and sun on bare skin. Turn over every stick and rock and rotting log and search for worms and creepy crawlies. Observe the clouds, and leaves moving in the breeze, and raindrops on glass. Explore. Get dirty. Have fun.