Step out of the classroom and into nature

Looking for an hands-on lessons and activities that engage children in environmental literacy?

Biomimicry offers project-based instructions that may inspire future generations to care for nature and to see nature as a spot that offer not only calmness and spectacular experiences of beauty and drama but also can make your head twirl around with possibilities. Possible ways to solve problems. Hope for solving some of the most difficult challenges that we are facing.

Looking at nature and learning from the way nature is designing solutions for social problems to ways to quickly move around in the dark can help children to find solutions to help create better justice to issues like climate change.

Watching the way fungus grow in the forest can provide inspiration for how to select a class representative to  a prime minister or president. Beneath the soil lies dense webs of networks of fungus. Fungi spends most of the year out of out sight, but during particularly the autumn months they pop up from the underground when the raindrops are falling. A perfect starting point for all sorts of marvelous ideas.

Trees use fungi to communicate. There is the Wood Wide Web underneath our feet.

Fungus bring water and minerals to a plants and they are trading them for sugar fuel.

The structure is flat, not hierarchical structure like most work places in society. Together they work and respond to any changes. The fungi respond to any conditions and they do not ignore some signals. Every signal is important and the network seeks out signals rather than try to block them out.

A flexible and intelligent network.

A strong and beautiful leaderships style that is build upon listening and respond to every little signal because together they are stronger.

In this case, nature that not elect a  prime minister. Instead all the decisions pops up from underground from all the fungi in the underground web. The leadership in nature is sometimes (not alway) distributed  and relies on collective intelligence. A great starting point for discussion and new ideas.

Exploring patterns in nature ad looking for strategies and using them as inspiration when designing solutions to problems is an exciting way to bring the lesson out into nature.  The lesson can continue into the classroom and maybe you need to get out of the classroom and continue to explore nature. A constant interaction between nature and the work that takes place in the classroom.

Biomimicry is a great way to explore whole systems by observing, exploring and sketching how living systems work together and interconnect.

A great idea for the classroom is to have a weekly or monthly local hero. Encourage the children to look for a special animal, plant or fungi that captures their attention and curiosity. How does the animal keep warm or cool? How does the plant conserve water or distribute nutrients and help sick neighbours? Record the observation, add photos and make sketches in your biomimicry journal.

Have fun!