ABSTRACT
This chapter explores ways that children and Early Childhood Practitioners (ECPs) might engage with nature as part of everyday practice within and beyond institutional settings. The notion of ‘nature’ within Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is based on my knowledge and experience as a practising ECP and doctoral researcher, understanding that normative assumptions of nature shape what is possible within practice. As such, nature is positioned as simultaneously ‘good’ for children and for the environment. For children this means benefitting holistic development, learning and well-being in the here and now; for the environment it assumes that exposing children to nature supports their formation as ‘sustainable citizens’ of tomorrow. These two nature ‘ways’ are captured within this chapter in a ‘species-justice’ story that explores children’s notions of nature as part of everyday lived experiences, shaped and influenced as they are by the skill, knowledge and practice of those with whom they ‘intra-act’.
