Children’s artistic expressions inspired by nature during early childhood garden pedagogy

Abstract

The aim of this case study was to investigate how children learn about gardens and gardening through art; how they express their thoughts through visual expressions and stories. The research data include eleven drawings and stories from children about nature and gardening and were collected during the summer of 2021 in Finland’s only campus garden for teacher education. Additionally, six teachers were interviewed about their experiences with garden pedagogy. The data were analysed using descriptive thematic analysis. The findings include: the natural garden environment supports children’s creative thinking as expressed visually and verbally; children learn a great deal about nature and gardening and outdoor pedagogy in gardens can be integrated with play, excursions, imaginary thinking and knowledge related to natural environments. The positive findings underscore the imperative to implement arts-based garden pedagogy in Finland, which has diminished greatly in recent years.