I love the way that emergent curriculum is used here almost in an “immersive environment.” I have long felt that outdoor learning is truly a space that invites emergent curriculum to naturally flow. So often indoors we (adults/educators) have this drive to set up little stations of isolation. In this station, the children will learn about literacy. In this one, they’ll learn about math. In this activity, children will develop fine motor skills and in this one, gross motor skills. However, I don’t feel that this is an authentic representation of a child’s life and development. Fine motor muscles are not separate from gross motor ones–children learn and develop through their entire body, mind and heart. Outdoors, it’s so natural for children to ask questions and I often say that you can’t ask what you don’t know. When we follow this lead in an authentic way, in a space and at a pace that children do know and experience, we really honor their learning and development. There are so many nuggets of wisdom here and my very favorite aspect of that is that they are all very much child-directed.