Out and About©
during COVID19
Using the Out and About Manifesto, spend some time with the place where your home is located.
These activities meet the following Victorian Curriculum Cross-curriculum Priorities:
These activities address the following Learning Areas and Capabilities in the Victorian Curriculum: Critical and Creative Thinking; Ethical Capability; Geography; History; Intercultural Capability; Science
These activities address the following outcomes in the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (birth through age 8):
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Outcome 1: Children have a strong sense of identity
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Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world.
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Outcome 3: Children have a strong sense of wellbeing.
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Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners.
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Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators.
Proposition 1:
Know and share the purpose of going Out and About
ACTIVITY:
Make a commitment to spend an extended amount of time outdoors. This can be in your yard or patio, or just sitting in a chair outside you front or back door. It can be day or night (stars are really quite interesting!). The focus here is to try and do this every day – even if it is just for 30 minutes. Make a schedule and then make a promise.
Proposition 2:
Build a relationship with Place and More-than-Human
ACTIVITY:
Visit the place that you have committed to in Proposition 1 and just be in the place at the start. This means you can play with the place, explore what is there, listen. To start a relationship, you have to become familiar with the place so do that by first spending time and then figuring out what calls you into connection.
Think about being called into connection like when you visit a shop and where you want to go first. Why do you want to go to this place? Is it the colours, sounds, smell, memories that bring you to this place?
Now think of what calls you into connection at the place you have committed to visiting. Is it a smell? A sound? Something you touch? Or something else? Tell someone your story of this connection. As you continue to visit and get to know your place, do other things call you into connection?
If you would like, add your story to Instagram or twitter through #goingoutandabout2023
Proposition 3:
Play and explore Place
ACTIVITY:
Play! Yes, play with you place! Trace Bark on Tree. Dig your toes into Dirt. Listen to Birds as they gather with Tree. Climb Tree to see Clouds. Get low to the ground and follow Ant. Play with place and discover parts of place that you did not know.
Proposition 4:
Notice Place and More-than-Human
ACTIVITY:
Take the perspective of your connection. For example, if your connection is the sound of Bird crowing, think about why Bird is sharing this sound or whom Bird is talking with? If you are close to the ground with Ant, follow Ant and wonder why Ant is moving this way and where Ant is going.
Proposition 5:
Thinking with Place and More-than-Human
ACTIVITY:
In the place that you have chosen, try and figure out why the place looks how it does. Consider why the insects have chosen this place to live. How do the local Kulin seasons impact what trees, plant, animals, and insects live here? What other Wadawurrung understandings of this land where the place is located influence how you understand and theorise about this place and the animals, insects, plants, and trees that live there.
Proposition 6:
Learning with Place and More-than-Human
ACTIVITY:
Find out who the Traditional Custodians of the Land are in the place where your home is located. What are the Aboriginal stories of this place? Create a map of this place using your own connection and story to this place and the Aboriginal stories of this place.
Proposition 7:
Acting in response to Place and More-than-Human
ACTIVITY:
Consider some of the actions you take every day in your home that only consider your needs as a human. Now that you have begun to build a relationship with the local place where your home is located (or maybe you already have a deep relationship with this place), make a list of some ways you can live with place, animals, waterways, landforms, trees, and insects. Make a list to share with your family, friends, and local community. If you want, add the list to Instagram or twitter #goingoutandabout.net and challenge others to make their own list.