On November 4,  I will be participating in two similar workshops at the upcoming NAEYC Conference in Los Angeles. My colleagues Patty Born Selly, of the Nature interest forum, and Robin Ploof, from the Play, Policy and Practiceinterest forum, will be joining me in looking at the integration of nature, play, and spirituality for young children.

Then, I will be joining the Science interest forum represented by Peggy Ashbrook, Linda Froschauer,  Rosemary Geiken, Cindy Hoisington, Beth Van Meeteren, and Sonia Yoshizawa and Walter Drew,  and Marcia Nell from the Play, Policy and Practice interest forum, as we explore the interconnections between science, play, and spirituality.

In the first workshop I will be moving from the inside out – how one feels when engaged with nature through play, and how such moments nurture the child’s spiritual development.

In the second workshop, it feels like I will be coming to the topic of spirituality from the outside in; the process of inquiry offers one many moments of wonder and awe that also nurture one’s spiritualness.

I have carved out some time for myself to reflect upon all of this once I have completed the experience.  Hopefully the meeting of my brain as represented in the second workshop, and my mind, as stimulated by the first, will lead me to new and deeper ideas about the integration of spiritual development with the other domains of learning (cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development).   Stay tuned for a post-conference update.