Bush kindergarten says 'yes' to bugs and dirt

Marrickville local Deborah Wood began Bush Balance in August 2020 in a rugged, bushy patch of Sydney Park, and has now expanded to two other sites, including Wolli Creek Regional Park in Earlwood, to meet an overwhelming demand.

In the densely populated inner west, where many families have been subject to lockdowns in apartments and townhouses without backyards, Ms Wood has tapped into a deep desire to get kids outside at a time when there is also a growing understanding that kids need to be allowed to take risks.

"Many of our parents have said, 'we live in a unit, this is the first time he has touched dirt, or had a worm crawling in his fingers'; many playgrounds have soft fall, and there are no worms you can find in soft fall."

An early childhood educator who has been a private nanny for more than 10 years, Ms Wood began searching for pockets of urban bushland "with no metal" for her two charges to roam after playgrounds were closed during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.

"I had started seeing a lot of literature coming out about kids needing more outdoor play in the early childhood sector," Ms Wood said.

"I realised my nanny kids were actually having a better time when they made up their own games and got dirty; it was more of a blank canvas for them - 'this stick can be this; this stone can be this' - than a playground where there's a slide saying 'come slide down me'."

Determined to bring nature into the lives of more city kids, Ms Wood looked for a suitable spot to launch her bush kindergarten - uneven ground was a must, "so they develop skills by walking on it", as well as trees they could climb.

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Enter the tiny patch of bush in Alexandria's Sydney Park, smack in the middle of industrial suburban Sydney. "It is full of rocks and sticks, kookaburras and magpies, lots of slaters and worms, and cicada shells - cicada shell collecting is huge," Ms Wood said. "And until the siren goes at the concrete factory that is just next to us, you actually feel you are in the bush."

She said the downsides of a risk-averse society were being recognised as research started to link a lack of risk-taking, among other factors, with increased anxiety levels in children. "You can only find out if you have gone too far if you are allowed to go there," Ms Wood said.

"We don't take a silly approach to it, nobody wants a child to be harmed, but we're also happy for a small injury - a cut, or a bump on the head - to happen for children to be able to explore and learn."

She says the kids especially love sticks ("the best toy ever invented!") and stones, which they are taught to handle and throw safely. Ms Wood also puts out so-called "loose parts" - things like buckets, ropes, and paints that give children a "suggestion" of what to do.

Ellena Washbourn, of Tempe, took her two boys, then aged 13 months and nearly 3, to an early Bush Balance session in 2020, and has not looked back. Her nine-month-old daughter now joins her big brothers, happily crawling around in the dirt.

"It gives them the chance to get dirty, get messy, and enjoy nature, and I want them to grow up respecting the environment, and not being afraid of the outdoors and scared of bugs," said Ms Washbourn. "It's done wonders; it's been great for my kids."

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