This guidance paper foregrounds our Froebelian practice-based research on children’s Deep Level Engagement with Nature using one of the four inter-connected lenses explored across three years by the Froebel Partnership: Context: Space/Time/Seasons. The importance of young children’s engagement with nature is a core principle of Froebelian philosophy and practice (Tovey, 2020) and our Partnership work foregrounded this in its first year of action.

In 2020 we had researched young children’s voices on Covid (Pascal et al, 2021) and found that the children appeared to prefer being in outdoor spaces; appeared to be more tuned into the natural world; that parents had a deeper appreciation of the importance of the natural world; that educators felt more at peace and safer outside. This initial study, which was led by the children’s experiences and ideas, paved the way for some of the core themes explored in this element of the Froebelian Partnership work, exemplifying the participatory nature of our approach.