Case studies for developing child care materials using natural materials

我们开发了幼儿教育工具，使用天然材料作为环境教育的一部分。我们专注于三个领域：1)木材材料，2)植物材料和3)土壤材料。至于1)，我们使用了富山县稻南镇的Ranma生产的剩余木片。对于2)，我们使用了植物染色的概念，使用了孩子们在日常生活中看到的普通植物。对于3)，我们关注的是河床中的粘土，这被认为是废弃的土壤，我们将一个使用粘土的游乐区命名为“nendoba”，并引出了它的目的和意义。通过这些研究，我们能够展示1)将日常生活中被认为是废物的天然材料开发成有意义的教育工具的可能性；2)儿童对天然材料的高度敏感性。从这一点开始，我们的挑战是这些材料的实际应用。

We have developed educational tools for early childhood using natural materials as a part of environmental education.We have focused on three areas of 1) wood material, 2) plant material, and 3) earth material. As for 1), we used left-over wood pieces from Ranma production in Inami town in Toyama prefecture. For 2), we have used the concept of plant dyeing and used ordinary plants that children see in their everyday lives. For 3), we have focused on the clayey soil in the riverbed, which is considered waste soil, and we have named a play area "nendoba" that used the clay soil and elicited its purpose and meaning.Through the studies, we were able to show 1) the possibility of developing natural materials that are considered waste in daily life into meaningful educational tools and 2) high sensibility of children to appreciate the natural materials. From this point on, our challenge is practical applications of these materials.