Ecologies of Care in Early Learning

Building on her beloved series, The Art of Land-based Early Learning, Sophie Edwards invites us to consider an expanded notion of care. Care, she writes, invites us to pay attention, to heed. Meaning ‘cure’ and ‘protect’, care also comes from the Old English word for ‘sorrow’. While our care for the earth may be entwined with grief, care provides pathways through these challenging times we face. This thought-provoking book will inspire anyone who works and learns alongside children. Filled with prompts, wonderings and other queries, each chapter offers invitations to deepen our listening, build ‘relational muscle,’ embrace children’s love for Earth, and understand ecologies as communities of living, agential beings. Trees, birds, critters, water, mud, clay, and charcoal all make their appearance within these pages, inspiring us to follow, listen to, and learn from and with them, and in the process enact a poiesis of care.