The World Is a White Blanket

Children Write about Nature

Abstract

This paper discusses the distinction between children's direct and symbolically mediated interactions with the physical world. Examples of children's writing about nature are used to discuss developmental changes in the way children symbolize nature. Werner's theory of physiognomic perception is used to show how young children experience objects in the environment ashaving expressive properties. The expressive and dynamic properties of nature are only available to older children when they are functioning within a symbolic orientation. Descriptive categories are presented that show how writing constitutes a range of ways children can relate to and experience nature. It is argued that symbolizing the physical world creates the child's experience of that world.