People

Indigenous people are the people who settled in a region. In the beginning, people moved about searching for water, food, and shelter. As migratory group size increased, groups discovered fire which increased their safety and enabled them to cook their food. When humans started the collection of seeds and replanting and domestication of animals, agricultural sites became settlements. Indigenous people developed languages and crafts of construction we now call vernacular architecture. This map shows current indigenous populations and where they still exist. Find the group closest to your community and learn about their foods, customs, beliefs and daily life. Create a poster. Upload it to the gallery, and share it with your class.

Migratory populations throughout human history have come into contact with other mobile groups. Some combined forces whereas others succumbed to the more dominant peoples. People moved to secure access to water, ability to find and eventually raise food sources, and safety. In addition, many indigenous cultures, removed from their lands by explorers, depleted population due to new diseases or higher technologies and moved on for survival. Research and make a map of the migratory routes of the earliest humans. Where did your ancestor move from? Where would you migrate to find greater opportunity? Map migrations of family members on a world map and where you might want to migrate.

People have offspring. Females carry developing fetuses for nine months. Babies are helpless and cared for by their mothers. When they are newborn, they need to be warm, clean and fed. Milk from the mother is the most natural food source and delivers immunities to the baby. After one to three months, newborns are called infants. They become more focused, and look at you and smile, and begin to gurgle or coo. Babies’ heads must be supported when carried as they cannot yet handle the weight of their heads. Babies need to feel secure, comfortable and nourished. Mothers and newborns need a lot of sleep and rest in the first few months after delivery. Eventually, most babies get into a routine of eating, changing, and sleeping. They become more alert and their times of being awake and focused increase. Mothers often sleep at the same time as their babies do to build their up their strength. Visit a family with a new baby.

Infants turn into toddlers as they learn to sit up, pull up, crawl and walk. Toddlers are amazingly active learning every minute they are awake. In the meantime, their ability to talk emerges, and they begin to express many emotions and attitudes. Keeping toddlers safe and yet stimulated during these exploratory years keeps parents and caregivers busy. Children spend more time on the floor or ground than any other time in their life. The association to dirt and pets is now thought to build immunities to allergies later in life. The experience of the out of doors is critical during these formative years as it opens key associations with nature and the living world. Children’s first contact with material occurs during this time as well. They are always touching things and putting them into their mouth. Children explore new textures, shapes, sounds, colors, tastes. Using all of their senses, they develop new abilities to climb, jump, reach and run. Toddlers like to be read to and to point at pictures on books. They begin to mimic sounds and learn animal names. Can you remember where you enjoyed playing as a child? Diagram /draw a safe yet stimulating environment for a toddler. Diagram a safe yet stimulating environment for a toddler.

As a child turns 4-7, they begin to learn to count, identify colors, and to read. They form opinions about foods that they like and dislike. They socialize with children and adults more and learn to share and to mediate conflicts. Their mind and their bodies are in constant motion! Reading and telling stories to young children is a wonderful way for parents and grandparents to bond with their children and grand children. These early years are very formative for a child’s outlook on life. Being surrounded by love and being taken care of is key. Preschool interiors and playgrounds that stress connection with the natural world are wonderful places to explore at this age. Imagine and draw a nature play space for preschool children.

Parents are people who have children. Grandparents are people who have children who have children. Children, parents, and grandparents are three different generations with decades of different experiences. In a few families, there is sometimes a great great grandfather or a great great grandmother. Parents are the first teacher of newborns. How they care for their babies is important as they arrive in the world, grow, and open up to its possibilities. The stories they tell and what they have learned in their life are directly and indirectly passed on to young minds. We are born to learn! Remember that parents were at one time children, as were grandparents and great grandparents. Their knowledge is deep and their time with grandchildren and children is precious. The first four years of a child’s life is the opening of the heart and the mind.