Barmah and Nathalia kids enjoy nature play at Murray River

According to Nathalia educator Andrea Sutton, the children benefit from the program and really enjoy it.

“It’s about children being children and also about making safe choices,” she said.

“They’ll spend the whole day exploring — there's hills that they slide down, they’re climbing out on logs and getting stuck in the mud. They’re using their whole bodies.”

Nature Play has multiple benefits for children, such as a hands-on approach to learning, wellbeing and physical development, learning to make smart choices and creating a relationship with nature.

Woka Daya is based on this knowledge and children are encouraged to play with one another and learn from their surroundings while the educators take the back seat to supervise.

The students spent the day near the river, building tree houses in empty trees and simply enjoying being outside the classroom.

They also had a filling lunch of sausages and marshmallows, cooked on a fire in the open space.

The program runs once a month between term one and two at different locations each year.