Tuning into Everyday Ecologies: Children's Slow Noticing in Food Gardens

Many children are disconnected from nature and have limited understanding of where their food comes from. Noticing nature, through active sensory engagement, is fundamental for children to learn to appreciate and care for it. Yet little is known about the noticing acts of children (3-5 years) in their everyday nature experiences in HCI research. We investigated children’s nature engagement in childcare centre settings, with a focus on food gardens and a view to understanding how digital technology might support it. Informed by literature on noticing, we conducted three design activities using prompt cards, an IoT-based camera and a Bee-Bot to analyse children’s noticing in food gardens, including: focal noticing of the more-than-human, relational noticing for connection, and temporal noticing through ecological tempos. We synthesise and highlight technology design opportunities that use slow noticing to bridge hidden to noticed, connect part to pattern, and attune from tempo to flow over time.