The ways in which nature fills my soul is really remarkable. From nature I derive a sense of beauty and vastness, intricacy and simplicity, wonder and delight.
A particularly beautiful sunset brings a smile to my face. A meadow full of wildflowers blowing inside the wind triggers a longing to go running in it like I’ve seen in some commercial. A huge tree pushing 450 years old impels me to give it a hug. Are you the same? Nature somehow draws out several intangible feelings.
Practically speaking, nature also provides us each and every tangible raw material we want for life. I employed to offer you kids I taught within the out-of-doors this challenge: “I will give $100 to anyone who can tell me a thing tangible (here I define tangible as a thing we can detect with our 5 senses) that doesn’t come from nature.”
The raw materials of everything, of course, are of natural origin. Even highly refined petroleum products come from oil deposits inside the earth, which had been once living zooplankton and algae. I never had to give away $100. Great thing. I didn’t have it within the first location.
For a happy and fulfilled child, who grows into a responsible adult that’s nicely connected with his or her place in nature, I prescribe continual exposure to nature in diverse approaches throughout a lifetime. Here is a guideline to keep in mind:
Ages 2 through 7: Foster a relationship with animals. Read animal stories, sing animal songs, point out birds and dogs and cows and bugs. Let kids flap around and be a bird or a butterfly or slither through the grass like a snake. Zoos are great areas to see the variety of animals, and perhaps get close exposure to animals that may be petted or held. Be careful not to pass on an unfounded fear.
Ages 8-11: Explore the outdoors. Let youngsters play in forests and fields and yards. “Free of charge Play” is seen in the Environmental Education community as extremely valuable in fostering a connection to nature. Let nature spark their imagination. Children can make maps to follow, create a shelter, go on scavenger hunts, play predator-prey games, swing from rope swings, climb trees, and appear for stream critters. Get involved by together tending a garden, raising a pet, hiking trails and otherwise also being outdoors.
Ages 12 and up: Encourage action. With an ever-growing empathy and knowledge about nature, children at this stage should be ready to do something in support of nature. Manage the recycling at school or at property, write a letter on behalf of an environmental issue to a congressman, learn where the household water comes from in order to safeguard it, keep a journal of nature observations, and be aware of community environmental issues. Expressing views and fostering change gives youngsters a sense of empowerment, satisfaction and confidence.
The most crucial and almost certainly the most impressionable thing is just to do items outdoors as a loved ones. Setting an example of enjoyment and respect for the natural globe truly tops the list.
I remember fondly, our a lot of household hikes growing up. Dad would pause frequently to take, what turned out to be, beautiful photographs. Mom would spit out a name of every single flower and bird we saw. Us children would have fun trying to decide if Mom was making it up or not. I found out I was duped when I got a hold of a bird book and found the yellow-bellied sapsucker was, in fact, a real bird.
So now, I find myself a lover of birds, wildflowers, and nature photography; and my most favorite thing is exploring the out-of-doors.
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