Ah Spring: The Importance of Nature for Children

 

Ah!  Spring

 Spring is often brief here in Houston, but it is glorious for a while, isn’t it?

You may have read some of the recent information and research about the effects of children being out of touch with nature.  The reasons for this disassociation with one of our most important needs vary among different regions and groups. 

Of course climate plays a large role:  ice, snow, rain and other wintry weather can keep children inside.  In Houston, heat is sometimes a factor, although mornings and evenings are usually bearable. 

Some of the strongest factors however, come from a source we would not expect:  parents.

Parents are busier than ever.  Time before and after work is often taken up with shopping, meals, and planned activities.   Also, fear plays a large role in keeping children inside.  Parents fear insects, traffic, abduction, and germs.  We have become conditioned to feel safer indoors.  In reality fewer than 150 people in the USA die due to reactions to insect bites each year.  Only about 15 deaths occur from snakebite, and almost half of those are in adults attempting to capture rattlesnakes.  More harmful bacteria are present on the average fast food inside play area than in the soil on an outside playground.  Nationwide fewer than 100 children are abducted by strangers each year.  Clearly we must be careful, teach children how to avoid snakes and harmful insects and other dangers, but the numbers do not support the level of panic we are seeing. 

As educators we can play a critical role in building a love and respect for nature in our students.  The gardens growing all over our campus have already started the enthusiasm going.  On the Elementary campus new P.E. classes are generating fun and exercise. 

Here are some words of wisdom:

Man's heart away from nature becomes hard; a lack of respect for growing, living things soon leads to a lack of respect for humans too.  ~Chief Luther Standing Bear

Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect.
~ Chief Seattle, 1854 ~

 "I sincerely believe that for the child, and for the parent seeking to guide him, it is not half so important to know as to feel. If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow. The years of early childhood are the time to prepare the soil."

Rachel Carson, A Sense of Wonder

"Without continuous hands-on experience, it is impossible for children to acquire a deep intuitive understanding of the natural world that is the foundation of sustainable development. ….A critical aspect of the present-day crisis in education is that children are becoming separated from daily experience of the natural world, especially in larger cities. Natural Learning, Creating Environments for Rediscovering Nature's Way of Teaching, Robin C. Moore and Herb H.

"If we want children to flourish, to become truly empowered, then let us allow them to love the earth before we ask them to save it. Perhaps this is what Thoreau had in mind when he said, "the more slowly trees grow at first, the sounder they are at the core, and I think the same is true of human beings."

David Sobel, Beyond Ecophobia

“Only as a child's awareness and reverence for the wholeness of life are developed can his humanity to his own kind reach its full development."

Rachel Carson, Edge of the Sea

So what can we do to re-connect our students to nature?

Some easy to implement ideas:

• Plant seeds
• Hatch butterflies
• Grow and release ladybugs into the gardens
• Watch and listen to birds
• Arrange flowers
• Repot plants
• Play the hoop game (directions to follow)
• Draw, paint, sculpt, read and write out of doors
• Play games, preferably non-competitive ones
• Have picnics
• Collect nature items to bring indoors for a sharing table
• Observe insects without disturbing them

We can convey a respect and love for nature to our students by:

• Picking up trash when we see it on the ground
• Caring for plants and animals
• Not over re-acting to insects:  bee stings don’t really hurt all that much.  With a little ice they are o.k. shortly.  It is comforting to a frightened child to point out how large the child is compared to the insect and note that the insect is more afraid of the child.  Insects are not usually aggressive and only bite and sting when afraid.  Showing a child how to sit perfectly still to avoid scaring a bee is a great help.
• Don’t worry about dirt.  Dirty hands and cloths are washable. 
• Verbalize how beautiful our surroundings are: leaves, flowers, grass, sky, rain, puddles, and living creatures are gifts.
• Share your ideas with colleagues.

Resources:

The Hoop Game

Materials:

• A large 18” or larger wooden embroidery hoop
• A clipboard with a supply of paper
• Pencils for drawing and writing
• A magnifying glass
• A tote bag to carry the materials

Take the materials outside.  Have the child gently toss the hoop anywhere.  The child then records everything he or she can see inside the hoop.  Pictures can be drawn to illustrate the list.

What Color is Green?

Materials:

• A clip board with a sturdy piece of paper with the word Green written at the top
• Scotch tape
• A small pair of blunt scissors
• A tote bag to carry the materials

Take the bag outside.  The child gathers small samples of all the different shades of green he or she can find. Only one small leaf or blade of grass may be clipped. The child tapes the sample to the paper and continues until no more can be found. This can be extended using any other color found in nature.

Is This your Tree?

This game can be played indoors or out.  You may use different rocks, sea shells, nuts, leaves, even trees.

Materials:

• 5 or six samples of the item, all different to the touch, for example a walnut, a pecan, a hazelnut, a peanut and a Brazil nut.
• A blindfold
• The child holds and feels all the items.  If you are using trees, the child walks from tree to tree and feels the trunk and leaves. 
• Have the child choose one item as “his or hers”
• Let the child feel the item again carefully.  The teacher can help by asking, “Is it heavy?” “Does it feel cold or warm?  Is it soft or hard?”
• Blindfold the child.
• Hand the child one item at a time and ask “Is this your ______________?”  If you are using trees, lead the child to each tree.
• When the child says Yes!, take off the blindfold and let the child see the item.

These are just a few games to play with children.  In the classroom a variety of plants and books will help the child to connect with the greater world.  Identification books for birds and plants will encourage research an independent learning.  Expanding the work with the botany cabinet into the outside world is an important activity as the child explores the world.  When possible having classroom animals (mammal, fish, reptile, amphibian) also bring the academic work to life. 

Books:

Sharing Nature with Children: Joseph Cornell

Last Child in the Woods:  Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder:  Richard Louv

Children and Nature Psychological, Sociocultural, and Evolutionary Investigations
Edited by Kahn and Kellert