Kids and Nature are best friends. The more they are attached to mother nature, the better they thrive.
Nature plays a vital role in shaping kids’ life. When we parents act as a bridge between Nature and kids, their life can teem with fun and abundant sunshine.
Exploring Nature with kids can be fun when adults actively introduce Nature and its world of wonders to their kids.
A little dirt, wildness, and fun can help bloom childhood into a responsible, thoughtful, and thriving tree.
Let’s dive into this beautiful journey together and discover what exploring nature with kids can bring into our lives!
1. Set By Example
It’s never too late to begin. When you can come out of the small screen that might be so dear to you, your kids can too.
Increased screen time can lead to serious eye problems, whereas increasing your time in Nature amidst the greenery can introduce a holistic approach toward life, thus making life much better.
So what can we do instead of being glued to the screen, which doesn’t add any value to our lives or our kids?
- Maybe stroll in the park one evening instead of being glued to the series, which you can watch after the kids are put to bed.
- Try identifying a plant using apps along with your kid that has grown in the crevices of your driveway before de-weeding.
- Why not count the number of different flowers that you see while you stroll with your kid in the neighborhood during spring? Do a little research about what flowers grow in your neighborhood.
- Plan for a hike instead of a patio barbeque at your friend’s place, and find out about the wildlife in the wilderness.
- Instead of letting them watch cartoons during the day while you enjoy your coffee or chat with your buddies over the phone, let them go for a backyard scavenger hunt, listing flora and fauna that is abundant and grows naturally.
Come up with all the ideas that unplug you and your kid from the devices.
A small healthy change that you make in your life will create a significant impact on the life of your kids.
2. Exploring Nature with kids while traveling
Whether on a long-haul flight or a road trip, you can still explore Nature with them.
When traveling during the day, you can show your kids the various geographical formations throughout your journey. Ask them to identify a hill, a forest, a river, or a desert.
Take stops to wonder about the beauty of a place if traveling by road in the car.
After reaching your destination, let kids enjoy the Nature that surrounds them. Let them play with dirt or chase a butterfly in a trail (if it’s safe).
3. Instill confidence, not fear
When we caution a kid about something, we should always consider how our words go down with them.
Are our words instilling fear in their minds about something? Or do they think that they need to be more careful about things?
If your little ones sense danger about something they should be just cautious about, they’ll never approach certain things you cautioned them about.
On our way to Aspen, I just wanted my girl to be cautious about the steep mountain slopes, but I accidentally scared her. All the way through the trails, she never let her hands go off me.
My otherwise brave explorer was sickly scared of the mountain all because my words weren’t carefully chosen. I could tell that she didn’t enjoy the trip at all.
Try not to scare them off because you are worried.
4. Learning and Exploring Nature with Kids
Prepare some activity sheets for your kids before you head to your destination. Do a bit of research about the destination.
Ask them to write down or paint what they saw in a day. Collect color books from local shops, and you can ask them to color whatever they saw on a trail or while making the trip.
Let them follow an ant trail or hop on a rock like a dragonfly. If possible, let them watch fireflies or starry skies at night.
I took my daughter to Arches National Park when she was three and a half. After dark, we returned to the park and saw the “starry starry night.”
We all exited the car and lay under the starry skies; it was amazing! To date, my daughter reminisces and hopes to go star gazing again!
You can also shift the routine just for a day to make way for cherished memories! Trust me, exploring Nature with kids can be fun and memorable.
5. Nature is Fun with kids
Little activities go a long way to make moments merrier.
It has now become our habit to build a house, face, or anything out of whatever we get outside while in a park or on a trail. Twigs, rocks, leaves, wild berries, flowers, snow, sand, everything is essential to cook a vital recipe or build a garden.
Making a small hill.
This way, the kid enjoys it a lot. I let her walk barefoot on the grass. I always let her lie down on snow or grass. She loves rolling downhill slopes.
Always remember, a little dirt on their legs is far better than wearing glasses at a young age for just being glued to the Television for a long.
Playing with natural things has proved to increase immunity in kids.
You can follow I Love Dirt!: 52 Activities to Help You and Your Kids Discover the Wonders of Nature by Jennifer Ward for activity ideas; it’s so original and helpful.
6. Nature and science
Kids who love science can also fall in love with Nature.
Show them how a tiny seed can grow into giant trees, providing shade and a home to others. Plant a seed or use hydroponics to grow herbs and plants; you can show them how the root grows.
Kids love demonstrations.
Let them care for a plant. And see how responsible they grow for it and fall in love with plants evermore.
My 5-year-old takes care of my German Ivy more than I do.
7. Books And Nature
Our family loves reading. It’s a ritual for us to visit the library every 3rd Saturday.
We bring a lot of books home, including books that introduce Nature to us. Books reveal that the beauty of Nature is something we can cherish.
Books and their illustrations can open a secret world of immense knowledge and fascination in little minds. The books such as The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle, Over and Under the Pond by Kate Messner, Hello, World! Backyard Bugs by Jill McDonald will really help your child to know more about nature.
Exploring Nature Activity Book for Kids: 50 Creative Projects to Spark Curiosity by Kim Andrews will help your growing child want to explore Nature around them.
Start early and see the difference for yourself!
8. Nature And Painting
If your kids love colors, give them flowers and sit with them for some fun painting activities like flower pounding on fabric or “Hapa Zome” art.
It’ll not only be a fun family activity, but later on, you can frame them and display it to cherish that moment in time later on when they grow up.
It can also be a gift for their Grandpa or Grandma, who’ll love the fact that their grandsons and granddaughters took time out to send them love.
You can create colorful dye from various plants and help them create a beautiful tie and dye tee for themselves.
Or just simply paint the pine cones in the neighborhood using glitter or paint. Or maybe paint what they see in front of them in the lap of nature.
Let those brilliant little eyes soak with the wonderful multi-hues of seasons, the personal artist of mother nature.
Time spent together will always be cherished forever!
9. Sensory Bins And Nature
Create sensory bins with mud or sand, leaves, twigs, seeds, nuts, and small toys. Let those tiny hands get dirty while exploring nature in a bin.
When you’re forced to stay indoors, this is the best way to get in touch with nature while learning, exploring, and having loads of fun all at once.
Let them get comfortable with dirt rather than getting comfortable with remotes!
10. Nature Helps in exploring our limits
A kid who doesn’t feel the need to venture outside the house, leaving the comfort of the room, has lower self-esteem and lower immunity.
Claire McCarthy, MD Senior Faculty Editor, Harvard Health Publishing in her journal 6 reasons children need to play outside, said that,
“Children need to take some risks. As parents, this makes us anxious; we want our children to be safe. But if we keep them in bubbles and never let them take any risks, they won’t know what they can do — and they may not have the confidence and bravery to face life’s inevitable risks. Yes, you can break an arm from climbing a tree — and yes, you can be humiliated when you try to make a friend and get rejected. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try; the lessons we learn from failure are just as important as those we learn from success.”
Unless you have a medical reason not to let your kid play outside, let them enjoy their time outdoors. As we all did as a child.
Let them face hurdles, let them bruise, and brush themselves up, pushing their limits further!
We should teach our kids how to care for flora and fauna. Let them know that nature has been there for ages, and teach them how not to exploit it but sustain it!
Together we can build a community that can stop, or at the least deter, the massive destruction of mother nature that has already been done.
Let’s help our kids explore nature; let’s build a better world for them. Let’s help them know about the value that nature adds to our life.
In the words of a famous poet that has stuck with me since childhood.
“What is this life if, full of care,
W. H. DAVIES, Leisure.
We have no time to stand and stare.”
