Nature Is Your Classroom
. Posted in Parent-Child Advice, Summer Tips - 0 Comments
Kids need outdoors time. This is a fact that parents know all too well, and studies show it to be true: Overall student performance—particularly in math and science, and including test scores—drastically improves when outdoor learning is supplemented to their curriculum. Children without access to nature suffer emotionally, mentally, and academically. Ultimately, exposure to nature helps kids become better learners.
The good news? The tools are right in your backyard. So whether you choose to go to the beach or take a neighborhood stroll, here are some tips on how to make the outdoors your child’s classroom this summer:
- Take your story time out of the home. Simply immersing your child in nature while reading a book offers new dimensions to reading. You can go to your local park or sit outside the house for a while. The Lorax is a fantastic read for outdoors, and it provides a backdrop to talk to your children about the importance of taking care of the environment.
- Go on a nature walk in your neighborhood. Observe and record changes to plants, as well as animals’ movements, sounds, appearances, and habitats. Have your child write and draw their observations in a journal. Other recording devices, such as digital cameras and recorders, can be used to add another dimension to their journaling.
- Explore your own land or local park. You can supply magnifying glasses and clear containers to encourage your child to look for small animals in mulch, grass, or soil. You can also give your child sand pails to collect nature items to sort, which they can then record the differences in their journals. Another activity that allows for intense focus: provide your child with a colored piece of paper, and ask them to search for items that match that color.
- Take them hiking. There are so many opportunities to teach your child while on a hike. You can show them some math strategies by having them find symmetry in leaves, by counting the number, sizes, and kinds of trees, and by looking at the various shapes and patterns of blooming flowers. The link here can help you find an easy hiking trail near you.
- Encourage some experimenting. You may want to do this one outside your backyard: Lay a flat board (approximately 2 feet by 2 feet) on the ground, and leave it there for a week or two. Come back to the board after the allotted time, and your child will find all kinds of insects, spiders, and other animals underneath. You may need to water the area around the board periodically.
- If you have a yard, use it. Hang a bird feeder near one of your windows, so children can observe nature even while indoors. Refilling feeders is a great job to have your child do. You can plant native shrubs—nuts, berries, and other fruit will attract wildlife all year long. If you can’t make it to the butterfly place, you can plant native wildflowers in your yard to attract butterflies. For more backyard activities, click here.
- Beach time can be science time. Investigate sand particles, learn where different shoreline organisms live, snag some seashells for a beach craft. For a full list of fun experiments at the beach, click here.
- Make nature your classroom, too. Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, advises parents to get in on the fun. “The best thing you can do is to be enthusiastic about nature yourself,” he says in an interview. “Instead of a manicured lawn or garden, leave some spots untamed so kids can dig in the dirt and find rocks or interesting weeds. If you have a vegetable garden, have your child help you plant seeds or pick tomatoes. Even walking to your local park can be a nature walk to a preschooler — he can collect leaves, you can point out trees and bushes and show him the bugs crawling along the curb. Let your kids get down in the dirt so they can see at eye level the whole universe there.”
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