Help Kids Love Nature
Let me brief! I’m sure you have read so many more articles and books on this subject. Here are some things that were modeled to me as a child and which I used to encourage my own children and students.
be curious yourself
don’t be “preachy” but do show an interest in things and let the kids come alongside you or not, as they wish. Do it often enough, and it will be modeled for them, that insects, flowers, leaves, trees and fungi are worth a look.
get picture books that are seasonally appropriate and find some books with stories whose narrative will engage the reader and help them make a connection to what they see in their own backyard or neighborhood park. Examples: Ruby Throat: the story of a Hummingbird by Robert McClung, Whose Nest is This? by Heidi Roemer, The Moon of books by Jean Craighead George, etc. Narrative books rather than a DK book will cause a connection to be made, rather than information to be imparted.
Show appreciation for the smells, sounds and feels of new places, ie. inhaling deep breaths in the pine forest, wiggling your toes in wet sand, etc. It awakens deep core memories in me to smell the scent of sun warmed pine.
Going outside is not a punishment. It’s a reward.
A visit to a beautiful place on a rough day can turn things around for even the grumpiest teen.
Every item does not need to be a journal entry. Let your kids investigate what they find interesting, not what you do.
More Book Titles that are favorites
The Story of a Thousand Year Pine by Enos Mills
The Song of the Cardinal by Gene Stratton Porter
My First Summer in the Sierras by John Muir
Pond Lake River Sea by Maryjo Koch
Seed Leaf Flower Fruit by Maryjo Koch
Backyard Birds of Summer by Carol Lerner
Dancers in the Garden by Joanne Ryder
Thimbleberry Stories by Cynthia Rylant
Animals do the Strangest Thing by Hornblow
Hurry, Skurry and Flurry by Mary and Conrad Buff
for a more exhaustive list please check out your local library or www.sabbathmoodhomeschool.com