Kids and Collecting in Nature

On this morning’s walk, I feel as if I am wading through maple samaras, those little propellers that, when broken open, stick nicely to your nose or fingertips. But we’ve had rain forever and these seeds are plastered to the road. They probably didn’t even pirouette out of the trees.

I pick up one, thinking to take a picture of it at home. Well, I can’t just take a picture of one maple seed and I come upon some more that instead of being bright green are tinged red. Then there are small keys with the propellers going in the same direction instead of leaning off in different directions. And then there were the keys with plump instead of flat seeds. Well, you get the idea.

Many kids are natural collectors. Even if they don’t bring their treasures home, chances are they are inclined to at least pick up a leaf, rock, acorn, stick … something. You can direct that energy – gathering is a great observation activity and can be focusing and calming. This does require a bit of observation on your part; look for something profuse in the area. If you notice a lot of acorns, challenge your children to collect as many acorns as they can in 30 seconds.

After collecting, you can ask your kids to sort what they’ve collected from smallest to largest, lightest to darkest, or whatever pattern the child can think up. If you don’t want your child picking up a handful of pink rocks or a pocketful of maple samaras, but you that he or she is inclined toward picking up something, challenge them to find the biggest and smallest __________ in the space between two trees, logs, rocks, or other markers of a defined space.

To (try to) convince your child to leave their treasures in nature, stop shortly before the end of your walk (when home or the car isn’t in sight) and ask your child to make a picture or pattern with what they’ve collected so other people can see the child’s wonderful finds. If the child knows or is learning her letters, she could write a word with what she’s collected, such as, “Hi,” “Peace,” “Walk,” or whatever short word strikes the child’s fancy.

By collecting, the child is noticing what is out there in nature. Don’t worry that they won’t see everything, the experience, and memory, of the time they collected 107 acorns on a walk will be enough.