Make a Bucket List for Nature

Transform the idea of writing a bucket list, a list of the things you want to do before you die, to a kid-friendly, nature-inspired task. Whether your children are preschoolers or preteens, you can encourage your children to create a list of things they would like to experience in nature. For preschoolers, you may ask them what nature activities they would be interested in doing that day or that week. Older children and preteens, who have a better sense of the passage of time, could make lists of what they want to do during a particular season, the upcoming year, or
before they graduate from high school.

This activity can give you ideas for things to do with your child. You’ll also get a better sense of their interests. If your ten-year-old gets bored on walks and yet lists activities such as rock climbing, camping, and kayaking on his bucket list, you know you have a child who enjoys the outdoors – as long as the time includes active, challenging pursuits.

Encourage your child to list specific places they want to go to. This will create an opportunity to learn more about your child and discover what draws them to these locations. If your child is drawn to waterfalls are there some (even small waterfalls) within driving distance? Make your own list and share it with your child. Together you can plan places to go and activities to try. This may guide you toward sending your child to an active camp where they can sample all sorts of recreational pursuits. Or, you may realize that your child is happiest taking photographs of the backyard and neighborhood.

Although you may not be able to help your child do the things on their bucket list in the time frame they would like, by having them state the things they are interested in, you will both become more aware of opportunities to help them meet those goals.

The Logistics of Exploring Nature with Kids

Originally published 4/01/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

Everything that you read and hear about kids spending more time outdoors sounds logical. In fact, you think it would be great for your family to go walking in nature during weekends. But where should you start? What do you need to bring with you? What if the kids are miserable and they refuse to go hiking a second time?

Check out How Families Can Take a Successful Nature Walk or Hike with Kids for ideas on keeping kids fed, watered, and entertained whether the walk lasts thirty minutes or two hours. At minimum, bring along water, snacks, basic first aid supplies, sunscreen, insect repellent, a map of the location’s trail system, and a cell phone – turned off, but handy in an emergency.

Which may bring up the thought, how long should you go walking with kids? If neither you nor the kids are used to hiking in the woods, start with five minutes for each year old the child is (or the average age of a few children).

When this proves successful, go with seven-to-ten minutes for each year old. Of course, this isn’t a hard-and-fast rule and it doesn’t mean uninterrupted walking time. Allow some time for snack or water breaks, exploration, and even games – like “I Spy” – or the occasional art project. Thirty minutes of walking can be broken with other activities so you may end up spending an hour or more out on your “walk.”

Remember, that “down time” is probably as important as movement – if you just want exercise, then walk quickly; but, if you really want to appreciate your time in nature, you’ll need to meander so you can actually notice your surroundings; Help Children Develop an Appreciation of Nature with Observation. If you enjoy the experience of walking in nature, chances are your children will develop an enthusiasm for exploring the outdoors.

Rock Collecting as a Kid

Origninally published 3/31/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

I like rocks, but rocks are a hard subject to learn. (Did you laugh at my joke about rocks being hard? Sigh. I keep trying that with kids, but it is such a weak joke no one ever even notices it.) My fascination with rocks may be because when I was a kid the Pet Rock phase hit. Now, my parents, being practical, wouldn’t buy me a real pet rock, but had me go out and about looking for wild rocks.

I had a tin filled with rocks. I was particularly fond of white rocks. Even nowadays I have to restrain myself from picking up every white pebble that I see. I don’t know what happened to my collection. I do remember that it was forced to live in the basement (I suppose that is because they weren’t domesticated rocks). I’m sure that someday I’ll be cleaning the basement and I’ll discover my collection. The cool thing is, it will be just the same as when I left it unlike the yellowed pages of childhood books or the disintegrating artwork done on Manila paper.

I do have a current rock collection, started as an adult when I worked in an educational toy store. There I got tumbled rocks, rough cut pebbles, and slices of agate dyed in colors not found in nature. Whenever I go into a nature-oriented gift shop chances are that I’ll walk out with a rock.

I even have an acquaintance who owns a rock and crystal shop. (Originally, she owned a used bookstore with a few rocks up by the register. I tried to look at the books, but I got distracted by the rocks. All of my return trips were to buy rocks. I was incredibly happy when she moved and got rid of the books but expanded the rocks and crystals.)

At the nature center where I work, I tackled the buckets and boxes of rock collections that were donated when their owners died. It was then that I discovered that a whole lot of rock collectors just collected rocks without necessarily identifying them. Whether I do in-class presentations or field trips about rocks, I always point this out – yeah, the rock cycle is fascinating but picking up and keeping rocks is fun.

I know, parents would prefer to keep rocks outdoors instead of lining windowsills but might I instead recommend, Activities for Kids Who Collect Rocks and Make a Stone Cairn? I still have the compulsion to pick up rocks.

Gratitude Meditation

Originally published 3/12/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

I’ve read numerous books and articles that claim your happiness or joy for life will increase if you develop a daily habitat of expressing your gratitude. Depending on the author, the suggestions lean toward keeping a journal in which you write three-to-ten things for which you are grateful. Apparently, it is impossible to feel down or depressed when you are acknowledging those people, occurrences, and events that you appreciate.

Try taking a walk with your children, naming those things for which you are grateful. Be specific. Saying that you appreciate trees doesn’t say anything about trees. Instead, notice that gratitude focuses on particular things.

On my solo walk today I was grateful for the dozen robins doing their quick-stop-quick tango-like dash over the drab lawn. I was grateful for the crisp air that helped wake me up – particularly since we turned the clocks ahead and I woke earlier than my normal time. I was grateful for the view of the early morning sunlight frosting a line of pines. I was grateful for the blue sky and sunlight while walking (an hour later the sky was blanketed with gray clouds). I was grateful for the gray squirrels dashing around; they always cheer me up.

As you walk, state aloud something that catches your eye and for which you are grateful. Encourage your children or whomever you are with to do the same. You may find that expressing your gratitude for nature persuades you to make connections to the other aspects of your life for which you are grateful. For example, watching the birds chasing one another makes me think of the approaching mating season and then prompts me to express my gratitude for the presence in my life of my husband of four months.

If you are doing this with your children, you may want to go home and record some of these in a journal or as a poem. Children can draw or paint a picture and include a line with the image expressing their gratitude for nature.

Don’t limit this to a “do it /did it” sort of activity. Repeat it often. You will find that stating your gratitude while sitting in the house and while moving outdoors creates a different quality to the things that are mentioned.

A Stillness Activity

Originally published 3/09/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

Stillness isn’t something that we often explore with children. We might long for quiet as they stand in place crunching leaves underfoot or they speak using their very loudest “outdoor voices” while walking along a trail. To capture stillness is different. Stillness isn’t just the absence of sound or movement because it also includes a vibrant level of alertness.

We are more than motionless because every sense is on alert. So, how do you convince kids to explore stillness? For children, stillness is less about meditative reflection and more about the chance to hear insects munching leaves and locating chipmunks roaming through the leaf litter. If you can’t see your children enthusiastically plunging themselves into observant stillness, try a trick that captures their attention.

You can introduce the rewards of stillness and listening by stopping and asking with great surprise and intent, “Did you hear that? What was that?” Use some body language to discourage questions. Now, you didn’t have to hear anything in particular, but chances are when you fall silent you will hear something. Of course, you can’t pull this too often, but at some point you can say that you found it really interesting to listen to the different sounds in nature. If your children agree, try the following activity

Find a spot where you can avoid being disturbed for five-to-fifteen minutes. If you are with two or more kids, look for a clearing where everyone can sit looking out from the center of the space to avoid having the kids stare at one another. Kids should be out of fingertips range of one another. Older children may prefer to scatter to different spots within your sight.

Before separating the kids, let them know how long they will be doing this activity. Plan approximately 30 seconds for each year the child is old (average the number for mixed age groups). If the activity appears to be going well, you can always extend things for a minute or two, but don’t push beyond that time.

Each person sits, lays, or stands in one place with her eyes either opened or closed. Encourage participants to open their attention to the surrounding sights and sounds as well as noticing any interesting smells or textures within their reach. The key is – no movement (no wiggling, twisting one’s head this way and that, no wandering, etc.) except for one’s eyes.

After the experience, ask participants (this includes the adults) to mention at least one thing that they are grateful to have noticed while remaining still. Try this activity at different times of day – dawn, morning, afternoon, dusk, or night. Each time brings unique sights and sounds, even if you always do this activity in your backyard.

Write a Diamante about Nature

Originally published 3/01/2011 at explorealongtheway.com
While making observations in nature you may want a record of what you see. You could take a picture or make some notes, but another way of collecting your interpretation of your time in nature is to write a poem.

If you never willingly wrote a poem because you think a poem has to be obscure, this simple format allows you to capture tangible details. In essence, a diamante is a diamond-shape poem. The lines don’t have to rhyme. As an added bonus for adults and the children, you don’t even have to think in partial or entire lines of poetry. A diamante is constructed of individual words that are placed in a specific pattern.

A poem is a great way to capture observations that you and children have made in nature. A diamante feels a bit more purposeful than taking notes; because, what are you going to do with those notes? When you write a poem, you are done. Accent a diamante with a photograph or a drawing and you can set the two in a scrapbook or combine them on the computer and post them online for friends and family to share.

The basic format of a diamante uses specific types of words. Writers can work on this poem on their own or you can lead this as a group activity, with individuals calling out words that fit the structure. The key to holding this structure together is that the selected words should have something to do with the topic, as described by the first word.

Line 1: Noun (person, place or thing)

Line 2: Adjective Adjective (words that describes a person place or thing; not an action)

Line 3: Participle Participle Participle (a verb, an action, ending in –ing)

Line 4: Noun Noun Noun Noun

Line 5: Participle Participle Participle

Line 6: Adjective Adjective

Line 7: Noun (another way of describing the person, place, or thing from the first line)

You use the words that best capture the sights, senses and experiences of a specific location. That’s it. Sixteen words, no punctuation. You are a poet. Why not start by writing a diamante and posting it below in the comments?

Taking Mental Pictures of Nature

Originally published 2/28/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

Many ways exist to encourage children and adults to see nature in different ways. The following nature game, often referred to as “Camera” encourages observations skills. Individuals should work in pairs. Preferably, the two paired together are similar in height, because one will guide the other individual who will keep her eyes closed. One player will be the photographer and the other the camera.

This isn’t the best activity to do with one adult and one preschooler because the child won’t be able to determine that he is directing his father into a low-hanging tree branch. This is a good activity for children to work together. Adults can try this observation game with preteens who will be able to direct an adult.

One person will be the camera and the other the photographer. After five-to-ten minutes, the players will switch roles. The camera closes her eyes as the photographer gently moves his camera, walking to a nearby location where he wishes to take a picture. The photographer can also tilt the head of the camera so she is at the proper angle for the photographer. When the photographer wishes to take a picture, he taps the camera on the shoulder, essentially pushing the shutter button.

The camera responds by opening her eyes for a count of one and then closing her shutters/eyelids. The photographer continues guiding his camera through the area snapping “pictures” while within the time limit. At the end of the time, the camera “processes” the images and tells the photographer what she remembers seeing or what she most enjoyed.

Switch roles. By acting as the photographer, an individual focuses on what he finds interesting and hopes that someone else will find interesting. The camera, by only looking at what the photographer wants her to see, is capturing small parts of the area she and her partner are exploring. This nature game allows both players to gain a different appreciation of the area they are investigating.