Want a whole new perspective on your garden, your favorite park or the woods? Take a child on a walk through your garden or other natural area.
The outdoors provides opportunity for kids to get up close and personal with the elements of the natural world. Many times a gardener can help teach a child to appreciate the outdoors, and the gardener may gain some new insight into nature, too.
Here are some ideas to help you work with a child in the outdoors.
Take crayons and paper into the garden. Use them to create tree rubbings. Not only can tree leaves be rubbed with crayon, but bark can be rubbed, too. Children will notice different patterns in the bark of different trees as well as the unique vein structures of the rubbed leaves.
Fallen leaves can serve as great tools for collecting leaves according to various classifications. One classification could be “edges” looking for leaves with toothed, smooth or lobed edges. Another classification could be “color” or “shape.” Older children can be taught the difference between compound and simple leaves by collecting various “types.”
Of course there’s no reason not to take a few leaves home to press. I’m an adult, and I still love to find interesting shapes and colors of leaves and plants that can be pressed and kept.
Children love to find things on the ground. Autumn is an excellent time of year to collect acorns, walnuts and seed pods. These can be collected and classified like leaves. Nuts and seed pods also provide interesting conversation and an opportunity for learning when the seeds are opened and dissected. Edible nuts also provide even greater opportunity for learning.
Bugs scurry around in the garden and woods throughout the year, and most children have an excellent height advantage for finding small forest creatures. Picking up insects provides an opportunity for an adult to teach the child about the importance of all living creatures to our ecosystem. Plus, handling insects at a young age will help condition children not to be afraid of bugs when they are older.
A magnifying glass can provide a more in depth look at moss, lichens and other growing things in the outdoors. A pair of easy to use binoculars can provide a better perspective into the growing canopy high above a child.
Even very young children can appreciate nature when someone takes the time to interact with them in nature. It’s important that those of us who garden today consider who will tend our gardens after we are gone.
Questions or comments related to gardening? Contact Joleen at missourigardener@hotmail.com.