This article originally appeared in the July-August 2008 issue of the Children's Advocate, published by Action Alliance for Children.

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Early Care and Education

“Awe, interest, and curiosity”

Early care and education teachers share tips for helping children connect with nature

By Elyce Petker

I had a three-year-old girl who was always crying,” recalls long-time early childhood educator Wendolyn Bird. “Deep, inconsolable crying. But I’ll never forget this day—she found a redwood tree and just stayed there. She sat there for half an hour and then she lit up, she just connected to the natural world. It was very transformative.”

A growing number of early care and education programs are joining a movement—spearheaded by Richard Louv’s book Last Child in the Woods—to help connect children with nature. Teachers, parents, health professionals, and others are pushing for more opportunities for children to play in natural settings. Studies show that children who have more contact with nature are less likely to develop obesity, depression, and social and learning problems (see Children benefit from contact with nature).

“When kids are outdoors, they are moving,” adds Bird. “You have to play together. Let’s say kids are trying to cross a creek. The teacher may ask a kid who crossed easily to help a kid who’s having trouble.”

Exploring nature

“It doesn’t matter what you know or don’t know,” says Bird. “Just model awe, interest, and curiosity to the kids. What color is it? What does it smell like? How many petals are there? How does it grow? The goal isn’t to have all the information.”

“You can give kids a bracelet (made of tape with the sticky side out) so they can put little things they find on it—a petal, an oak leaf,” says long-time early care and education teacher Jeff Pulido in Los Angeles. “A friend of mine used toilet paper rolls as binoculars to help the kids focus their attention (outdoors).”

Teachers can talk with kids about “the wind on their cheeks, the clouds in the sky, the sun above,” says Bird. “Asking, ‘where is the sun?’ is the beginning of a lesson on directions. You can connect the sun to movement.”

“You can get bubbles and the children can try and catch them in the wind,” says San Jose preschool teacher Diane Gordon. To talk about light and darkness, she suggests making shadow puppets from black construction paper.

Nature in the classroom

“We study the world starting at the poles and move closer together,” says Teri Stewart, Sunnyvale preschool teacher and founder of Natural Teaching Curriculum—“They made volcanoes out of colored paper. They use their imagination, their own ideas of space. They develop lots of different skills.”

“I (go) to the library to get stories about ponds, insects, animals,” says Pulido. “Then we talk about them. I (also) talk about farmers and farm workers. I’ll ask them, ‘What does the farmer do when something is ripe? Then what?’ When (we) get to the market, it clicks.” Teachers can also bring in sticks, leaves, or flower petals, he adds, and have children weigh them, measure them, and look at them under a magnifying glass.

Visit parks and green spaces

Education program coordinator April Pernell helps preschoolers learn about flowers and insects at Descanso Gardens in Los Angeles. “We concentrate on the fascination of seeing gardens,” she says. Teachers may ask kids to match the colors of a flower to a color wheel made of construction paper. Children learn about seasons by visiting in the spring and the fall. “The kids tend to remember the gardens on their second trip,” she adds, “The gardens made that much of an impact.”

Before a field trip, Pulido talks about what they will see and creates simple maps that “show a mesquite tree, a duck pond. (On the trip) we go find it. I’d tell them they’re about to see an oak tree—then, wow, they see an oak tree.” But pay attention to outdoor safety, he adds: “Bring water and cups, and have all the kids have hats so they don’t get burned.”

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More nature activities for kids

• Have children run, jump, shake their arms and see what their shadow does. Does their shadow change shape or size at different times of the day?

• Put a circle of rope down on the grass and talk about any tiny creatures kids see inside it. Teachers can also talk about not hurting anything found inside the circle.

• Put objects on black construction paper and leave them out in the sun for a couple of hours. Talk about the patterns that appear on the paper.

• Create a rainbow by putting a glass jar filled with water in front of a sunny window.

• Visit a park on a windy day and watch trees blowing in the wind. Have children pretend they are birds and run with their arms out. Talk about how the wind feels, where they would go if they could really fly.

• Put on rain gear and walk in the rain. Talk about what birds do when it rains, what makes puddles, how raindrops taste, what happens to your umbrella when the wind blows.

• Grow an indoor garden by planting bird seed or the tops of root vegetables in a tray with soil—or an outdoor garden with fast-growing flower or vegetable seeds in a pot.

Source: Diane Gordon

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Children benefit from contact with nature

Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv, reports on studies that find children who have too little contact with nature have a greater risk of developing obesity, depression, anti-social behavior, lack of empathy, and lower language and imaginative skills.

Studies also show:

• Chicago and Seattle children playing in green outdoor spaces played more—and more creatively—than children playing in barren outdoor spaces or on built equipment.

• Children with attention-deficit disorder (ADD) showed fewer symptoms after playing in green outdoor settings.

• Children with natural views and green outdoor spaces could concentrate better than other children.

• Children in Norway and Sweden who played every day among trees and rocks were more fit than other children.

• Rural preteens with more access to natural surroundings showed more resilience to stressful events.

Source: Children in Nature Collaborative

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Resources

• Children and Nature Network, www.childrenandnature.org

• Children in Nature Collaborative, 650-969-6592, www.cincbayarea.org

• Natural Teaching Curriculum, www.naturalteachingcurriculum.org

• Outdoor Classroom Project, 626-296-1770, www.ceconline.org/outdoor_classroom_project/ index.asp

• Richard Louv’s Resource Guide, http://richardlouv.com/children-nature-resources  

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Extra resources from the Children’s Advocate bulletin

• Why Day Care Kids Don’t Play Outside, an article in the New York Times, reports on research about barriers to children's outdoor play time in early care and education centers.

• Environmental Education Resource Directory, from the California Regional Environmental Education Community, is a searchable database of environmental education opportunities, by county, age group, and academic focus

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