Recommended Age: 2.5y+
Level of Parent Involvement: High
Prerequisites
- An obvious curiosity about and interest in nature, which is visible to your child and that he will naturally choose to imitate.
Materials
- Appropriate clothing. For example, a waterproof jacket, beanie, gum boots, etc. (“There’s nosuch thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing!”)
- Adult and child sized gloves
- A backpack
- A reusable bag to put treasures in that you find lying on the ground
- A camera to take photos of treasures that have not fallen on the ground
- A small bug collector/box in case you find an insect/snail that you can carefully take home to study
- The outdoors
Steps
- Invite your child to go on a nature walk with you. Explain what that means – you are going for a special walk to look at the amazing things in nature that are all around you. For example, the weather, the sky, the plants and the animals.
- Ask your child to help you pack the backpack that you are going to take with you. Explain the purpose of all the items that you put in the bag.
- Draw your child’s attention to the weather outside and discuss the appropriate clothing that you need to wear. Help your child to get ready for your nature walk. (Including going to the bathroom before leaving the house!)
- Set out on your walk. As you are walking draw your child’s attention to natural things that you are interested in and that you think might interest them. Stop to investigate have a closer look at things. Follow your child’s pace and interests.
- If you or your child come across something that is special, show your child how to collect ‘treasures’ from nature in a socially responsible manner:
- only pick up ‘treasures’ that have already fallen on the floor and only take as many as you really need
- take photos of any ‘treasures’ that are still attached to the plants or trees
- if you come across an insect/snail that your child would like to observe at home, take note of the place and the leaves that are around it. Carefully put it in the bug catcher/box with some of those leaves and when your child has finished observing the insect/snail, explain to your child that you need to return it to where you found it because that is its home
- When you return home after your walk, if your child found an insect/snail, help him to set up a little habitat for it in a transparent container.
- Encourage your child to examine the ‘treasures’ that you found on your walk by describing their characteristics and looking at them through a magnifying glass. Help him to research them by looking them up in relevant non-fiction books and on the internet.
Variations
- Before going on your walk, create a list (written or in pictures) of things that you and your child can look for while you are out. For example, a worm, stick, seed, pinecone, rock, spider web, feather, bird, ant, etc.
- Have a specific purpose in mind for your nature walk. For example, to collect autumn leaves or sticks for weaving.
- Provide your child with some sturdy paper and liquid glue. Invite him to create a collage with the objects that you found on your walk.
- Encourage your child to catalogue the objects that you found by mounting them on some cardboard and labelling them.
