Three Ways For Kids To Learn About Nature
Happy Earth Day to all of us. We are so grateful to call it home, it’s the most beautiful planet in the Universe. Let’s take care of it the best way we can. I’d like to tell you, that this is the reason why I like to teach my kids about nature. The truth is I find nature fascinating, I always have. And I think it’s really fun to explore and learn about nature together. And of course, it helps to raise conscious children. I want to help them find a connection with nature and feel part of it. Here are the three ways we learn about nature.
Books is where we start
I’d like to highlight two books.
One is “Botany for Babies” (age 0-3 years). It’s a board book, bright and colourful, explaining nature in a very simple way. I read this book with my girl many times while she was growing up. Every time we were able to talk about different things in the book and to notice more details. Now my baby boy is interested and I am excited to read it to him!
The second book is “The Gruffalo, Spring and Summer nature trail“ (age 3-7 years). This is a guide to nature exploration and observation. It has pages with different things to spot in the season and mark with a sticker. It also has pages with some information. We recently learnt with my daughter how a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly and how frogs come to life. There are pages to draw, suggestions for craft and so many fun things in this book! Both my daughter and I absolutely love it!
Doing a project
Doing a project is a fantastic way to learn how everything comes together in life. It’s one of the best ways to learn, and so here is our spring project this year: we planted mini sunflowers and strawberries in the pots. We bought growing kits from the Gardening for Kids website. The kit has everything in it and my daughter needed just a little bit of help to plant it. Planting two pots worked out really nicely: they couldn’t be more different. The seeds of strawberries were tiny and needed to be on top of the soil. Seeds of sunflowers were large and needed to be put inside of soil and covered. The strawberries took about a week or even more to grow. The first sunflower sprout we saw in two days. We already had many discussions about how the plants are different and yet similar. My daughter can’t wait to eat some strawberries and admire sunflowers. She is yet to learn it will take a few months till then.
Sensory activities
One other great way to learn about nature is sensory. It’s perfect for babies since they love to touch and feel things. My boy enjoys sitting on the grass and touching all he can see around him. It’s hard work for me to make sure he doesn’t get too excited and doesn’t eat anything! But it’s worth it. My daughter loves to smell flowers and tree blossoms this spring. She also loves to touch leaves, catkins, flowers, sticks, and everything she finds. Her favourite is the dandelion clock. She can’t wait for the dandelions to turn white!
