Let nature teach

In our book, The Watermelon Story, Little Honey and Angel discover that learning and growing can take a long time and, sometimes, be quite challenging. We discussed this in our blog in November 2021. However, there is also something of great value in the second lesson in the same book, “Watermelons have seeds to grow more watermelons.” By planting their watermelon seeds, Little Honey and Angel learned about the circle of life as well as how to provide attention to and care for their fledgling plants. 
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The natural world is a beautiful and wondrous thing. Even your very youngest children can develop an appreciation for it when they have the opportunity to engage in it. Numerous studies point to a diversity of benefits for children from nature-based learning. These include, among others, increased creativity, more cooperative play, and improvement in academic achievement. 

There are a plethora of activities and lessons for children available for free from such organizations as the World Wildlife Federation and the World Forum Foundation. These activities are designed to be age appropriate. Some lessons require little to no equipment or materials. For example, you can set up a nature scavenger hunt using pictures of the objects you want your little ones to find. Another idea is to set up a tub of water with a variety of everyday objects to see if they sink or float. Yet another idea is to sit out in a forest and let your children just observe and describe to you the behavior of any animals that you may see. And, of course, you can always plant watermelon seeds!

​While somewhat controversial, we enjoyed sharing the book, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, with our children. In that book, the tree continually gives to the boy to meet his needs without asking for anything in return. Some individuals and organizations maintain this encourages children to believe in depleting the environment in a selfish manner. We believe, however, that with appropriate guidance, it is possible to help your child find empathy and love for the tree and that this may result in them seeing the natural world a little differently. What do you think of this book - and do you have other favorites that use nature to teach valuable lessons to children? If so, please feel free to comment below.