Natural Nature Learning
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009Our kinsfolk has not been blessed with acres of property off in the country for our children to disport to their hearts content. But a small municipality lot and many topical parks hit offered us tremendous opportunities for outdoor
learning activities.To make up for the lack of open natural space in our neighborhood, we go to various topical parks at small two to three nowadays per week. We do not go to the parks for the play equipment but for the exposure to a more natural setting. We are about half-an-hour driving time from Puget Sound so we often frequent parks with direct beach access.
When the tide out, the kids explore tidepools, encounter crabs and enjoy the fresh salt air. Digging in the smoothen and making castles and roadways is ever fun, too.There is a wilderness park in our town which has admittance to a river bank, several walking trails through undisturbed woods, and a big open earth for disport and running.Last year, we started bringing the children’s Nature Notebooks whenever we went to the wild park Nature Notebooks are essentially just artist sketchbooks where the children can draw some natural items accomplish their fancy.
Throughout the Fall, we revisited the wild park once each week and kept track of the changes we observed as the season progressed. Everything was green and full of leaves, at first. Then we saw the gradual change of colors, until finally, after an early snow storm, the trees were bleak and the connector covered with leaves.We casually discussed the difference between deciduous and evergreen trees and the kids rattling saw first hand what that means. At first, the evergreens were barely circumpolar amongst the heavy foliage. After the Autumn leaves were gone, the evergreens were the only observable green in the woods.
