In this episode, Saren shares some personal experiences, eye-opening statistics, and research about how important it is for children to engage with nature. She also shares some concrete and easy ways that we can make nature a more meaningful part of our children’s lives.
Show Notes:
Podcast Saren talks about: How to Raise a Wild Child – Interview on Radio West with Scott Sampson
Book Saren talks about: How to Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature by Scott Sampson
#raiseawildchild challenge
Compliled Research Statistics: Children and Nature
Music from Creations by Michael R. Hicks
Audio Editing by Christy Elder
Thanks for recording this, Saren! Very inspiring!! Sometimes I send my three-year-old outside to play in the backyard, and it’s like he doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t have any older siblings to play with or teach him about exploring, and as I was listening, I thought about how I need to teach my son HOW to play independently in nature. I’ve sat and played trains and Legos with him, so now he knows how to do those things on his own; but I’ve never built a fort with him in the bushes outside or taught him how to turn over rocks to search for bugs; once I model for him how to play and interact in nature, he’ll be much more able to do it independently and come up with his own experiences. So my goal is to do that with him this week!
A friend of mine suggested a fun activity in nature that my son has liked. We look an empty egg carton and colored each of the slots a different color–then we went on a walk and tried to find something in nature that matched each of the colors and put it inside of our carton. Really fun!
Such great points and ideas, Rachel! Thanks for sharing. The HOW is very important – and engaging WITH our children in nature helps them develop a beautiful appreciation and attachment to nature that will serve them well. Plus it’s good for US.
Thanks, Saren. I love this topic too. You might like this podcast :).
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2014/09/01/4078404.htm
One day several years ago, we had had a stressful morning, and we were all cranky. On the way home from the bus stop my then-3 year old and I somehow got started counting the worms in the gutter between the bus stop and home (it had rained the night before). Something so simple completely turned our day around. It doesn’t have to be elaborate or pre-planned. Or super creative. Sometimes the thing we need at that moment simply reveals itself.
This year, another child has been fascinated by watching plants in the yard begin blooming. We planted some marigolds from seed, and he has been watching them every day to see when they would bloom. He is also closely watching all the garden plants too. He gets so excited when he sees a new bloom and can’t wait to show me. 🙂 His excitement is contagious. 🙂
Most kids like gardening, even if the best you can do is just a pot on the back porch or a window sill.
Thanks for sharing your experience! And gardening is a wonderful way for kids to connect with nature.
Listened to this while at the dentist this morning! Great points-loved hearing the statistics and the good that being outside really does for our kids. It inspired me to get outside more WITH them. Great podcast!
🙂
I loved this podcast. I know I’m a little late, since you posted it months ago, but I was inspired as I listened to it yesterday. Spending time in the outdoors is one of my favorite things. I grew up in a rough home situation, but almost all my good memories are centered around being outside. We were surrounded by farmland and some HUGE trees so there was lots of healing, growth and peace during my outside time. I still find a lot of peace when I am outside in a beautiful setting. It’s been more difficult to expose my kids to nature and develop a love for it. We lived in a tiny apartment in the middle of a busy city for several years. Now we are in a condo in suburbs and have to still plan outings to really spend time in a peaceful, natural setting. I always thought/planned/assumed we would have a house with a yard, but that is still nowhere in our immediate future. So we go out on walks, during the winter we sled on the nearby golf course, we plant herbs on our balcony, we go camping a few times each summer, etc. Sometimes it is really hard to get my kids out, the pull of legos and books can be so strong. 🙂 But we are all always happier when we get out, breathe deep and soak in the sunshine. And I need to remember that especially as we head into winter (and about to have a newborn in a couple weeks).
One simple, fun activity is taking duct tape and putting it around your child’s wrist with the sticky side out. (Put it on both wrists for extra fun!) And while you go on a walk have them pick up some of nature’s little treasures and stick them to their bracelets. The last time I did this my 8 year old daughter made a really intricate mosaic pattern with different colored leaf pieces. It was really cool.