Got dirt? “In South Carolina, a truckload of dirt is the same price as a video game!” reports Norman McGee, a father in that state who bought a small pickup-load of dirt for his daughter and friends.
McGee, who took the wonderful photo above, is turning consciousness into action. So is Liz Baird, who keeps a “wonder bowl” available for her children.
When Baird was a little girl she would fill her pockets with natural wonders—acorns, rocks, mushrooms. “My Mom got tired of washing clothes and finding these treasures in the bottom of the washer or disintegrated through the dryer,” Liz recalls. “So she came up with ‘Liz’s Wonder Bowl,’ and the idea was that I could empty my pockets into the bowl. I could still enjoy my treasures, and try to find out what things were, and not cause trouble with the laundry.”
McGee and Baird are among the thousands of parents who have joined – and are leading – the international children and nature movement.
Sometimes known as Leave No Child Inside, the effort is bringing together people from all walks of life, who are creating grassroots regional campaigns, state and national legislation, and changes in their own families to help children become “happier, healthier and smarter,” as Children & Nature Network president Cheryl Charles puts it.
So what’s your family doing this summer? Here are some suggestions:
Visit Nature Rocks. This web site, created in alliance with the Children & Nature Network, ecoAmerica, the Nature Conservancy, REI, the American Camp Association, and other groups, offers a “family fun nature planner” designed to help you find all sorts of nature activities, plus tools to help guide and plan your adventures, including a Family Nature Staycation guide.
Also, a “Find Nature” feature — plug in your ZIP code and find out about nature activities near your home. (Incidentally, some folks tell us they like to visit the Nature Rocks site just to listen to the ambient nature — and children — sounds in the background.)
Find a good guide. Take a look at the growing number of good books and online guides for parents. Among them: the free onlineParents’ Guide to Nature Play offered by the Green Hearts Institute; “I Love Dirt,”; Joseph Cornell’s classic “Sharing Nature With Children”; and “Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature.”
Use the “Last Child in the Woods Field Guide? Offered at the back of the expanded and updated 2008 edition of “Last Child in the Woods,” the Field Guide offers 100 Actions that families and communities can take, along with discussion questions, a report on the movement, and other resources for parents, educators, conservationists, business people and community leaders.
Here are some sample activities from the Field Guide. But wait, there’s more:
Start a Family Nature Club. Download C&NN’s guide to creating a network of like-minded families who want to get their kids outside, but need the support of others to help make that happen. It’s a new form of social networking! New: The Family Nature Guide is now also available in Spanish.
Become a Natural Leader. Being a nature mentor isn’t just a job for parents and grandparents. Young people helping other young people get outside is catching on.
For example, in Mississippi, teenager Josh Morrison founded Geeks in the Woods (www.geeksinthewoods.org) for his friends and fellow geeks everywhere. He defines “geek” as a “gaming environmentally educated kid,” and says he and his friends — “tired of being labeled” tech addicts — can have their PlayStations and their outdoor time too: “We could be the generation that makes a U-turn back to . . . a balance between virtual reality and what sustains all life . . . nature.”
Meanwhile, a seven-year-old girl in Virginia rounded up her friends and enrolled them in her own nature club. Together they organize backyard campouts and bug hunts. They call their club (you guessed it): Girls Gone Wild in Nature.
Relieve your own stress. Remember: If you’re a parent, a grandparent or a young person who missed out on nature as a child, this summer could be your chance. Indeed, all the gifts of nature that come to children also come to the good adult or teen-ager who introduces a child to nature.
By the way, here’s what I’m doing this summer: Working on a book, speaking….and next month, my older son, Jason, and I are headed north to Alaska. My younger son Matthew left a couple weeks ago to become a summer fly-fishing guide on Kodiak Island. Guess who’s going to be our guide.
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Richard Louv is chairman of the Children and Nature Network. He is the author of “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.”
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