Encouraging kids to enjoy nature
Rachel Clare has a messsage for our tamariki . . . come outside! Her new book Play Wild encourages kids to get their hands in the dirt and use materials such as plants, sticks, stones and bark, as well as a few household items, to create a range of projects — many of which can be deconstructed and returned to the natural environment when the activity is finished.
We asked Clare some questions:
What inspired you to write the book?
I loved activity books as a kid and I’ve always been into plants and gardening, so Play Wild is a book for the kid I was. It was important to me that the projects didn’t require loads of extra materials that parents had to go out and buy. Flour and water can be used to make glue, plastic containers and jars can be salvaged from the recycling bin, and nature is easy to find — just go outside! You don’t need a big garden to do nature craft. Flowers and leaves and sticks and stones can be found anywhere. And while I shouldn’t be encouraging anyone to pick other people’s flowers (although I have been known to scrape moss off my neighbours’ shed roof), taking note of what grows in your neighbourhood throughout the different seasons is a wonderful way to be in tune with your local environment.
Do you have a favourite nature craft project in the book and if so what is it and why?
I really enjoyed coming up with the Hulk Hands, which is a project where you can grow microgreens in the shape of your hand — except the hand keeps growing, thus the Hulk reference! Most microgreen seeds germinate within a week so they are super satisfying to grow, plus I love any project where you get to use a spritzer! Similarly, the Stained Glass Petal Windows project, where you spritz a window with water then press flowers and leaves onto it, is so simple and pretty, and a perfect activity for younger children.
Did you used to enjoy playing in nature as a child?
Yes. My mum has a lovely garden and we played outside a lot. I remember going around the garden with a doll’s pram as a preschooler and pretending it was a supermarket trolley. I’d pick flowers and pretend they were different groceries going into the trolley. A rose was a jar of peanut butter, a daisy was a loaf of bread etc. I’m sure my mum soon put a stop to the decimation of her blooms! I was, and still am, very romantic about nature and was always bringing plants inside. In Standard 4 (Year 6), there was a school competition where you could win a prize for the best-decorated disco ticket and I made an amazing creation out of pressed flowers and bric-a-brac. It won! I went on stage to collect my prize dressed as a present. You had to go as something beginning with P. The cool kids went as punks but I made myself a costume out of a box and addressed it to myself. Pseudo Echo’s cover of Funkytown was a big hit at that time and I remember everyone doing the side-to-side dance move to it.
Do you upcycle a lot in your household?
My partner Jacob Leaf, who took many of the photos in Play Wild, is a very clever DIYer who can turn a pallet into pretty much anything — chairs, tables, boxes, you name it. We have a great council-run recycling centre up the road from us where we live in West Auckland and find lots of bargains there.
What do you think are the benefits of getting children off the screens and into nature?
As a parent of a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old, the screen struggle is real! I’m guilty of spending too long on devices as well but modern technology today is a world away from the two TV channels I grew up with. If we develop this habit when we are young it will set us in good stead when we grow up — returning to nature grounds us and heals us. Also, I believe that connecting with the natural world nurtures our desire to protect it. Often we see ourselves as separate from nature, because of the harm humans have done to it, and I want tamariki to realise that they are part of nature too.
Do you have another book in the pipeline?
I’m currently working on a plant book for adults, although a family member has suggested I should do a follow up nature craft book for adults…