Engaging your kids in nature while they’re out of school
As a special ed teacher, an administrator, and a watershed educator, I have spent 40 years working with kids in the Van Duzen/Eel River area. Today with the coronavirus, we are in uncharted territory with restrictions on group assembly and the closure of our schools for an unknown period of time.
Here are some suggestions for engaging your children in nature while they are out of school and in your home. It is based on a concept of Nurturing Nature, of connecting your inner spirit with the diversity of the natural world.
Go to the Dollar Store and purchase one notebook for writing, one sketch pad for drawing, one set of colored pencils, and crayons. Cost $4 plus tax.
Each day have your child go out and conduct a scientific observation of the world around them. For example, today I took a walk with my dog and observed 17 trillium and 12 robins. If they are young, you can write for them. If they are older, they can take their own notes and even can take pictures of what they see. Have them take their notebooks, date the page, and write their observations. What did you notice? How many daffodils did you see? What kinds of trees and bushes did you find. What was the day like? How did it make you feel?
Life and nature are full of wonder. What did you wonder about while exploring? Write it down in words. Does something you see remind you of anything else? Use your memory and imagination.
Part 2 is sketching and drawing. My good friend and colleague from Friends of the Van Duzen River, Barabara Domanchuk coined the term Ecology and the Arts. Lets use the artistic medium to draw the leaf, plant, or tree. Study it closely. How many lines on each leaf? How many leaves on the branch. Does the leaf have a smell. (Make sure you know what poison oak looks like and avoid it) Now you have 3 choices. Choice
1 is to take out your sketchbook, draw the plant and color it. Put in as much detail as you can. Choice 2 is to take a plant sample or samples, cut them, and take them back to your house for more observation and design. Choice 3 is to then take a colored crayon and make a leaf rubbing. Take off the paper on the crayon and use the whole crayon sideways. Place the leaf/branch between two pieces of paper in your sketch book with the leaf upside down to get the best results.
Last but not least, I am a big advocate of poetry and have worked very closely with Daniel Zev Levinson, Poet in the Schools, to publish two books of poetry by local students, “Van Duzen Voice” and “Eel River Expressions.” Students can use free form to narrate their observations in poetic form, or they can do an acrostic writing the word in up and down and inserting a word for each letter. One of my favorites poetry topics is “I Am” poetry. I Am the Tree. I Am the Bee. I Am the Butterfly. Take it from there. It is unlimited. Become Nature.
Last but not least, I am a big advocate of learning in the classroom/home and learning in the field. Recently while working on Botany curriculum for a project through the Humboldt County Office of Education emphasizing the environmental literacy, I came upon several wonderful YouTube sites for middle to older kids to share with you. The first two dealt with William Wordsworth’s famous poem “Daffodils.” Go to “William Wordsworth’s daffodils poem (I wandered lonely as a cloud)” by the Wordsworth Trust, the story of the poem, and a second one which is a beautiful rendition of the poem by a child: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=B2sdzDInf2c.
I came upon an amazing 14-part series by botanist Stewart McPherson called “The World’s Most Spectacular Plants.” Episodes are between 5 and 12 minutes. One a day would be wonderful for middle school kids and older. Hope parents find this article useful in these extraordinary times!