Scientists and psychologists have proven that we all learn best by example. This is even more evident in children because they are open to new experiences and they acquire things fast and easily. Let us use this to plant positive thoughts and true values in their little heads. Talk to them on how and why we should take care of the planet, how to help, rather than harm it. And when they acquire all this and when they realize certain things themselves and start following your steps, use this and show them how they can help build a better tomorrow and some happier mornings.

Here are a few examples which can contribute to nature, which we can teach our children through their play activities:

PREVENT WATER FROM RUNNING VAINLY

One of the ways to influence our environment and preserve life-giving water is to prevent tap water from running without any purpose. I am sure it happened to all of us to let the water running and relax. but it is important to be cautious and to teach children by our own example that they should brush their teeth while preserving water since it is worth a lot.

WE SHOULD SAVE ELECTRICITY TOO SINCE IT IS WORTH TO US

Children like light because they are afraid of the dark, but in order to preserve nature we can relax children and put them to sleep even without the light. You can read them books adapted to their age, which teach them how to save the planet. I am not saying this is easy, but with patience and trust, we can show our children why this is important and how to save the planet and the environment.

Photo credit: Kevin Conor Keller / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

TO MAKE THE NATURE LAST LONGER,   DO NOT THROW AWAY OLD THINGS BUT DONATE THEM

Clothes and toys are getting increasingly piled up, after which they are thrown away since we either overgrew them or we got bored, and then the waste which damaging for the environment is created, and for us since we are a part of it. Therefore, we are not supposed to throw away old things but donate them instead, recycle and teach our children to do the same. Similarly, we could spend less on clothes and toys and instead of such gifts, we could treat ourselves and our children to travels, trips, films, plays and similar memorable experiences.

 Children usually get bored when they have to do something, especially when we set things seriously, this is why we should turn everything we do into a game, into a treasure hunt, and to present to them and teach certain things in an amusing way. Teach children that old can become new, that plastic bottles can become bird feeders and that fruits and vegetables are most delicious when we plant them ourselves. Teach them to create, not to destroy themselves and nature. Be creative and imaginative, I believe that this can make your day, and children will be prepared for a cleaner and greener future that they built themselves.

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If you have more interesting ideas on how to spend spring days with children, share with us!

1. Make magic potions

We all remember our first cooking steps when we made cookies out of dirt and sprinkled them with rose petals. Help your kids create similar memories, by making a batch of “magic potions”. They can collect natural ingredients from your garden, such as berries, flower petals, leaf clippings, and mix them up with a solution of colored water and glitter. Then have them pour it in the grass or garden to help make things grow and blossom.   This kind of activity influences the development of their imagination and helps them explore nature.

2.Paint garden pottery

Why not include children in your spring garden redecorating? Give them some painting colors and brushes, and together paint your garden pottery in new and fun colors. In that way, children will feel included in home  chores  and have  a feeling  that they can help their parents in some way as well. You will all feel even more satisfied when you enjoy your outside breakfast mornings because the results of your teamwork will be surrounding you.

3.Grow a vegetable

Let children pick a vegetable they can plant, grow and eat. This will influence their sense of responsibility and help them understand how to make healthy and balanced meals. Once they have planted their veggies, look up some fun recipes that feature them as the main ingredient. Explain to them how their work resulted in a great meal for the whole family!

Copyright: Oksana Kuzmina

4. Make a birdhouse

Check out those numerous DIY videos and make a birdhouse together with your kid. There are some fun ways how to avoid using advanced craftsmanship and just make a birdhouse out of a milk carton. It will be such a great experience for your little one to look after the birds that will visit his birdhouse.

5.Have a spring scavenger hunt

Get together with the kids to compose a list of things nature brings at springtime. List flowers, different kind of berries, pine cones, etc. Then go out and collect a sample of each. You can even turn it into a competition! Make two lists, split into teams and race to see who will be the first to find everything.

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When I was young, my grandma enjoyed taking me on long walks around the park near where we lived. We often had adventures, my grandma and I, and going to the park soon became my favourite place for them. We would pretend to be explorers, discovering new land as we waded through the head-height blades of grass (well, head-height for a 3 year old), on our way to the perfect picnic spot. She would take me to feed the ducks at the pond and teach me about grasshoppers and dragonflies and beetles. I would run away from her as we played hide-and-seek in the trees and together we collected the different types of leaves that fell from them in the autumn: oak, birch, elm. Eventually, when I grew up a little more, she and my grandpa would teach me how to plant flowers, how to know when the raspberries they grew in the garden were ripe for picking and about the reasons why poison ivy stung so much. I was luckier than I could ever have imagined – despite living in one of the biggest cities in the world, my family found the time and sought opportunities that allowed me to develop the deep appreciation for the environment and its wonders that I still carry with me today. Learning from nature has been beneficial to my growth in many ways, some of which are outwardly evident, some of which aren’t. And with the rise of the dangerous anti climate change movement championed by people in power (hi Donald Trump), it’s more important than ever that we strive to ensure that future generations do not suffer from the consequences of human disregard for nature. The first step is allowing your child to learn from nature, just as I did.

What Are The Benefits?

Richard Louv called the lack of opportunities for children to connect with the natural environment ‘nature-deficit disorder’ in his book, The Last Child in the Woods, opening an important discussion into the developmental effects that learning from nature has on children. The sad truth is that, with parents’ busy modern lifestyle, children are spending more time watching TV and playing video games than they are outdoors being physically active. But why is this situation bad? What about learning from nature is so good for our children? Below are just a few benefits that researchers have found that are worth knowing about:

1. It supports growth in multiple development domains – in other words, children benefit intellectually, emotionally, socially, spiritually and physically when they learn from nature.
2. It supports creativity and problem solving skills. Studies have found that children play in more creative ways in green outdoor areas and tackle issues more innovatively in classrooms that have a nature-based learning experience.
3. It enhances cognitive abilities and improves academic performance.
4. It has many physical benefits, including improving levels of nutrition and physical activity and bettering eyesight.
5. It reduces stress (even long-term), improves social skills and reduces Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) symptoms.

Keeping It Interesting

It’s all very well that learning from nature is good for children, but how do we make children who don’t appear to have any interest in nature learn to enjoy being outdoors? The key is to approach the “learning from nature” experience using many different methods and materials – so as not to allow activities to become mundane. Children who are exposed to nature early on generally continue to appreciate it as they grow older, but older children without this early exposure can find being outdoors boring, gross or both. While teachers can easily teach children about the importance of nature through “Go Green” initiatives in classrooms (including recycling schemes, conservation projects and starting a team of “Go Green” helpers), parents should not rely on this alone if they want their child to learn from nature. Some ways parents might do their part is through buying books, singing songs, teaching children to turn lights off as they leave a room and celebrating Earth Day at home. But nothing beats spending much-needed time outdoors with your child, splashing in muddy puddles, pointing out birds’ nests and planting flowers in the garden or at the park. These are priceless opportunities that just can’t be replaced.

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It is important day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the environment. Over the years this day has become a broad, global platform for public outreach and the ‘people’s day’ for doing something positive for the environment.

 UN Secretary General,  Ban Ki-moon:

Planet Earth is our shared island, let us join forces to protect it.

The idea is to galvanize individual actions into a collective power that will generate an exponential positive impact on our planet.

Don’t forget, even if you think that your actions don’t count, you are wrong.  EVERY ACTION COUNTS.

[tweet_quote]Your choices, no matter how insignificant they seem, still have a great impact on the global climate change.[/tweet_quote] Imagine what happens when all our  individual actions and choices get  multiplied by a global chorus?  We can either create a good lasting change and protect our “shared island” or we can doom it.

[tweet_quote]Natural disasters that befall us are only reminders of what  happens when a man forgets he is one with the nature.[/tweet_quote]

Here are some suggestions on what you can do to join the global  initiative and protect the environment:

EDUCATE:

1. You can teach your youngest that we are one with the nature. We face the same challenges and should be connected and united by our common goal of creating sustainable and prosperous life for all on this planet.
2. Remind everyone around you that when we lose the awareness of how important is to preserve our environment, nature sends us reminders that cost us more than we can bear (let us not forget the Balkan floods of 2014)

ORGANIZE:

1. clean up campaigns in your neighbourhoud
2. food waste reduction initiatives
3. walk-to-work days
4. plastic bans
5. art exhibits, concerts, dance recitals  honoring the nature
6. tree-planting drives
7. recycling drives,
8. and lastly, something all of us can, do – SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNS: we can always spread messages of good doings of others. Show the world  positive examples from your own society. Spread  the #goodnews!

WED video on importance of preserving environment:

NDF video on #SerbiaFloods

Source

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How many parents feel safe at letting their children play out in the streets, go to the local shop or park by themselves or go off for the day with friends? There are just so many dangers: traffic, predatory strangers, getting lost; as a result children take part in these activities less and less. These are human fears – we don’t want our children to be abducted or hurt so it makes sense to take that extra precaution right? The problem is that this attitude creates its own set of issues. Many children end up never having had the chance to take risks or make decisions. It is the parents who are assessing the risks and removing them but if children never have the chance to learn how to do these things for themselves, they will never learn to manage risk for themselves. Surely this is a more dangerous position to be in. There are also consequences for the mental health of children and young people especially if they never feel independent or in control of their own lives.

Photo credit: Martin Gommel / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Outdoor adventure activities are one excellent way of teaching children these skills of confidence, independence, resilience and risk management. Of course this needs to be done in a carefully managed way – getting lost in the mountains or going climbing without the correct equipment is no laughing matter but these activities prepare and teach children, in a physical way, about the importance of independence, responsibility and preparation encouraging them to be problem solvers. Not only that but they push children outside their comfort zone and give them a bit of adrenalin which invigorates them in so many ways. Additionally and as importantly, adventure sports also teach children that they need the support of their team mates to be successful and that they have to work together for things that they may take for granted in day to day life. Here are some examples of great activities:

Photo credit: simpologist / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Camping: This is a cheap way of getting closer to nature with a range of options to suit everyone of all ages. From popping up a tent in the back garden, to using a site with well-developed facilities, to wild camping miles off the beaten track, the opportunities are endless. From being up early, to spending the days being busy and active to evenings round the campfire and ghost stories by torchlight, children love going back to basics seeing themselves as intrepid adventurers. Get them involved with the jobs from setting up the tent to cooking, water carrying and washing up. It will be all part of the fun for them. They will soon see that if the work doesn’t get done, those essentials for day to day living such as food, water and shelter are compromised leaving them cold, damp and hungry.

Photo credit: adwriter / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Climbing: Great to push children outside their comfort zone and to build team work. This can be a great way for children to build self-esteem and face their fears doing something that they thought they couldn’t. There are also lots of indoor climbing centres now which are a great way to get started and introduce you to those who organise expeditions in the local area.

Photo credit: Kevin Conor Keller / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Walking: This can be such a great lesson in patience and persistence and something that everyone in the family can do to spend time together regardless of skills or fitness levels. Even if you live in an urban environment there are some wonderful walks to be had, perhaps along a canal or river. It can also be a great lesson in navigation. Get the children to pick the route and get gloriously lost (it helps if you as the adult still have a good idea of where you are and how to get back!). This can also provide children with a chance to learn what to do if they get lost for real. Out in the countryside there can be nothing better than a good day out in the hills. What a sense of achievement after a long, hard climb to see the view from the top and the countryside around. The only thing that can make it even better is if you have a picnic to enjoy!

Canoeing/Kayaking: Again this is something that can be done both in the city and the countryside or at the beach and each different environment can provide such rewarding paddling. This is a chance for children to pick up skills quickly and feel independent on the water. It is also a good chance to learn about water safety and rescue. These can be sports for all ages and abilities as canoes can have a number of paddlers and can be lashed together for extra security; kayaks can come as tandems as well.

With all outdoor activities, think about what suits your and your family in terms of location, budget and interests and above all think about what level is suitable for your children. The last thing you want to do is put them off by forcing them up hills in the driving snow when they are miserable. There is a fine balance between pushing them outside their comfort zone and pushing them so hard that they are put off for good. Think about ways of motivating and encouraging children who are getting tired or impatient: a treasure hunt for local flora and fauna or games such as hide and seek en route which is always a winner.

Photo credit: Kevin Conor Keller / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The ability to assess and manage risk independently is one of the most important skills we can give to our children to enable them to make wise decisions when we are not there hovering over them. Yes, there will be scraped knees and bumps and bruises along the way but the benefits for both their physical and mental health are so wide. Instead of encouraging children to “˜be safe’, encourage them to think of what they would do if things went wrong. This will teach them to manage fear and become problem solvers rather than problem avoiders. Hopefully too they will develop a lifelong love of the outdoors.

What are your children’s favourite outdoors adventures?

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