5 Summer Activities to Respectfully Enjoy Nature with Your Child
School’s out. Warm weather is in. And your child is ready to play and explore! While they’re enjoying being outside, it’s important to teach them to be respectful of nature, too. These five activities will help you respectfully enjoy nature with your child.
Play Nature Detective
Grab a magnifying glass, pad of paper, and pencils. Head to your backyard or a local park. Together you, and your child can observe the life happening there. Use the magnifying glass to view grass, flowers, and insects up close. Then draw/record your observations.
Make it a game! How many different items can you look at? What’s the smallest/biggest thing you can draw?
When you get home, you can help your child research more information about one or two of the plants/insects they were most interested in.
Make Popsicles
A sweet, cold treat on a hot day? Yum! You can make them together at home with juice, ice trays, and popsicle sticks. They also make special popsicle trays, but you can use ice trays if you don’t have them.
As you’re making them, talk with your child about the water cycle, temperature changes, and why/how things freeze.
Many areas of the US experience drought conditions during the summer, so this is also a great time to talk about water conservation.
Learn about What Animals Do to Stay Cool
If you share your home with companion animals, your kids may already know that dogs pant and cats groom themselves and drink more water to stay cool because they don’t sweat. What about the wildlife in your area? How do squirrels, deer, bears, rabbits, foxes, or birds stay cool? If they need extra water, where do they find it?
After looking online for answers, go for a nature walk and look for places where wildlife might hang out to keep cooler when it’s hot. If you see any animals there, stay a respectful distance away, quietly observe them, and use the camera zoom to take pictures.
Respectful Swimming
If you’re lucky enough to live near a pond, lake, or ocean, you may want to take your child swimming. This can be a great way to learn about the life that lives in the water. Bring goggles and snorkels if you have them to assist with observing marine life in their natural habitat.
Remember, part of being respectful means:
Leave the fish/plants/other animals in the water at all times
Do not touch any fish or animals
Potty is for the bathroom, not the pond, lake, or ocean
Tree/Plant ID Scavenger Hunt
Write out a list of plants and trees native to your area. Bring it and a camera or notebook for a nature walk with your child. As you identify each plant or tree, take or draw a picture of it to record your findings! Leave the plants and trees alone so that they can continue their important roles in the greater ecology of the planet.
When you get home, you and your child can research each plant and tree you identified to learn more about them, what insects/animals they host, and anything else of interest.
To help continue your child’s excitement about trees and plants, check out Emily Jane’s Trees.
Which of these five activities will help you respectfully enjoy nature with your child do you like best? Other suggestions? Let me know in the comments!