Children receive and process information at a much more rapid rate than the Gen X or Gen Y generations combined. Due to this fact, when it comes to teaching our children about the importance of conservation, we have to really first understand that the knowledge that they gain, must be applied knowledge and not just what you can read to them or what they see on TV or on the internet.
Similarly to the concept of balance, a child can be told what it's like to ride a two-wheeled bike and how it works until the cows come home, but until the experience solidifies and the concept is applied does the child really fundamentally understand what it is, and how it is done.
When it comes to the concerns we are facing as a global community now, we have to realize that the "being" of green is once thing, and the "doing" of green is another. Kids need to "Do", to "Be," but more importantly they have to understand the fundamental workings of nature and it's cycles to really comprehend what the being and doing is all about. If they don't get this basic understanding, teaching them the value of conservation is too subjective and will not be actively applied. There is also the worry of what experts are calling Nature Deficit Disorder.
One way to really help children understand and "be" first related to nature is to celebrate it in your home with a nature table. The goal is to create awareness and appreciation for the seasons and which "cycle" nature is in. This will allow them to "be" more conscious of nature, her gifts, and wonder at her rhythms.
Find a low level or waist high table and use this as your platform from which to display the objects, drawings, findings etc. and this will be a place that your children can safely touch, contribute to, and wonder about without mom or dad being fearful of anything being "messed up." It's important that children be able to explore the objects on the table, think about them, draw them, reference them and play with them. My children have spent hours playing with the natural objects and acting out a vignette between something on the table and some season that is currently at play. 
In any case it's a nice to have but not need to have the following objects:
- Silks or cloth to cover the table and in any shade that relates to the season at hand (oranges, and yellows for Fall; yellows and Purples for Spring; green and pinks for summer)
- Nature notebooks that stay with the table or come out on nature walks with you and the children
- Colored pencils for drawings in the book
- Seasonal findings such as leaves, sticks, pine cones, acorns, gourds, pumpkins, shells, sand etc.
- A vase for sticks or flowers
Once a week you might want to take the kids on a nature walk through a park, beach or down the street and just collect things that they might consider little treasures. Kids love to looks for little things that they can then proudly display. Here is a picture of ours....it's very early autumn here so we have no leaves or pine cones collected just yet, but we will add to it over time. In our notebooks we will press flowers, draw pictures about the season, or glue magazine pictures or photos in. I keep their nature notebooks and date them so we can look back every year.
Comments