Getting Back to Nature

This is a great time of year to talk about helping kids learn more about nature. Summer's coming here in the Northern Hemisphere and the kids will be starting their summer break from school soon, so why not make the outdoors a priority?

Kids can easily get involved in gardening. Whether they have a few potted plants or their own in-ground vegetable garden, there's a lot your kids can do. Planting sunflower seeds is always a favorite activity. Sunflowers grow quickly and, depending on the variety you choose, they can get spectacularly tall! A child can prepare the dirt, plant the seeds, water, weed, and, best of all, watch the plant grow and grow. Other great possibilities: favorite flowers, pumpkins (looking ahead to Halloween is fun), beans.

For much more about gardening with kids, look at Suite 101's Kids Gardening topic.

It's been said that many kids these days get their knowledge about nature from watching TV, not from first-hand experience. If you want to help your kids learn more about ecology and the environment, here are a few web sites that might be of interest: First, the National Town Meeting for a Sustainable America web site, promoting the idea that we can prosper without "sacrificing the environment." The actual Town Meeting took place in Detroit in early May, 1999, and the web site includes text and video of some meeting events. There's also a list of affiliated events across the nation, information on how you and your kids can get involved (including ideas like recycling, conserving water, participating in community projects, and more), and a Youth section. The Youth section includes a curriculum guide, from which teachers and parents can get ideas for helping kids learn more about the environment.

Another worthwhile site is that of the Earth Day 2000 Network. This web site features a searchable list of Earth Day events, a new online environmental magazine called Grist, and an eco-store. There's also information on the U.S. Energy Campaign for a move toward using cleaner and more sustainable energy sources. This section includes a K-12 curriculum guide, too.

Last, the National Wildlife Federation's NatureLink program deserves a mention. This program is designed to help youth and families participate in outdoor educational experiences. Their web site contains a schedule of events, a newsletter, and information on how we can get involved as volunteers. What a worthwhile idea!

Whatever your level of interest in the outdoors, whether you're doing container gardening, landscaping, cleanup projects, or hiking in the woods, try to get your kids involved. After all, soon they'll be the ones responsible for caring for the environment.

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