{"id":320,"date":"2020-03-31T19:19:11","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T19:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michellesalcedo.com\/wp\/?p=320"},"modified":"2022-09-07T12:49:03","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T12:49:03","slug":"nurtured-by-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/michellesalcedo.com\/wp\/2020\/03\/31\/nurtured-by-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"Nurtured by Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Even though I was\nraised in the heart of Detroit, I can clearly remember the role nature played in\nmy life. My neighborhood friends and I made vats of mud and splatted it on the\nsidewalk to make giant outside board games. Honeysuckle wove through the metal\nlinks of our fence and the memory of the smell and taste can still bring a smile\nto my face. When school was out, my brother and I spent entire days exploring the\nworld in our backyard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, I am not one\nof those people that yearn for \u201cthe good old days\u201d and think that kids of\nyesteryear have it any better or worse than those of today. But I do notice and\nworry about how little time children today spend in nature. I have made the\ncase in my book and in past writings that this can be a contributing factor to\nchallenging behaviors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Apparently, I am\nnot the only one who has spent time thinking about these things. Richard Louv,\nauthor of the book, Last Child in the Woods (if you haven\u2019t read it \u2013 I recommend\nit), makes the case that it is a lack of connection with the natural world that\nis contributing to the rise in conditions such as ADHD. In his book, the author\npoints out that even when many children are outside, that time is often spent\nin structured activities (like soccer or T-ball) or in developed areas (like\nplaygrounds). He contends that the natural world provides benefits to all domains\nof children\u2019s development that just aren\u2019t found anywhere else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, in this world\nof \u201cshelter in place\u201d and homeschooling, how can we provide children with this\ninvaluable connection to the natural world? Luckily, as many people remind us,\nnature and outside are not cancelled. So, as we interact with children, we can\ntake the inside out and bring the outside in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Taking the inside\nout: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>In some ways, the cancellation of so many events\nmay provide us with a golden opportunity to expand children\u2019s contact with\nnature. Keep soccer on the calendar and when that time comes, resolve to spend\ntime outside as a family. Just explore the natural world that lives beyond your\nback door. Roll in the grass, smell the leaves, collect the sticks or stones. Follow\nyour child\u2019s lead as they interact with nature; or, just sit back and watch the\nunstructured play. <\/li><li>There are many routine activities that can move\noutside; story time, meals, rest time, and homework are just as easily done outside\nand in the house. Look for creative ways to transfer traditionally inside\nactivities to the great outdoors. <\/li><li>The outside world can also host many learning\nactivities. Nature scavenger hunts build literacy and scientific knowledge.\nBuilding collections allows children to put math and science into action. There\nis lots of learning to be had as one explores the world. <\/li><li>Pose challenges for your child. For example, if you\nwere a bird and had to build a nest with items you could only find in the yard,\nwhat would you use? Some of these challenges many last all week \u2013 this is a\nform of project-based learning that has great benefits for critical-thinking\nand problem-solving. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The more time you\nspend outside, the better it will be for your mental health as well as that of\nyour child. There is so much learning that happens as children engage in free\nplay; especially when it is outside. You can support this learning by allowing\nit to happen and by talking with your child about their experiences (by asking\nopen-ended questions) and encouraging them to reflect by journaling and making\nup stories about their adventures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, there are\npeople that don\u2019t have yards; or even access to a private outside space. Some of\nthe activities can be facilitated as you walk around the neighborhood. If\noutside is truly not a place where you can spend time, you will just have to create\nnatural experiences inside the house. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bringing the\noutside in: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Spread out an old shower curtain or sheet and bring\nin natural items (soil, grass, leaves, stones, etc.) for children to explore. <\/li><li>Start an herb garden. Many herbs can grow with\nlimited soil and don\u2019t take up a lot of space. Invite children to journal about\nhow the plants change from week to week. <\/li><li>Replace plastic toy pieces with natural items. For\nexample, small stones can be used for tic-tac-toe or checkers. <\/li><li>Create a loose parts corner in your home. You can\ncollect natural items that children can use to build, tinker, or create art. <\/li><li>Challenge children with \u201cwindow scavenger hunts\u201d.\nGive them five objects (a brown bird, a green leaf, etc.) to find each day. Or\nyou can create observational charts. For example, keep track of the birds you\nsee through the window and make a chart to show the colors of the birds you\nsaw. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Contact with the\nnatural world is so important for your child\u2019s well-being, and it has lots of\nbenefits for you as well. So, as you adjust to this new normal and create a\nschedule to structure your family\u2019s time; make sure to block off some time for\nthat good old vitamin D. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>What do you think?\nEngage with me and others in the ECE community on my social media outlets. You\ncan also find more information about my book and available training sessions,\non any of the following: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Facebook: Teacher as Gardener<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>LinkedIn: Michelle Salcedo<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Website: michellesalcedo.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My book Uncover the Roots of Challenging Behavior can\nbe purchased at Free Spirit Publishing or Amazon<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interested in hearing more? Consider bringing me in as a\nspeaker for your next Professional Development event (you won\u2019t regret it). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So, in this world of \u201cshelter in place\u201d and homeschooling, how can we provide children with this invaluable connection to the natural world? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21,18,5,7,8,22,24,4,62,63,64,65,66,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/michellesalcedo.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/michellesalcedo.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/michellesalcedo.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michellesalcedo.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michellesalcedo.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/michellesalcedo.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":335,"href":"http:\/\/michellesalcedo.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions\/335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/michellesalcedo.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michellesalcedo.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/michellesalcedo.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}