A few weeks ago someone asked me why I’m inspired to connect kids with nature. Seemed like an innocent enough question. But once I got to thinking, I realized the answer might be worth sharing. So here goes.
In spite of having spent at least two weeks each summer in Yosemite National Park as a kid, I didn’t really feel any connection to nature until the hubby and I took a trip in 2001 to Churchill, Canada to see polar bears in the wild.
The trip was amazing, especially the one night we spent sleeping in a tundra buggy lodge with the bears right outside our window.
Before sunrise, I had an up-close encounter with a curious bear reaching up toward the buggy trying to sniff me. The bear was so close I could see and hear it breathing.
This brief interaction with a wild polar bear made me feel alive — something I hadn’t felt before. Heck, I didn’t even know I had it in me to feel that way.
I thought a lot about that encounter in the months after and wondered how such a brief moment could have had such a profound effect. And of course I wondered what it all meant.
The next year we journeyed to Alaska’s Denali National Park where I was fortunate enough to see a pack of wolves howling just outside our bus window. During that same trip we visited the brown bears of Katmai National Park as they feasted on salmon. We sat streamside while they gorged themselves no less than 50 feet away.
Each of these experiences was humbling. Never before had I felt so fully present and so completely connected with nature. Listening to the wolves howl moved me beyond words and left me with a very clear sense of purpose: “This is what I am supposed to be doing — sharing these types of experiences with others.”
I didn’t know at the time what that meant or how it would play out in my life.
Within a couple of years, I had started a family. By the time my oldest son was walking, I was taking him on day trips to the zoo, a local farm, aquariums, natural history museums — anything I could find that would introduce him to the natural world.
Ever the planner, I realized that there isn’t much out there to help parents make the most of their visits to these types of places. I wanted to know more than just the basics. I was interested in details like the best time to go to beat the crowds, the must-see spots and those that could be skipped. I wanted to read what other parents thought of the place, too, and how someone who’d been there would do it differently in the future.
Since I didn’t find much like that online (certainly nothing dedicated exclusively to nature-inspired activities), I started creating these insider guides on my own. This is what awaits you when the goexplorenature.com site is up and ready later this year.
And I’ve learned something pretty important along the way. The more places I visit, the more I am reminded that you don’t need to take a daytrip or spend lots of money to get kids exploring the natural world. All they have to do is head out the back door.
Exploring nature is as simple as playing in the dirt, jumping in puddles, collecting rocks, planting a garden or laying out under the stars. What matters is that kids have a chance to create their own magical moments out there in nature just as I have had mine.
To do that, they need a chance to play. Amidst school, sports and social activities, kids need time to slow down and stop to smell the roses.
In our family, nature play comes in many forms. Sometimes it’s a weekend getaway to Yosemite. Other times it’s a trip to the Natural History Museum. But most often, it’s the simple things, like a walk in the rain or digging in the sand box we created in our back yard.
As for my inspiration, I thank nature for her guidance. These days I’m sharing my family’s journeys with any of you who want to tag along.
