Invitation to Play with Nature — The Human Nature Center

It’s May and all around us spring is bursting forth with beauty. There are many things to celebrate this month including Beltane and Mother's Day! Whether smelling the sweet fragrance of flowers or listening to the choruses of birds and insects, this is prime time to enjoy the great outdoor.

Today, we’re zooming out from specific learning projects to a more general approach that you can apply to any space you’re in to learn and play with nature. Nature is all around us, so there’s no limit to how you can cultivate a deeper connection with nature. You can use this “template” to fit to your own needs and guide you whenever you are looking for ideas or inspirations for fun activities and projects with kids.

Here are three ways to engage with nature and you can use just one, all three, or combine them in any order. It’s totally up to you. Each of these is an invitation to play with nature and learn something new together.

This is a great place to start and there’s a lot to learn from looking more closely at our natural world. Some sample activities include: looking at a flower through a magnifying glass; watching the activities of insects and birds; and recording observations in a field journal. You can also include storytelling and inspire more conversations with sensory questions like, what do you see/smell/taste/hear/feel?

Revel in the joy of seeking and finding “treasures” from nature. Collect leaves, pebbles, seashells, pine cones, and anything that delights you, and if you’d like, sort the collections by color, size, or shape. You can also gather materials to play with, for example, collecting dandelion blossoms to make Dandy Playdough.

For most of human history, people have made everything we need from the natural materials around us. With a little resourcefulness and patience, we can make something beautiful and learn new skills. The project can be as simple as stamping with flowers and leaves and as complex as making natural dyes and paint pigments. As you explore a craft, think about some of the cultures who have been practicing these skills for generations and their relationship with the natural world.

Happy exploring!

Ann