Fall Nature Walk with Kelsey

In 2002, Richard Louv wrote a book called Last Child in the Woods. Have you read it? In it, he talks about how disconnected from the natural world many of today’s children are. Louv argues for a return to appreciation of the natural world, and speaks to how it teaches children science, increases creativity, and supplies the world with future advocates. It is so therapeutic for attention deficit, depression, and obesity.

We are so lucky to be next door to County Farm Park, “our” park. We are also very lucky to be close to Kelsey, who is the naturalist who has worked with us over the past several years. She has been talking our groups of first and second graders three times a year to discover and re-discover the land as it travels through the seasons. Kelsey is also great about working in our themes whenever possible. This time, it was easy – nature exploration was a “natural” tie-in!

These are NOT nature-deprived children!

Since we’ve been working specifically with leaves in recent days, Kelsey took us on a tour of some of the beautiful fall trees. We identified several leaves – silver maple vs sugar maple, oak leaves, and the northern catalpa. Learning different terminology, like lobe and sinus, is fun for children and makes them feel like real scientists.

If you are interested in learning more about the book cited, and about things you as parents can do, click here.