How To Do Nature School in the City

Nature school sounds wonderful if you live on acreage or in the country. But how do you do nature school in the city? Maybe you live on the 4th floor of an apartment on a busy street. You can’t just send your child outside to play store with pinecones and rocks. There are lots of ways but it takes some creative thinking. If you get in a nature or outdoor frame of mind and you’ll soon be noticing nature opportunities all around you. Same as when you think of buying a new Toyota Corolla and then see Corollas everywhere, haha.

A few ideas to get you started thinking how you can do nature school in the city:

• Give your child a simple little notebook like this 8″x6″ waterproof one. Or a smaller 4″x6″ one. A cheap Mead or spiral notebook from Walmart will also do. Keep it in the car and make notes about whatever nature you see when you’re out. It could be a type of bird you saw on the telephone wire while at a stoplight. Or 2 squirrels chasing each other at the park. You can write down seasonal changes such as whenever you see trees blossoming or leaves changing colors. See my post on nature journaling.

• Walk as many places you can and talk about the sites you see, the noises you’re hearing, and what you’re feeling. Are you hot or cold? Is there a wind or is it calm? Do you feel rushed or relaxed?

• While waiting for your oil to be changed, wait outside instead of in the lobby. Sit on the grass or the curb (ignore questioning looks), read, sketch the trees or mountains in the distance, count how many birds you see, eat a healthy snack and just relax.

• Take advantage of opportunities when you’re already out in nature. For example, if you’re on a grassy knoll watching the fireworks, let your child run around barefoot, try his hand at basket weaving with grass, make army men out of sticks, etc. Read and draw. If you didn’t bring anything, quiz your child on math facts or state capitals. Or naming all the states he can that start with M.

• Sit on a park bench, on the grass, or under a tree and sketch with your child. Draw a blade of grass, an ant crawling by, or a bird snatching a crumb. Make notes of other things you see, the weather that day, and what else you’re doing.

• Go to a playground. Most playgrounds have wood chips, sand or grass around them. Let your child run the sand through his fingers, make car roads in the wood chips, and try to make a whistling sound by blowing on a piece of grass between his thumbs. Let him take off his shoes if you feel it is safe and feel the natural materials under his feet.

• Adopt a favorite nature place you can go to frequently. A wooded area that is less crowded, a small stream he can put his feet into, or a big shady tree you can read books under. Go consistently like once a week or once a month to make it feel like yours. Even going once a year, say every September, will make it feel like “your spot” and a cherished tradition.

• Take family vacations to the country. Go camping at places it’s not crowded so that your kids can run around and be themselves without bothering neighbors. I try to go in April-May or late August-Sept when families are in school and we can have the campground to ourselves. Then we can play in the creek, hike the trails, sing around the campfire and not bother anyone or be distracted by other campers.

• Visit state parks. State parks are terrific resources of nature museums, hiking trails, lakes affording canoes or pedal boats, and picnicking grounds. Like camping, I also visit these on the warmest days I can off season so that they’re not crowded. This allows us to hike at our own pace, have front row views of the water falls and be able to spread out along the creek. Maybe it’s just because I have 10 children but I prefer less people so that I can keep track of my kids easier and we can be ourselves. We can braid hair, play tag in the water, read books outloud, or sit quietly and journal about the sounds we hear. We can have a poetry recital on a make believe stage in the woods, or sing songs as we hike. I know we can do these things in a crowd but I don’t like people watching us. And believe me, when you’re hiking with 10 children singing, people are going to watch you.

Make a plan

How would you like to incorporate more nature time into your life? Make a goal and write it down. Once a week? Once a month? A week long camping trip? Two visits to a National Park this year?

Some years I said every Friday was going to be nature school. Other years when we lived where it was super hot or super cold (aka Texas and Utah) we did nature school during the nice weather months and not the other months. Here where it’s good weather year round I pick the best weather of the week: the warmest day in the winter and the coolest day that week in the summer and plan a nature school day. Some weeks we do nature school for 4 days straight. The weather is perfect and we want to be out in it.

You can do it!

Nature school can be hard in the city, but I know you can find opportunities. Whether it’s skipping the gym and driving to a state park with the family instead for a picnic. Or if you usually would go to a cafe with your daughter while waiting to pick up your son from an activity, eat your snack outside instead. We wait outside while different kids take their turn at the dentist or in a church meeting. While you’re waiting, notice any birds or animals, flowering trees, piles of leaves in the corner of a building, the different shades of green in the trees in the distance. Your and your children’s lives will be so enriched by incorporating more nature into it.