Summer Fun in (and out) of the Sun: Nature Walks

When was the last time you went outside for a walk and really slowed down to notice the nature around you? How about your children? When have they? If your answer is, “I don’t recall,” then you are due for some time outside. There’s so much to see! Taking your children along, you will be sharing some great outdoor experiences that may even cultivate within them a deeper interest in the natural world.

No matter where you are, nature isn’t far away. Even within busy metropolitan areas, nature coexists alongside construction and commerce. Walking along your street, you may notice birds, trees, flowers, and insects. If you step a little farther away from hearth and home by venturing to a park or preserve, the natural vista opens even wider, offering more tree species, animals, plants, rocks, and insects to notice.

As the summer days draw on, you can plan out regular forays into nature. It is fun to find a theme to explore. One week you and your family may want to focus on trees, for example. Bring along a nature guide, or download an app that will help you identify the trees in your area. As you stroll, notice the overall shape of a tree, the texture of its bark, the type of leaves it produces, its height, and any other unique features. If you have young children, you might enjoy toting along the National Audubon Society’s First Field Guide: Trees to help you identify the ones you come across. Another alternative is to load a tree identification app onto your phone. There are a lot of options out there. Our family enjoys the LeafSnap app, but there are many apps you can choose from.

Nature guides and apps come in a wide variety of themes that can feature the entire United States, a region such as the Southeast, or a single state. There are guides on rocks and minerals, insects, mammals, wildflowers, the night sky, mushrooms, clouds, and more. Additionally you can consult websites to learn facts about nature. To help save you some precious time, we have done some initial research for you. Take a look below to discover some websites that address the following nature topics:

• Clouds

  • Droplets: The Kiwi Kids Cloud Identification Guide by Paula McKean: This resource comes out of New Zealand and is filled with a wealth of information about clouds.

  • Weather Wiz Kids

  • UCAR’s Center for Science Education: This website features games that help kids learn about the different cloud formations.

• Birds

  • Teaching Bird Identification by Cornell University

  • Audubon Society’s list of recommended bird apps for kids

  • Cornell Lab All About Birds

• Wildflowers

  • USDA’s United States Forest Service: This “just for kids” page includes links to games, coloring activities, and more.

  • Free Wildflower Search Apps listings: You can narrow your search down by state.

• Rocks and Minerals

  • OneGeology Kids

  • DKfindout Rocks and Minerals

• Weather

  • The National Weather Service’s Kids page

  • PBS Weather Chart for Kids

  • Tree House Weather (an extension from the University of Illinois)

• Butterflies and Caterpillars

  • The Children’s Butterfly Site: This site includes coloring pages as well as teaching and learning tools

  • Owlcation Caterpillar Identification Guide

  • BioKids Butterflies and Moths, University of Michigan School of Education website

• Insects

  • PestWorld for Kids A to Z Pest Guide

  • Bugfacts.net Field Guide

  • InsectIdentification.org Online Guide

• Night Sky

  • SkyMaps Evening Sky downloadable maps

  • Space Weather for Kids: While not specifically related to the night sky, this website shares information about space weather events.

  • Google Sky

• Mammals

  • BioKIDS Scat Identification, University of Michigan School of Education website

  • Animal Tracks Identification: This site has printable guides.

Grab a guide and get outside! The summer is a great time to explore the wider world with your children. When you take your children outside for some family fun, you stave off nature-deficit disorder. First described by Richard Louv in the book Last Child in the Woods, this disorder rears its head when children become detached from the natural world, which is becoming more and more common in this day and age. Andrew Pudewa elevates Louv’s ideas in his conference presentation “Nature Deficit Disorder.” We are pleased to share the streaming with you, which can be found at this link.

Nature-deficit disorder is insidious, and it is rampant. Fortunately, the remedy is only a walk away. Figure out what nature theme you want to explore, prepare by downloading an app or grabbing a guide, and then gather the family and head outside. It’s time to take a walk.