Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner is a beauty of a book. With lovely, poetic text plus detailed
and colorful illustrations, Messner opens the door to understanding the
complexity of life in the garden.
Nana and her granddaughter explore what the eye can see on
top of the soil and also learn what is hidden beneath the dirt. The ecosystem
with its dirt, leaves, and sprouts also holds earthworms digging, snakes
hunting and skunks burrowing.
You’ll enjoy following this Grandma/Granddaughter journey
through the gardening year with all of its planning, planting and harvesting.
The book includes a glossary of creatures living in and around and under the
garden.
This book is meant for children aged 5-8
READ MORE De-stress your kids: The benefits of nature play
Play the Forest School Way by Peter Houghton and June Worroll is
a gem meant for parents and their children aged 8-12, but the ideas can be
adapted for younger children as well. Nature Play is a growing phenomenon
across the country as adults see the crying need of our children to spend more
time out of doors.
The book is filled with games to play in the woods and other
nature play spaces, woodland crafts, and tons of skill-building projects for
children growing in knowledge and appreciation for the out of doors.
You’ll find ideas for teaching children to build fires
safely, whittle a bow and arrows, creating a shelter and foraging for food.
There are also nature craft ideas and suggestions for outdoor games.
Children playing in the out of doors in authentic natural
settings grow in observation skills and develop resourcefulness, connection to
their world and persistence as they pursue projects done by their own hands.
In addition playing out of doors reduces stress levels, and
encourages children to engage in active play so necessary in this time when
children tend to spend many hours in sedentary activities.
READ MORE: Getting kids to bond with nature
Nature Play at Home: Creating Outdoor Spaces that Connect Children with the Natural World by Nancy Striniste is a guidebook for parents who want to bring natural
settings into their own backyard. Even a deck or patio can be transformed into
a more natural setting with simple additions of natural objects.
Children love to play with objects found in nature: rocks,
sticks, water, sand, twigs, leaves and the like. They organize, sort, create
and otherwise engage in sensory projects when left to interact with natural
objects.
Such nature play enhances creativity, learning and… it’s
fun. Nature play inspires imagination and increases observation skills. It’s
also a great de-stressor.
In this time in which most play has been removed from the
school setting, children will greatly benefit from unstructured play times in
natural settings. This book will encourage you to give your kids the gift of
time spent in “wild” places.
Jan Pierce,
M.Ed., is a retired teacher and a writer. She is the author of “Homegrown
Readers” and “Homegrown Family Fun”. Find Jan at www.janpierce.net.