4 Simple Nature Activities for Kids

Being away from the noisy city for the weekend means getting a charge of fresh clean energy, which can then be stretched for the whole week. Contact with nature will have an inevitable beneficial effect on both adults and children. Fresh air, the gentle sun, the coolness of the shade of trees, and the murmur of a stream – what can better calm the child’s psyche and set it in a positive way? And if you come up with some interesting entertainment for your child, such an outing into nature will be remembered for a long time. Don’t be surprised when your little one asks you to repeat the trip again if you organize an interesting adventure by choosing one of the options below.

Fishing will help you instill a large number of characteristics in your kid. First of all, this is perseverance and self-discipline, that as a rule are not enough when a child does, for example, homework. The second is accuracy. When fishing, there are many things that you need to do carefully and mindfully, for example, stringing bait on the hook so as not to get hurt, casting the line so that the line does not get tangled, and much more. The third most important quality is responsibility. If you give the child the opportunity to independently organize the entire process of preparing for fishing, choosing a place for fishing, and deciding what to do with the catch, then this will create the conditions for the very understanding that the outcome of the whole business depends on your child, and not on you. Here you can only unobtrusively accompany the child and, if necessary, suggest what the next step is. Being engaged in preparations for fishing, the child learns planning and analysis. The fisherman constantly analyzes the many situations that he noticed in the course of fishing. Also, the fisherman needs to take into account other factors that can affect the result – this includes the study of suitable weather and atmospheric phenomena for fishing, knowledge of fish species and reservoirs, “fish psychology” and many technical skills. All this can only be learned through practice. And for successful fishing in the future, you need to make plans taking into account the mistakes of previous periods. If you want to instill in your kid respect for nature and animals, you can catch fish with a net and simply release them without harming their health. This is a simple and interesting activity that requires a minimum of training and equipment.

The reward for successful fishing will be a festive picnic. Moreover, you can promise the baby that he or she will receive a delicious surprise from you if he releases the caught fish back into the pond. It is worth explaining to the kid that the world has a limited amount of resources. And, if all living things are preserved as much as possible, this will make the environment better. Thus, you will lay a solid foundation of humanity and kindness in your baby’s character traits. To unfold a picnic, you can also come up with an exciting activity – collecting sticks and twigs for making a fire. This activity will completely capture your little one’s attention before the picnic party begins. Collecting sticks and twigs is not just a necessary thing to start a fire. This is a whole complex of actions that develop such qualities as attentiveness, concentration, and result orientation. Your child will be proud of himself when he sees a brightly burning fire, in the preparation of which his little hands participated. Positive memories of this will remain with your child for a long time.

After delicious marshmallows roasted right on the fire, it’s time to take a walk along the forest or pond. The walk can be combined with cognitive activities such as an acquaintance with plants and insects. Surely your child will be interested to know the name of that tender tree with carved leaves or the name of a bright bug that made its nest in a flower. But what if you are not strong in botany and simply do not know all the names of the inhabitants of flora and fauna? The answer is simple – the main thing is not to forget to take your smartphone with you. Together with your child, you can take a photo of a plant or a bug and, using a search engine, find not only their names but also a lot of interesting information. Such activity will significantly develop the horizons of your kid and unobtrusively help to keep the focus on your story. And, therefore, it will strengthen the skill of active listening, which will definitely come in handy for your baby when studying at school.

Your walk will be even more interesting if you invite your kid to memorize the road, which will lead you back to your location. Encourage your child to memorize landmarks in the form of unusual trees and make some signs along the way. Show an example of how to make such a sign: find a pair of sticks and lay out a letter or make a figurine from several stones. Ask your kid what signs he would like to implement on his own. And give him or her that opportunity. Your kid will remember such elements and this is great attention training. Name the game “Come back to camp.” On the way back, you will barely keep up with your baby, because the joyful delight of finding signs will captivate your child so much that the way back will be half as long.

Nature is always ready to disinterestedly give its magical energy to everyone who loves it and treats it carefully. One has only to travel out of town more often with the family and especially kids, and be filled with the beauty of nature, each time discovering something new and amazing.