Junior Activities for Parents and Kids

Ideas developed from David Sobel's "Reclaiming the Heart in Nature" article

"If we want children to flourish, to become truly empowered, let us allow them to love the earth before we ask them to save it. Perhaps this is what Thoreau meant when he said, the more slowly trees grow at first, the sounder they are at the core, and I think the same is true of human beings." (David Sobel)

Paraphrased:
Children need to develop empathy for the creatures of the natural world. They love to run like deer, slither like snakes, be quick like a bunny...delight!

It might be boring for a child to try to identify the birds he/she sees with a bird book. But...what about flying and making nests? Make the child wings & let her/him fly like a bird around the yard. Let them build a nest from comfy blankets & put things that they like to play with in their nests. Feed them with chopsticks like a mommy bird does. After being a bird for a few days, they might want to look around and see what birds are in the yard. They might want to look at pictures and find out what the bird is called. This is fun stuff!

David Sobel is at the Antioch New England Graduate School in NH. This essay was originally published in Autumn 95 of the Orion. Email orion@orionsociety.org for more information.