Outdoor Educational Activities for Kids

If you have been following along with the March Madness Vlogging Challenge, or with my blog for any length of time, you know that I am an educator by trade.  I love being an educator and I will be an educator, even when I am not paid to be in a classroom.  In some ways, I am more of an educator outside of the classroom.  Education has become part of my being.

Unless we are trying to hasten our demise, we never stop learning.  From the very first moment we enter this world, we are learning.  Maybe it’s not all textbooks and tests, but we learn from infancy about love, and comfort, and people, and about what in this world is a part of us and what is not.  We learn that while much of the world around us is predictable, much is not.  We learn at an early age where we fit into this grand scheme of things.

At least, we learn these things if some adult doesn’t (whether through idiocy or neglect) mess it up for us.  That’s one reason why I believe that every child (and adult) needs to have some opportunities for out of doors activity.  Just being in nature can help to show a person how their existence relates to the rest of the planet.  It’s one of those “being part of something bigger” kind of lessons that are kind of tough to come by in a classroom.

It also fosters ideas leading to lessons in self care, conservation, respect, biology, botany, waste management, spirituality (if you choose), and a myriad of cyclic events (water cycles, weather cycles, seasons, etc.).  Um, just about every “big picture” type of lesson can occur outside.  Heck, from this point of view, given enough time, a talented educator can probably teach almost everything you would ever need to know based on nature or examples from nature.

Beyond academics, research is emerging which indicates that there is a soothing aspect to being in touch with nature.  Kids with ADHD seem to have lessened symptoms when they spend time out of doors.  There is something about the simple rhythms of life that we crave in our fast paced world.  We were designed to be part of this world, not locked in a cubicle (or classroom) to the exclusion of the wider world.

Okay, all that to say that I really want to encourage parents to get outside–and take the kids with you.  Go for a walk.  Go to a park.  Check out the state and national parks that are near you.  Look for (really research) some of the wonderful outdoor programming that many communities and states offer.  Often, advertising budgets are slim, so these projects can’t always find the right avenues to reach everyone.  Try something new.  Learn to identify butterflies.  Why?  Why not?  You might like it.  You might not.

But, learning for learning’s sake is a good thing.  You never know when you might have fun and accidentally nurture the little (public schooled, private schooled, or homeschooled) scientist in your life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ytw79eWK_KM&hd=1

For more information about the Youth Birding Competition in Georgia click HERE.

Thanks for joining me.  Please check out the other vloggers participating in the March Madness Vlogging Challenge, hosted by Simple Vlogging Tips and Penny Pinching Diva.  Keep checking back all this month for more videos!

Of course, thanks to my gorgeous and talented son, EMagnusTV for the camera work.

Till next time,