Exploring Nature With Youth of All Ages

During this difficult time in our nation’s history it is sometimes difficult to pull back from the daily news and social media barrage and recognize opportunities to explore and expand our connections with the natural world and with each other.  With school closures and homeschooling on the rise, exploring nature provides a wonderful opportunity to engage and support the development of inquiring minds.  No matter where you live or what types of environments you have access to, taking part in a meaningful exploring adventure is possible.  Depending on your interests, the environments available and your audience, these explorations can incorporate physical activity, science, art, even math.  In this article I want to share with you the primary tools, some approaches and resources that can help you and your young companions explore the world around you.

Like any adventure, advance planning and proper equipment helps.  The most important tool of every great explorer from Ferdinand Magellan to Dr. Jonas Salk was their journal.  A journal allows explorers a place to record their adventures and observations.  Writing or drawing in a journal causes a pause in the action, a period of focus and time for reflection.  The best journals are blank books without lines.  Large journals are acceptable in a laboratory, but in the field a smaller journal no bigger than 8” x 10” is preferred.  When you look for a journal, think about Indiana Jones and what his journal might look like.  And because you too are an explorer, make sure to buy one for yourself!  You will need writing implements.  Soft-lead pencils are better than pens that may run or smudge.  Colored pencils can be a great addition. 

With just a journal, writing implements a sense of inquiry and adventure you and your companions can spend a lifetime exploring the wonders of nature. That said, there are other tools that can enhance and expand the learning potential of your exploring expeditions. Initially, a magnifying glass or a pair of binoculars is an excellent start. (Binoculars can be used as a magnifying viewer when viewed from the other end.) Bring any additional new “tools” in slowly.  Get comfortable with regular use of the journal first. Then bring along field guides, then other tools as you feel more proficient. 

Encouraging active use of the journal may feel awkward at first, but it is a very important part of the exploring process.  Stop from time to time to discuss what you see, make a few notes, a sketch or insert it in your pages to look it up later.  By making use of your journal you will model behavior that your young companions will follow.  Compare your observations and sketches.  Show interest in their journal work and ask open ended “Why,” “How” and “What” questions.

If you actually happen to “know it all” try not to show it.  If you are a world renowned artist, make a basic sketch that would not be intimidating, perhaps emphasizing a single concept such as shading or perspective.  When you share your journal entry talk about that concept and see if your young companions understand the concept presented.  Do they want to try that?  If you have a strong background in a subject, ask questions that may be out of your area of expertise.  To say “I don’t know. Let’s make a note of that and we will look that up when we get back.” is an excellent answer.  DO NOT use your mobile phone to look it up immediately.  Stay disconnected in the natural world throughout your expedition.  This is about interaction with nature and your fellow adventurers, not with the internet.

Nature is everywhere.  Unfortunately, so are distractions.  Taking phones in case of an emergency is good practice, but leave them off and out of sight.  Having a “dry run” expedition in your back yard can be a great place to start. This is an opportunity to give each expedition member their personal journal and ownership of your upcoming expedition.  Get each member to make a list of possible areas or subjects for you to explore.  As a team, discuss where to go and how long you would want to be “in the field”.  Make a list of the logistics for getting everyone there and back. How long will that take?  What would your “team” need to take on your first expedition into the “field?”  Make sure that a FIRST AID kit is included in that list. Coordinate your lists and make a master checklist.  Establish a preferred date and time.  If you are going to the beach and want to visit the tide pools remember to consult the tide tables.

Once you have your plan, it’s time to sharpen your team’s perspectives.  Move to a comfortable location and use a garden hose or a hula hoop to identify a circle between you. In your journals, sitting still and without talking, make a list of everything you can see inside the circle.  Take at least three minutes to allow for insects who may be hiding to begin to move. Tell members if they run out of things to list to begin sketching the circle or something inside it. When you are ready, go around the circle and have each person name one thing they saw that has not yet been mentioned.  If someone mentions something you have on your list, put a check mark by it.  If it was not on your list, add it to your list.  Keep going until you have identified everything inside the circle.  Discuss how each person sees things from a unique perspective.

A good follow-up activity is to ask each team member (including yourself) to find something that they are interested in that is in view of where you are sitting.  Your assignment as explorers: Go to the area you are interested in, get comfortable and take ten minutes to write and/or draw about that area of interest, or something within that area and bring it back and share it.  Ten minutes later each explorer reports back to the group what he or she experienced.  Encourage them to include all of their senses including sounds, smells, tactile (and taste only if appropriate).

When exploring it is important to have fun with your team. The approach you would use with a five year old would be much simpler and of shorter duration than what you would do with a group of teenagers, or a group of fellow adventurers from the garden club.  The most important thing of all is to get outside, have fun and reconnect with the wonders of nature.

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Ocean Shores residents are very fortunate to have so many diverse ecosystems to explore in such a small area. The beach, the dunes, the tidepools at Damon Point, and the old-growth Weatherwax Forest on Duck Lake (above)[/caption]

For those of us who are unable to directly engage with our young friends and family at this time, it can be challenging, but not impossible.  Consider an independent research shared explorations approach.  Consider making an exploring “date” where each of you goes out on a specific date exploring similar areas and reporting back to the other via phone or e-mail?  Scan or take photos of your journal entries and attach them, perhaps even include digital photos?  Instead of an ecosystem focused exploration, a beach, watershed or forest, consider subject focused exploration and research where you share observations and research on birds, butterflies and moths, or dahlia cultivars, whatever is interesting to you and your fellow explorer.  With subject based exploration you will likely want to rotate your subject on a regular basis.  Once social distancing is lifted be sure to go out together to reexplore areas that you found most interesting.

As you discover common areas of interest, start a reference library that you can use to identify and research species of interest.  For stay-at-home parents and anyone else who enjoys engaging and educating children I strongly recommend the book: Sharing Nature with Children by Joseph Cornell. It is a great book that I have referred back to many times over the years.  In addition to a section on how to be an effective nature guide it has a games and activities ranked from “calm/reflective” to “energetic/playful”.  A new, expanded version is in the works, but there are many “lightly used” copies of this book available online.  

Due to the Covid-19 outbreak the Coastal Interpretive Center has temporarily closed its doors and halted all of its field trip programs.  Until these excellent programs start up again, I hope that you will make some time, grab your journal and an intrepid explorer or two and do what you can to help open their eyes to the wonderful world that surrounds us on the Washington Coast.

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Once social distancing restrictions are lifted the Coastal Interpretive Center will again begin scheduling and delivering high quality field trip experiences for youth and adults.[/caption]

© Les Bolton, July 2020. Capt. Les Bolton has been involved in the development and delivery of environmental education and sail training programs for youth since the 1980’s.