 Whether a child makes his home in the heart of the city or the
fields of the heartland, daily life can make getting "back
to nature" hard for any family. Yet experiencing the outdoors
helps children gain enhanced abilities to learn, lead, and experience
contentment, as well as gain a lifelong interest in caring for
planet earth.
A Toad or a Frog?
Parents who want to be sure their kids know a toad from a frog
and a catfish from a crawfish don't need to go it alone.
Camp programs are among the very best ways for children to
get to know first-hand a very important family member — Mother
Nature.
Take James, for example. Despite being included in many family
travels, James and the natural world had only a passing acquaintance,
and his parents were wise enough to send him into the woods for
camp.
"We have a little potato patch down by the river, and
the kids can catch a trout in the river and dig up potatoes and
bring them back to camp, learning what it's like to live
off the land," explains Sandy Schenk, owner and director
of Green River Preserve camp of Cedar Mountain, North Carolina. "When
James's parents came to pick him up at week's end,
he dragged his duffle bag across the parking lot, gave his mom
and dad a big hug, and fished out his prize from camp, a huge
potato, and gave it to his father. He was so proud. This was
a first — he made a connection between the earth and food,
and you could just see the light bulbs turn on."
Almost all camps incorporate hikes and nature activities, and
some go an extra mile to immerse kids in nature and the environment.
Green River Preserve is one such camp. It specializes in helping
gifted children better understand the earth through daily activities
with professional naturalists on a 3,400-acre nature preserve.
"We find that getting kids into the natural world is transformational," says
Schenk. "Nature's a magnificent teacher because everyone
is treated the same. Pushing yourself is something that happens
naturally in the out of doors. And when you see kids helping
each other over a slippery rock wall, it's amazing. We
see each child come out of the program with a greater understanding
of nature and better sense of self."
Eagles' Nest Camp of Pisgah Forest, North Carolina, has
been teaching kids to take care of their natural world for decades. "In
our Explorer's Club class, kids are out in the woods, streams,
and bushes, really getting a feel for the amazing biodiversity
of the Northern Appalachians," explains Noni Waite-Kucera,
executive director of Eagle's Nest Foundation. "To
have kids be able to explore and be a part of that is a real
gift for them."
Eagle's Nest also sponsors camp craft classes, helping
children learn to read a map, build a fire, and leave no trace.
"We teach every camper how to respect and avoid making an impact
on the environment," she says. Even an earth art class
uses items found in the forest for woodland sculptures, which
campers then leave behind to biodegrade and contribute to the
health of the forest ecosystem.
You Are What You Eat
Environmental programs don't always take place exclusively
in the outdoors. Enter the kitchen! The Whole Kitchen program
uses holistic ingredients, fresh foods, whole grains, and local
produce. "We grind our flour from wheat berries, and the
kids make the bread," Waite-Kucera says. "It's
all a way to show how nature provides for us, and why we need
to return the favor."
Sometimes, a camp's location can provide built-in environmental
lessons. At Windsor Mountain (formerly Interlocken), camp life
centers around a small farm and camp garden nestled in the foothills
of New Hampshire on the edge of a 4,000-acre nature preserve.
"We offer kids a chance to get their feet wet in the morning
dew, to feel the grass under their feet, to lie down in the field
and look up at the stars. Our activities help them understand
how Mother Nature is delicate and why we care about helping to
protect her," says Sarah
Herman, director of the camp.
Art and Nature
Campers harvest vegetables from the garden for the salad bar
and help take care of the farm animals. Children with a special
interest in nature also can go directly into the marsh to learn
about its animal habitats, into the woods to create natural
art, or on a bog-wading ecological adventure. For older youth,
three-day, off-campus trips can take campers backpacking, mountain
climbing, rafting, and more — all with an eye to building
awareness in the natural surroundings.
Regardless of which you choose, nearly all campers leave with
an enhanced appreciation of the outdoors, and some even take
environmental skills into their own communities. "One of
our campers who enjoyed our garden wrote to tell us that he's
volunteering his time to a community garden project," Herman
says.
It's that kind of lifelong love for nature that camps of
all types can foster. "Fear of the woods and nature walls
off so much excitement for too many children," says Schenk. "We
feel like we're opening a door for many of our campers,
so they can enjoy natural parks and wildlife preserves for the
rest of their lives."
According to Camping Specialist Gary Forster of YMCA
USA, camps are an ideal setting for creating environmental
awareness in our children. “Children seeing
animals in a natural setting for more than just a
day and understanding how their choices have an impact
on all systems of life is just the beginning. From
awareness grows an appreciation, and from that standpoint,
we see children who are ready to act.”
Interrelationships Plants and animals live in communities
that meet their special needs, and are connected through
a “web of life.” To make good decisions,
we need to be honest about how our choices will affect
the other living things around us. The choices we make
now can affect the future of everything we care about.
Cycles The building materials of life (air, water,
soil) are used over and over again. Conservation doesn’t
mean just using less; it means learning to respect
how natural systems work, and then working with them.
It’s the “circle of life.”
Awareness Leads to Appreciation, which leads
to Action. Spending time in the outdoors can bring
people closer to God, closer to each other, and closer
to the beautiful natural world. It can relieve stress,
improve health, and it results in people learning to
care. When we care, we act differently. We’re
in charge of our own actions first, which can positively
change our family, our community, and our nation.
Resources The decisions we make everyday have lasting
consequences. The more we understand how things work,
the wiser we can be in our decisions. We can all learn
to reduce, reuse, and recycle our natural resources.
When we understand the responsibility we have to each
other, and to the living things around us, we can rethink
old problems and create wonderful new solutions!
Energy Flow The sun is the source of energy for all
living things. Green plants (Producers) turn some of
that energy into food, some of which is then used by
animals (Consumers); which can eventually be broken
down for use again (by Decomposers). We also harvest
the sun’s energy when we use solar, wind, and
water power, and when we use fossil fuels like gas,
oil, and coal.
—YMCA Outdoor Education |
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| Start a recycling program at home.
Find out what your community recycles and what happens
to the recyclables. |
| Save 3-5 gallons of water when you
brush your teeth — no need to keep the water running. |
At the store, consider the packaging — is
it disposable
or reusable/recyclable? |
| When cleaning, choose rags that can
be reused after washing. |
| Plant a tree in your backyard or neighborhood — help
keep the air clean. |
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