Take A Child Outside Week

Take A Child Outside Week is September 24- September 30, 2009.

The program is "designed to help break down obstacles that keep children from discovering the natural world." An initiative of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences with partner organizations across the United States and Canada, the goal of Take A Child Outside Week is to help children across the country develop a better understanding and appreciation of the environment in which they live, and a burgeoning enthusiasm for its exploration.

Many of the children I know already have an enthusiastic love of the outdoors. My own children love hiking. The youngest is interested in plants and can identify many different plants. (I may have to post about that in more detail sometime.) Still, I wanted to do something to acknowledge the week.

This morning, T and I had Children's Worship which means we got to hang out with the kids during the worship service. The rain of the past couple days ended so we took the kids on a walk around the church yard and ball field. As we walked, we stopped to check out mushrooms and spiderwebs. We named some of the trees, checked out the walnuts that had fallen from their tree and spent some time looking at (and sampling a few) grapes that were growing along the edge of the ball field. The children received the appropriate cautions and reminders about not eating whatever they happen to find growing on vines or trees. During our walk, I encouraged the children to gather leaves so we could use them for an art project. When we returned to the classroom, I demonstrated how to make a leaf rubbing using a leaf, a crayon and sheet of paper. The kids enjoyed making rubbings of the leaves they collected on our little walk and I came home with gifts from kids other than my own. I had borrowed some tree identification books from the library so the kids could look at those. Before we left for church, I plucked a few sassafras leaves from the trees in our yard because I didn't recall seeing any near the church. After we identified and did rubbings of the leaves, I broke the stems and had the children smell it. Sassafras has a citrus-like scent. The kids loved it and the leaves I had taken with me went home with different people.