In an age when kids are surrounded by electronic entertainment like computers and television, they often don't play outside nearly as often as their parents did -- and with modern safety concerns, playing in the woods down the street alone isn't safe anymore.
"Children these days are really growing up disconnected from nature," says Jim Bonner. He is the executive director of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, based in Indiana Township. He refers to a book, "Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder" by author Richard Louv, which explores this lack in children's lives.
Today's kids are more likely to spend their evenings texting and playing video games than playing in the garden and catching fireflies, but parents can lure them outdoors for more nature-based amusement, experts say. By installing structures like bird feeders and sandboxes, and encouraging kids' imagination, parents can turn their backyards into a nature discovery zone for exploratory little ones.
Examining nature in the yard gives kids "a chance to explore, to be a bit on your own, to grow independence, awareness and self-confidence, and do a lot of unstructured play," Bonner says.
"It's a critical component not just for having fun, but truly developing in a healthy way," he says.
Jodi Valenta -- a blogger who runs the website www.kidsdiscovernature.com , which has tips for parents about getting kids involved with nature -- says that everyone can create a discovery zone in their yard, and make it irresistible to kids.
"Everybody's yard, no matter how big or small, has nature discovery zones," says Valenta, of Newtown, Conn. "It would be very easy to base activities around that.
Kids "benefit immensely from it," she says. "It helps with their creativity. It assists them in being able to relax and develop skills that assist them in helping them to relax."
Valenta's suggestions are simple:
• Install features that will attract birds and wildlife, which kids love to watch. Get bird feeders, bird houses and a bird bath, and keep the feeders stocked with seed. Have the kids do focus time during the week, to just watch the birds, squirrels and other critters come and go. Teach them about different species to spot.
• Let kids help you dig and plant flowers in the garden, and let them dig for worms. Encourage bug-loving kids to look for insects.
• Have your kids pick up things around the yard -- like leaves, acorns, flowers, sticks and moss -- and build a mini-shelter called a "fairy garden" with them. Tell them that the fairy comes during the summertime to spend time in the garden. "They run out there and look for them," Valenta says.
Jim Bonner, executive director of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, offers the following tips for creating a backyard discovery zone for kids.
• Install play structures like a swingset, sandbox or treehouse to attract your kids.
• Encourage your kids to build play forts or other structures with materials they find.
• Encourage imaginative play in the yard, even if it's messy, like trying to dig a hole to China. That creates good and funny memories, and your grass will grow back.
"Kids, by their nature, love to get dirty," Bonner says.
• Know that, even if your child is just sitting in the yard, he or she actually may be absorbed in play. "In their minds, there's an entire imaginative story going on around whatever they're doing. They may be moving a stick back and forth. thinking it's a tractor or someone skiing," Bonner says.
Wild Birds Unlimited, on its Web site, offers many suggestions for children's yard activities.
• Kids and parents can build a bird bath together, using materials like a metal trash can lid, bricks and pebbles.
• Using Plaster of Paris and other materials, kids can make plaster casts of their feathered friends' footprints, if the birds visit a muddy area of the yard.
• To encourage birds to build nests, kids can bring common household items into the yard, and the birds will pick up and use them. Items include string, yarn and shallow dishes. Let the kids spy on the birds, and watch them carry the materials away.
Source: www.wbu.com/pathwaysforkids/activities.html
Science projects can be fun and creative, especially when surrounded by nature. Mike Hennessy, program production coordinator of the Carnegie Science Center on the North Side, suggests the following backyard science projects.
• Use the sunshine to create eco-friendly art. Kids can collect leaves that have fallen from plants, and tape them to a sheet of blue "sun sensitive" paper. Leave the art in the sun for a few hours. When the leaves are removed, a white impression is left behind.
• Make an egg box garden out of an empty plastic egg carton, and attract butterflies to the garden. Put wildflower seeds in the bottom half of the carton, and surround the seeds with peat. Or, use peat pellets, one in every other egg hole, and sprinkle the seeds on top. Pour a tiny bit of water on top and watch the pellets expand. Put the carton garden somewhere sunny and enjoy.
• Help planet Earth with a global "worming" project by using redworms in a compost bin; the worms help turn fruit and veggie scraps into a rich compost to fertilize plants. Put holes in the lid of the compost bin.
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Oakland has an outdoor Discovery Garden for kids, where children can explore, touch and smell plants that appeal to them. Margie Radebaugh, director of horticulture and education for Phipps, says that parents can use the same plants to create a discovery zone in their own gardens. Here's how:
• Think bright colors and big flowers. Zinnias and marigolds are good choices in annuals.
• Plant edible things. Try green beans, potatoes or cherry tomatoes. Sunflowers also are good; you can pull the seeds out and eat them.
• Put in some tall plants, like some varieties of dahlias. Kids love to look up at them.
• Put in plants that attract butterflies and hummingbirds, which kids will love to watch. Try butterfly bushes, butterfly weed, coneflowers, petunias, or black-eyed susans.
• To please a child's sense of smell and touch, plant fuzzy, soft lamb's ear, and chocolate mint.
• Encourage your kids to just hang out in the garden, and look closely at what they see.
