In Nature with children

My boy and his cousin proud of their fishing spears

We all know that taking children out into nature is good for them, it gets them away from the screens and computers, their mobile phones and X boxes. To me though there is something more, to best describe my feelings on this I would say that nature teaches children something. I struggle to describe what that is but it's meaningful. Being out in nature brings them a sense of achievement, it allows their imagination to flourish, their in built ability to discover to thrive.

I have a 5 year old son and a 2 year old daughter both of them have been camping out with me and taking day trips regularly since week or two old. They are comfortable outdoors and enjoy it, it has certainly enriched their lives so far. I believe that it has taught them confidence and perseverance, humility and compassion. Certainly in Leo who has much more ability to express his feelings with words. In the weekend just gone we had slept out in hammocks during the most impressive display of thunder of lightning storm I had ever camped out in. Thankfully it lasted only the night and we awoke to glorious sunshine. The three kids, Leo, Lexi and their cousin Tristan were not at all afraid of the thunder storm, they slept well and the most magical thing for me about the entire experience wasn't until Leo took himself to his hammock the next night. As I kissed him goodnight whilst he was snug and comfortable suspended between trees, he looks straight at me and as softly as you can imagine he says "Daddy, I love sleeping out in the nature." These are words I've longed to hear from my son, I've always seen his enjoyment and passion for learning all I can teach him... Sometimes more than I can teach him recently but to hear him say it outright is so special as a parent and as a student of nature.


We too feel this, sometimes Prehaps without even noticing. Simply taking ourselves away from modern trappings, time constraints, financial stress and lack of social interaction too.
I have always found that I've eaten better in terms of set meals, I am not for example too busy at work at skip lunch to ensure jobs are done like I do in the modern world.
Social time around the fire without my mobile phone to interfere.
Waking up feeling refreshed not worrying about the day to come. These small things that are often so much a part of our lives that we don't often consider the detrimental effects on our mind set.

It makes me think to the many documentaries and study I've seen about so called primitive communities, they generally seem happier with their lives although in some respect harder and living closer to the edge as it were. They sing they dance, smile and seem to be at far more peace than the modern man.

So I come to what it is me and my kids do when we're out and about because this is a subject that may concern some people.
I have already mentioned their ages, but this does not scare me at all. This weekend gone had Leo pointing a stick using a mora knife I then split it and made it into a primitive fishing spear. It had Lexi getting to grips with the knife too! A few minutes was enough to satisfy her curiosity. They were helping to collect fire wood and they built up the fire using small kindling sticks.
We made mallets and they used them to help me split wood with my hatchet.

Little things done in a safe manner expel the curiosity and entertain them. It starts to build on skills for life, something that the scout association is now pushing out with mass advertising and training programmes into what this means to scouts.

Possibly the best moment was teaching them about shelter building and making model shelters in the woods. The principles they built them on are the very same principles when building a full sized shelter. Fantastic skills that also require patience and willpower to carry on until there done.

 The tarp set up, this one is what my Partner Nicole slept in the weekend. It was her first time in a hammock.

The kids safe learning about fire, Leo's excitement when the small sticks burst into flame.

 This is the shelter builds. A fantastic task in the woods.
An hour to kill some time and the kids enjoy it.

You will want to find a decent spot with the right resources and follow all the sames principles as you would with a full sized shelter.



Hopefully this helps you, whether your a scout leader or parent or teacher etc. Enriching young people's lives by being out in nature is something that has been pushed a lot in recent and there are many ways to get them involved.