Talking about Natural Disasters with Kids
Since Hurricane Helene made landfall last week, more than 190 people have been confirmed dead and hundreds more remain…
MorePosts tagged: Nature
Connecting with A River of Dust
Scientists who study the environment made an amazing discovery in the 1960s: the health of the Amazon forests depend in…
MoreLooking Beneath with Kids
Everyone - young or old - have bad days. Days when it’s hard to get out of bed. Days when we don’t feel like…
MoreExploring Cicada Symphony with Kids
Every year, cicadas awaken from a long dormant period and dig their way out of the ground. The noisy clicking of the…
MoreExploring Values through Cultural ‘Holidays’
Pop up a digital calendar and you’ll likely see a host of cultural ‘holidays’ created to encourage local,…
MoreHow Nature Journals Increase Kids’ Well-Being
Last week, I saw a young child watching a bumble bee move from flower to flower on a large bush. “Shhh,” she told…
MoreKids, Eco-Anxiety & Gardens
Heat domes that elevate temperatures to unsafe levels and spark wildfires. Fierce hurricanes and tropical storms that…
MoreHerb Garden Spirituality
My son’s favorite plant in our garden is chocolate mint. He says it smells like a Girl Scout cookie. One of my…
MoreObserving Earth Day as a Family
Earth Day (April 22) marks more than 50 years of organized global attention to the environment. It officially falls on…
MoreGuided Meditation: Climate Change
My nephew is a science nerd. He collects facts about climate change and uses them to convince other family members to…
MoreWinter Solstice Stories
For the Northern Hemisphere, winter officially begins on December 21st with the marking of the winter solstice. It’s…
MoreExploring The Coquíes Still Sing
I grew up in Oklahoma, where tornadoes are a common summer occurrence. My family would huddle in the basement as sirens…
MoreExploring Values with The Good for Nothing Tree
I have a peach tree in my front yard. Some years, there are lots of peaches and we scramble to pick our share before…
MoreConnecting with Nature through My Friend Earth
Learning about the seasons of the year is a common focus in many preschool and elementary programs. My Friend Earth,…
MoreGoing on a Rainforest Adventure with Forest
Brendan Kearney’s Forest is part of a series that chronicles the adventures of fisher Finn and his dog, Skip. In this…
MoreExploring the Gift of Rain with Sidney the Lonely Cloud
Like generations of children before them, my kids would chant, “Rain, rain, go away,” whenever raindrops threatened…
MoreExploring Care for the Ocean with I Love You, Blue
My family lives close enough to the ocean that we can visit frequently. My children enjoy walking on the beach, playing…
MoreConnecting with Nature through Apple and Magnolia
One summer, my kids and I planted a small garden. While our cucumbers and zucchini did well, our tomato plants…
MoreBooks for Earth Day
Americans have celebrated Earth Day since 1970, with other nations joining in beginning in 1990. The theme for 2023 is…
MoreExploring People Are Wild with Children
“Do they bite?” asked Marcus* when we spotted a family of mule deer during a camping trip. Our group was excited…
MoreChildren, Community Science & Climate Change
Earlier this month, the Pacific Ocean made news because it is shrinking faster than scientists expected. One reason…
MoreSit Spots
Now that school is back in session, children have much less time to spend outdoors. Pressure to prepare kids for…
MoreSpiritual Exploration with the Webb Telescope
A friend's 5 year old daughter recently visited our local science museum, where she was mesmerized by the Webb…
MoreBooks for Earth Day
Every year on April 22, more than a billion people take time to reflect on the earth and its importance for human…
MoreCaring for the Earth Together
Blowing dandelion seeds, chasing fireflies, and watching caterpillars munch on milkweed - these were some of my…
MoreMindful Nature Walks
I do a lot of walking. I sometimes walk from my house to my office two blocks away. I pace while talking on the phone…
MoreThe Spiritual Effects of Nature
My children loved going for walks when they were little. They would point out flowers, watch a caterpillar inch its way…
MoreExploring Where Wonder Grows
My dad collected rocks his whole life. He particularly liked geodes: rocks that - when broken open - contained a hidden…
MoreEnvironmental Justice for Preschoolers
As global leaders gather in Glasgow to discuss climate change, one message is clear: environmental justice isn’t just…
MoreSpiritual Connectedness
One of my favorite preschool parenting moments was watching my children chase fireflies around our backyard on a summer…
MoreUsing Landscape Images in Spiritual Reflection
My youngest child loves Van Gogh’s Starry Night. In fifth grade, he picked out a t-shirt that had Albert Einstein’s…
MoreSpiritual Reminiscing
Parents talk with young children about the past a lot. We remind them of the last time they saw their cousins. We…
MoreEarth Day Spirituality
Nature plays a significant role in spirituality for people of all ages. During the pandemic, many families have found…
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