Getting Kids Hooked On Nature

[LeCastor 641]

When I initially saw this Scouting article earlier in the year, I thought to myself, "Wow, this is ME in 30 years!" 

https://scoutingmagazine.org/2017/02/one-veteran-scouters-tips-getting-scouts-hooked-nature/

During IOLS courses, I ask Scouters to take a walk for about 15 minutes and find something in nature that interests them. Then, I ask them to "tell us the story" of that thing. The results are always spectacular! One time, a Scouter wrote a poem about a shelf fungus she found on a tree. Another Scouter found deer sign and told a beautiful story about the changing of the seasons.

If the Scouters don't know what something is, I always have guide books handy and encourage these adults to look the tree, animal, or insect up in order to learn. This is a skill we should all instill in our youth, too. Learning to see nature and understand it through storytelling and through inquiry is, in my opinion, one of the most valuable teaching methods.

[MattR 2659]

Okay, @LeCastor, that is a brilliant idea. That should be put in a list of great and really different ways to engage scouts.

[LeCastor 641]

2 hours ago, MattR said:

Okay, @LeCastor, that is a brilliant idea. That should be put in a list of great and really different ways to engage scouts.

Well, thanks you, MattR!