"Nurturing Nature" with the Minnesota Children's Museum

Yesterday, several Early Childhood Coalition coordinators and some special guests got to join us here for "Nurturing Nature" with Nichole Polifka from the Minnesota Children's Museum. "Nurturing Nature" is just one of the six Professional Development Workshops offered by the museum that, "will travel" and promises to ignite ideas, spark creativity and delivers practical skills and activities that can be readily implemented in the classroom.

During our short two hours, we were able to play games, create simple art projects, browse resources and enjoyed an interesting conversation about the contrast of what " experiencing nature & the environment" meant to us as children and what it means for future generations.

The conversation got me thinking and I began to wonder if the children I work with will ever canoe with their family along the river and find the perfect sand bar to stop and have a picnic? Will they make up games while chasing their friends or siblings in and around the barn at Grandma & Grandpa's house? Will they learn to make "stew" out of dirt, water, sticks, leaves, berries & rocks and try to feed it to their younger brothers? What do you think?

With the competition of x-box, i-pods, soccer practice, dance class, mom's schedule, dad's schedule and our society's push on "faster, better, stronger" I don't feel very confident about our young people "experiencing nature & the environment" in the easy ways that I did when I was a child. 

Feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts. I've added a few pictures of the resources, materials and projects that Nichole brought with and shared with us. ENJOY it and then GET OUTSIDE!