Let’s Go Out & Play!: Young Children In The Woods

ExploreInspireDiscoverNatural Play ProjectCommunityParents

Oct 12

Ms. Caroline, Ms. Lisa and I recently hosted a virtual Parent Education event that focused on “Young Children In The Woods.” I love sharing resources about nature connection, children, and outdoor adventure, and our conversation over Zoom sparked some interesting conversations and questions. These links are to provide a follow-up to that discussion and a jumping off point for anyone who has the urge to get outside with their family!

Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature is a fascinating book. It is written with mentors and educators in mind, but is applicable to anyone interested in strengthening their connection to the natural world. (Here’s the cover). Incidentally, the Coyote class’s name was inspired by this book.

The chapter, “Child Passions as Mentoring Tools,” continues the discussion about how to create buy-in, or get our kids interested in playing outside. Sometimes we want an A to B “goal” oriented adventure (an adult-like concept), and sometimes it is fun to wander, looking for rodent holes, finding pretty stones, and jumping off of logs.

Another chapter, “Questioning and Answering,” addresses the question of technology as a tool to identifying things in the natural world. Practicing asking questions builds our curiosity and observation muscles, whereas an answer can end the conversation. I like to play “The Question Game” once something catches my/the child’s interest. Set a timer for 1-2 minute and take turns asking questions about the cool things you see/hear/smell/feel. Just questions. Get creative and it’s ok if it veers into imagination land.

Another topic that parents were interested in was “risky play.” Here’s an article I like that speaks more about this concept.

And here’s a photo of the “sting sticks” for bee stings. (I think these are from Amazon.)

A list of some easily accessible outdoor spaces around Brevard:

Fawn Lake, Dupont State Forest - It can get busy on the weekends, but it is a sweet weekday after school picnic spot. The “trail” is a car-free gravel road (10 minutes?). There’s also a trail around the lake. Or go explore the woods to the left of the dock (facing the lake).
Moores Cove, Pisgah National Forest - 1.2 miles round trip, but you don’t have to go all the way to the waterfall. This is a relatively flat and wide trail.
Pinkbeds, PNF - There’s a loop trail if you want a longer walk, but even just exploring the edges of the field is fun. THere are also picnic shelters and bathrooms.
276 Pull Offs in PNF - If you head into the forest up 276 there are many pull offs that have short trails down to the Davidson River. Some are developed, and some are not. I know one family that spent a whole summer visiting a new one each time they went out; now they have their favorites! These pull offs are great for a 15 minute play stop, or an all day exploration. Stack rocks, throw rocks, sort rocks (play with the dry rocks, and leave the wet rocks for the animals that call them home), float and race leaf boats, play in mud, listen to the water, watch a fly fisher-person, watch a Kingfisher, pick up trash, set up an obstacle course with driftwood, have a beach race, etc.
This little brochure has even more suggestions: Final Places to Play Outdoors in Transylvania.pdf

And a few more helpful links:

https://www.freeforestschool.org/blog - Great blog about getting outside with younger children. Some philosophical musings and some practical tips.

https://www.texaschildreninnature.org/ - Excellent hub of articles about nature play and how it makes children healthier, happier, and smarter.

https://www.childrenandnature.org/ - Another resource hub with articles and activities.

https://naturalearning.org/ - The organization that helped MSCS with the initial design for the Natural Play Space. The website has many different resources to explore.

https://52thingsoutside.org/ - Activities, suggestions, and adventure ideas!