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Ten ways to stay connected with nature

Environment

Author:

Kelly Huang

Short summary:

A list of inspiring activities and games to play outdoors with your children. Have fun and find more peace with yourselves and with nature in the new year: you might be surprised of how much you might realise about what really counts when you get to enjoy and remember the feelings and the curiosity from you childhood discoveries coming from a fresh perspective and appreciation for life. Preserve that freshness and you will be inspired.

10 easy ways to stay more connected with nature in 2021

Hello! I’m Kelly, and I’m a Green Steps Nature Guide in Shanghai!

What is a Nature Guide? What do Nature Guides do? It is a little hard to explain, I can only think to say: “we connect you with nature”.

Now, let’s close our eyes and try to remember: are you familiar with a scene like this?

A long time ago...

Try to find a memory of an outdoor activity from your childhood: that might be something like a school field trip, a camping experience or even just a short walk in the park. You can still feel the connection with nature and the full awakening of your body and perceive the little changes happening all around you.

The surprise of feeling a raindrop falling and touching your little hand, the curiosity filling up your little eyes, when laughter happens for no reason, and is so loud it could be heard through an entire valley, and the sound of a cry could be equally loud.

Back then, you did not understand adults’ complaints, difficulties, and pressures nor did you care about such things. Minor things and daily worries did not seem a burden and you genuinely did not care about these then.

You always had a fresh perspective and appreciation for life. Preserve that freshness and you will be inspired.

LATER

As time passes this kind of feeling gradually fades away, while your steps get heavier and you start to worry more about unsatisfactory aspects of life. Your busy schedule seems to keep you from your will to stay connected with nature. But a butterfly stays lively and will continue to spread its colorful wings when visiting flowers, even though its life is going to be very short.

You will always hear people say: “We need to have big goals in life”. Even in movies you hear lines like: “How is the life of people without a dream any different from a soulless person’s one?”

Maybe they are right, maybe this is true: but doesn’t this just prevent you from being happy?

I recently had a casual, but quite touching conversation during a family gathering.

My mother is 65. She told me what she thinks success is: a state of mind and a peaceful feeling. She also told me what she thinks a dream is: always having some land to grow vegetables on and growing old slowly.

“My mum is being very poetic.” I thought. At the same time, I started thinking about what she had just said.

If we manage to preserve the feeling of that kind of peace, would that change our ideas about what the important things in life are and how much happiness we can gain from being connected with nature?


Again, I don’t really have an answer.

I think that everybody needs to find the answer on his own by going into nature together.

Let me share some of the fun activities we engaged in.
Hopefully, you will feel inspired to experience them together with your children. Some of these games are new, some of them are old, or even almost forgotten. During our activities program, sooner or later we have given all of them a try.

1. find a spot in surrounding nature

Choose a regular spot in nature (in a park, a natural reserve area etc.), go there and simply sit down or have a picnic.

Schedule at least one hour of your time to go there per week, and then start to look closer at what you see, how everything changes, and record all of it in your Nature Journal.

2. nature art crafts

Use the elements you find in nature as an inspiration and make them into a creation of art!

a butterfly made with ginkgo leaves
a Hoopoe made with leaves of Magnolia and Goldenrain, and Camphor tree branches and leaves

3. climb a tree

Who doesn’t like to climb a tree? One of the most basic and easiest ways to get in touch with nature.

4. go through an ocean of grass

When in the park, choose unusual paths with your children and cross the grass ocean: merge with surrounding natural elements and stimulate all of your senses.

5. cook outdoor on a bonfire

Cooking outdoors can be very beneficial. Not only you can prepare delicious food, but spending time outdoor by the campfire alone is a wonderful way for us to feel the joy of being connected with nature.

6. buy a guidebook and start birdwatching

There are many good bird guidebooks that can help you to recognise birds in your area. Buy the most appropriate for your location and keep a record of all the birds you see, including the date you spotted them, the type and gender of the bird, etc.

  Our exclusive “Flying Friends” card game consists of the 20 most common birds you can encounter in Shanghai: get in touch with us if you want to get a set to play with your family! 

7. make a vase on paper

A perfectly easy craft to try: whilst collecting leaves from different plants of varying colours and shapes, you learn that nature is the most amazing artist of all.

8. dig a small pond

This activity is extremely simple, which is also what makes it attractive: children can spend a whole day just digging. And on the surface of the muddy water you might end up finding a small creature or two!

9. eco treasure hunt

Go fetch the most beautiful natural elements around. A bamboo basket or paper bag will do: bring it with you and start to explore nature! 

You can make this game harder if you want: for example you could challenge yourself with an additional task like “collecting natural elements of five different colours''.

10. create new games together

Playing classic and traditional games is always engaging. But playing outdoors stimulates creativity: keep your mind open, get inspired to create new games or change and adapt old ones. This is how we created this game.

The prototype was the classic “eagle catching chickens”. We adapted it to our version of “the long-tailed shrike that loves eating little sparrows”.

So many options for so many quick games in nature. You don’t need to spend too much time, just look for a green space near you: I hope that you will spare some of your precious time for these activities.

After playing, does that sense of peace persist? Will our overall view of what is important in life change, and will we give more thought to the connection between nature and our happiness?