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FlickrWalking into nature opens new consciousness. It moves our thinking out of ourselves into synaptic connections with what we see, hear, feel, and touch. Nature may be in your backyard, on the school grounds, in a park, by a river or pond, or even by a lake or an ocean. It may be in a valley, on a mountaintop, in a desert, wetland, prairie, or forest.
Nature is the world that existed before humans evolved. It evolved over billions of years from elements that connected and formed cells and single-cell organisms and then multi-cell organisms in the water and on land. Watch the Powers of Ten and explore Universal Scale to see that design in nature is part of an extensive interconnected system, also full of life at the invisible, microscopic scale, and connected to human designs. Which scales are familiar to you? Which ones are completely new? Did any of them surprise you? Are you becoming curious?
You are part of this world and everything that exists in it. Connecting with Nature you will connect with life itself!
Become an explorer of the world!
Activity 1 – Look for animals
In nature, we are surrounded by [invertebrates] and [vertebrates]. Look down, look out, and look up! You will be amazed at the diversity of life around you. Some living things crawl like worms. Other living things like beetles and birds, squirrels, chipmunks, and mice walk and fly. Record the biodiversity of life right from where you are!
Activity 2 – Look for insects
Insects are everywhere. In fact, insects make up the largest percent of living things in the world. There are bees that buzz, flies that land, beetles that crawl, ants that march, moths that flap their wings, mosquitoes that bite, spiders that build webs and so on. Look around you. Look down and you will find many insects in the soil of the earth. Look out and you will see pollinators moving from flower to flower spreading pollen to feed bees, regenerate plants, and feed the food chain. Insects come in endless shapes, sizes, and design. Each one plays a role in the web of life. Draw as many insects as you see and look up their names when you return home. Upload your insect drawings to the gallery.
Activity 3 – Look for Plants
Plants are amazingly diverse. They come in so many sizes, shapes, colors, textures. From lichen, moss, fungi, and flowers to sedges, grasses, stalks, shrubs, and trees, plants have evolved over millions of years, covering earth’s lands with deserts, tundra, prairies to grasslands, wetlands, forests, accommodating habitats for diverse life forms all over the planet. Plants help to retain water, decompose waste, take in carbon dioxide, and give off oxygen to clean our air; the diversity of plants varies from biome to biome due to temperature range, moisture availability, sunshine or shade, and soil nutrition.
Documenting the biodiversity of plants in specific locations is a form of citizen scientist data collection that can help scientists understand the health of the area, as well as better understand the regenerative cycle of seeding, growing, blooming, multiplying, receding seasonally, and decaying before sprouting again. You may also encounter plants that you do not know. Record them via drawings or photos to check if they are indigenous or invasive. What kind of plant are you?
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