Just about everything we do has an impact on nature and the environment. And everything in nature likewise impacts our own lives. To preserve our environment for the next generation, help your kids better understand the world around them, and how best to enjoy it!
Did you know?
Research has shown that kids who spend time outdoors:
- Demonstrate more creative/imaginative play
- Are generally healthier
- Have lower stress levels
- Have greater respect for themselves and others
- And a greater appreciation for the environment
Encourage Learning
Check out other sites from the U.S. Forest Service and its partners designed to educate and get kids excited about our natural environment.
- Finding My Forest offers educators a comprehensive curriculum on the wonders of our forests. The classroom can be a great place to re-connect kids with nature.
- Celebrating Wildflowers is dedicated to the enjoyment of the thousands of wildflowers growing in our national forests and grasslands, and to educating the public about the many values of native plants.
- Hands on the Land Student Websites features student websites from a national network of field classrooms connecting students, teachers, and parents to their public lands and waterways.
- The Natural Inquirer Issues Archive allows you to download issues of journals created by scientists to share their research with middle school students.
- America's Rainforests for Students helps students understand the basic ecology and function of both tropical and temperate rainforests.
- Monarch Live increases the understanding of monarch butterfly biology, life cycle, and ecology, and how the U.S., Mexico, and Canada need to work together for the health of monarchs.
- USDA Forest Service Conservation and Education Students Page is a portal to help students connect to the land through information related to sustaining natural and cultural resources.
- NatureWatch has video webcams of animals, so you can do some nature watching online, and information to help you learn how to get out there and nature watch for yourself.
- Woodsy Owl Activity Guide, which has a number of activities to do outside with the families.
- PollinatorLIVE: A Distance Learning Adventure provides a fun way to learn about pollinators and the valuable role they play in the production of food, the future of wildlife, and in the health of flowering plants.
Help Preserve
We can all enjoy nature if we take care of it. Help teach the next generation how.
- Tread Lightly! Kids has activities and games for you to play. "Lightfoot" the squirrel helps teach humans to tread lightly in nature.
- The EPA Environmental Kids Club has games, pictures, and stories that'll help you explore the environment and learn how to protect it.
- Leave No Trace will teach you some the things you need to keep in mind so you can be responsible while enjoying nature.