Growing Bookworms – Teaching children about nature and conservation
Posted: January 11, 2023 Filed under: Books, Children's Books, Nature | Tags: Conservation, Growing Bookworms, Nature, Parenting, Robbie Cheadle, Writing to be Read 45 Comments
Teaching our children about the natural environment and conservation is one of the greatest gifts we can give them. There are a few good ways of making sharing about nature and conservation with children, as follows:
- Reading books about nature with your child;
- Exploring nature with your child;
- Art and play; and
- Watching documentaries
Reading
There are a number of wonderful children’s books that subtly teach children about the wonders of nature. One is The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett when Dicken shows Mary how to care for the locked garden and plant new flowers. Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson is another. Set along the Amazon River in Brazil, this book has a strong theme about the importance of nature to the human spirit. A few other wonderful children’s books about animals are White Fang by Jack London, The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford, Charlotte’s Webb by E.B. White, Jock of the Bushveld by Sir James Percy FitzPatrick, and The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling.
This is the song, The Bare Necessities, from Disney’s The Jungle Book, when Baloo, the Sloth Bear, meets Mowgli, the human boy.
There are also some excellent non-fiction books that explain a lot about nature. One of my favourites is Nature Cross-Sections by Richard Orr which includes wonderful picture spreads of cross-sections of, amongst others, a beehive, a tide pool, a termite mound, and a beaver lodge.
The Disney Mickey Wonders Why series is also terrific for young children. Laid out as a series of questions such as Why is the sky blue? and Why is the grass green? these books include comprehensive, yet simple, answers and lovely illustrations. You can find the Micky Wonders Why series on Amazon as a set of books or as single books.
Do you have any wonderful books for children about nature that you can recommend?
Exploring nature
There are numerous ways to explore nature and its bounty with your child from nature walks to visiting places of interest like aquariums, bunny parks, and game reserves.
Cooking or baking with your child is also a wonderful way of teaching your child about natures bounty and the products the animal kingdom contributes to our lives including eggs and fresh milk. I was surprised to discover that some city children don’t know that milk and other dairy products generally come from cows.
Art and play
When my sons were younger, we used to play games that included animals. We built a game reserve in the sand pit and set out all the toy animals. We learned about the natural habitat of different animals and that some animals live in rocky terrain, some in savannah areas and some in the forest. We created the right habitat using pot plants and garden rocks and put the correct animals in the correct areas. We also played a water game with a large plastic shell full of water, rocks and a few plants. The water animals lived in the pond. Small children love playing in sand and water and it has many benefits for them. It was amazing how the boys and their friends learned to work together with these games.
I also did a lot of art with my children. We made a swamp from an old cardboard box, paper and paint and learned about the animals that live in a swamp including, of course, Shrek and Fiona. We made centipedes from parts of egg boxes and pipe cleaners and built a volcano from paper mache. When it comes to art, the options are limitless for learning and lots of tactile fun.
Watching documentaries
There are numerous amazing documentaries available that parents can watch with their children. It is always fun to discuss the details of these shows with children afterwards and explore and develop their thoughts and impressions from the information and visuals provided.
Conservation
It is not enough just to talk about conservation, you have to lead by example and demonstrate through your own choices and actions the importance of helping the planet and all its creatures and forms of life to thrive. I will expand on conservation and leading by example in a future post.
About Robbie Cheadle
Robbie Cheadle is a South African children’s author and poet with thirteen children’s books and two poetry books.
The eight Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.
Robbie and Michael have recently introduced the first book in the Sir Chocolate holidays and high days book series. Sir Chocolate and the Missing Christmas harp is available on Kindle Unlimited and as an ebook and paperback from Amazon. This series is illustrated with Robbie Cheadle’s gorgeous cake and fondant artwork and includes themed activities and recipes for adults to make with children.
Robbie and Michael have also written Haunted Halloween Holiday, a delightful fantasy story for children aged 5 to 9. Count Sugular and his family hire a caravan to attend a Halloween party at the Haunted House in Ghost Valley. This story is also beautifully illustrated with Robbie’s fondant and cake art creations.
Robbie has also published two books for older children which incorporate recipes that are relevant to the storylines as well as one micro read with a Christmas theme.
Robbie has two adult novels in the paranormal historical and supernatural fantasy genres published under the name Roberta Eaton Cheadle. She also has short stories, in the horror and paranormal genre, and poems included in several anthologies.
Robbie Cheadle contributes two monthly posts to https://writingtoberead.com/, namely, Growing Bookworms, a series providing advice to caregivers on how to encourage children to embrace learning, and Treasuring Poetry, a series aimed at introducing poetry lovers to new poets and poetry books.
In addition, Roberta Eaton Cheadle contributes one monthly post to https://writingtoberead.com/ called Dark Origins: Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Stories.
Find Robbie Cheadle
Blog: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/
Blog: robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com
Twitter: BakeandWrite
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVyFo_OJLPqFa9ZhHnCfHUA
Facebook: Sir Chocolate Books
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Writing to be Read 
Reblogged this on Robbie's inspiration and commented:
My first Growing Bookworms post of 2023 discusses teaching children about nature and conservation. Thanks for hosting, Kaye Lynne Booth.
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🙂
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Such an important topic, Robbie! 💕🙂
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It is, thanks for visiting, Harmony.
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An excellent roadmap to fostering fun learning through reading for children, Robbie! Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you, Jan, I’m glad you enjoyed.
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My girls loved “The Secret Garden “. I also remember that The Magic School Bus series had quite a few books about nature. (K)
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Hi Kerfe, The Secret Garden is still so well known and that delights me. It was a great favourite of my oldest son’s too and then he progressed to Tolkien.
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Great suggestions, Robbie. My Mom must have played ‘Bare Necessities’ a lot because I can still sing it!
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That is so funny, Jacqui, so can I. I just loved Baloo when I was younger and I’m still a fan.
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Thanks for hosting Kaye Lynne and excellent suggestions Robbie.. xx
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Thank you, Sally, I am glad you enjoyed. Nature conservation is close to my heart.
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Me too Robbie.. if we all did our bit in our small part of the world it would make an amazing difference.. ♥
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Thanks to you, Sally, for visiting. Robbie’s posts are always so interesting, and she picks wonderful topics. ☺️
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She certainly does Kaye Lynne.. enough for a book soon I would have thought.. xx
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A terrific post, Robbie with lots of engaging examples to encourage an interest in nature and conservation. Some of the books you mention are my all-time favourite. The Secret Garden is fantastic and I also read White Fang many times. The Jungle Book is a family favourite too. You are wonderfully creative with all the projects with your children and it is great how you brought modern fiction film into the real world!
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HI Annika, I am open to learning of all kinds. Many of the computer games involve reading and problem solving and have a lot of value for young learners provided they are balanced about it. The Secret Garden is one of my favourites too and I always loved the Disney The Jungle book although Alice in Wonderland is my all time favourite.
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A wonderful post, Robbie! And a number of the books you mentioned — such as “White Fang” and “The Incredible Journey” — are of course great reads for adults as well. 🙂
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And thank you for hosting this, Kaye Lynne Booth!
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Thanks for visiting, Dave. ☺️
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Hi Dave, you are absolutely correct. Lots of books for young adults have value as adult reads. I still love I am David and The Secret Garden and am overwhelmed by The Diary of Anne Frank.
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All terrific ideas, Robbie. Teaching children to recycle and not waste is a good start in life. If they see their parents doing it, it sticks with them.
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Hi Darlene, thank you, I am very keen on nature and conservation. Parents do have to lead by example.
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When my boys were younger we loved reading books about nature and animals. Playing outside, weather permitting, was a daily event. We’ve always recycled, and both of them continue to do that on their own now. Wonderful post, Robbie!
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HI Teri, I am delighted that you enjoyed this post. My sons also enjoyed those sorts of books but it is also up to the parents to encourage and lead by example.
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This is such and important topic to present to children Robbie. Wow, it astonishes me that you have produced 13! Congratulations! It really is impressive with all you do! 💞
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Thank you, Cindy. I’m glad you enjoyed this post.
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What fantastic advice and suggestions, Robbie. Hugs again, Toni x
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Thanks, Toni, I’m glad you enjoyed.
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The books about nature I remember being entranced by when I was a kid were these small, oblong books (for child-sized hands to hold easily) that featured photos and characteristics of butterflies and birds for identification purposes.
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Hi Liz, I don’t know those books but they sound lovely.
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I wish I could remember the titles.
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Love and respect for nature are as important as love and respect for ourselves. I believe that children genuinely enjoy feeling that they are doing something good for the environment.
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HI Annette, you do get some very destructive children. I am not sure if it is in their nature or something they have been taught. On the whole though, I have always found children to ensure learning about nature and experiencing it through walks, and other methods.
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This is wonderful, Robbie. It so important for children (and all of us) to appreciate nature. The best way to encourage it is to get outside, but books are a wonderful treasure too. There are many amazing picture books that encourage an interest in nature and caring for the environment too. Great article.
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what a wonderful way to get children interested in the environment!
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Hi Jim, it’s lovely to see you. I am glad you liked my ideas and this post.
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I always enjoy your posts about reading and young children. It feels good to be back in WordPress.
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Thanks, Jim.
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Great post, Robbie. Here in Australia, quite a few schools have edible gardens that the children are taught to tend. The produce from the gardens is often cooked up in the school kitchen so the kids can taste how wonderful freshly picked vegetables can be.
I grew up eating stone fruit straight from the trees because my Dad was an avid gardener, but these days kids only get to eat fruit that’s been picked almost green so it’ll transport better and have a longer shelf life. It may look big and beautiful but half the time it has no flavour. Ditto tomatoes and strawberries. 😦
I wish we could make edible gardens a compulsory part of every school, especially at primary level.
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HI Meeks, the edible gardens are a wonderful idea. It is true that modern children are far to removed from nature and the practicalities of life. Some kids don’t even know milk comes from cows – it’s crazy. I am pleased you enjoyed this post.
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Yes, our modern way of life has created some very strange ‘side effects’. I wish all kids could experience the wonder of growing and eating their own produce.
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[…] Head over to read this interesting post from Robbie: Growing Bookworms – Teaching Children about Nature and Conservation […]
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Some great suggestions, to teach children and get them interested in nature and conservation, Robbie. Very useful. Thanks for sharing those and enjoy the rest of the week.
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Thank you, Olga, and to you too.
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