“Mom, what does a cricket eat?” Is Your Child Suffering From Nature Deficit Disorder?

Is your child touching nature regularly? It might just be detrimental to their health if they are not able to experience the greater natural world.

When my daughter asked me “Mom, what does a cricket eat?” I immediately jumped online and found out. Why? Because I want her to understand more about the connection between nature and her body. Turns out crickets are omnivores. That means they eat everything – including each other.

She kept the little buggers in a jar overnight and learned that although they do like vegetable material, a tomato needs to be more fully rotted for them to really eat it. Therefore, she let the crickets free in the morning and learned a science lesson about nature.

Richard Louv, the author of Last Child In The Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder (Algonquin Books, 2008) is the person who originally coined the phrase, “Nature Deficit Disorder.” His strong belief is that children who have not been exposed to nature can suffer all sorts of medical malady’s, both physical and mental. My daughter spends a significant amount of time outside and it has truly educated her on more than just play – she’s learning how nature really works.

Next on my daughters scientific learning journey with crickets, she wants to capture them and try feeding them varying foods like bugs, and see which they prefer.

Please give us suggestions on other experiments we can try to help my daughter learn more about nature and I will share them with my readers!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Comments

[lp to cd transfer]

This is a cool screen idea ! It is very interesting indeed.

Regards
paul

[Wireless Networking Baltimore]

I bookmarked this already dude great work

Regards

[Shawna Coronado]

Totally LOVE these ideas! Thank you so much!

Shawna

[Marianne]

Make every day a science experiment - I homeschool, so we do! Discover the names of plants and their purposes (the Indians used most of the plants and trees for something -- and I learned a lot about them as a child, so pass that on), make a list of "good bugs" and "bad bugs" ... my DD has no fear of spiders because they are good bugs (thankfully, we don't have poisonous ones here). And even our "bad bugs" are handled humanely.

Raise earthworms. It's easy to do, even inside.

Plant a butterfly garden.

Become a Monarch Waystation.

Research bees and their impact on our lives.

Question everything.

[Carole]

There's a whole series of books, published by Stackpole called the "Discover Nature" books, for instance, "Discover Nature in the Garden," Discover Nature at Sundown," and "Discover Nature Close to Home." These books have wonderful activities to get to know all the forms of nature around us. While written for use with children, I've used them myself when I want to know more about something.It is so important to get our kids outside and learning how things fit together.

[Shawna Coronado]

Great thoughts! Keep them coming!!!

Shawna

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=6206323]

Suggested activities when outdoors: learn how to identify species together. Learn to identify birds, plants, bugs, etc. and keep a "life list" of what you've seen. You can record life lists in various formats online.

[EarthMother - In The Raw]

I've actually read Last Child in the Woods and have recommended it to others. It's so very sad, and so true.

When I was little, I was outdoors from morning til night. Tadpoles, caterpillars, crickets...you name it and I caught it in a jar, just like your young daughter. How blessed she is to have a mama who loves and respects nature. Have FUN learning and exploring together!