Get in Touch with Nature

Everyone needs a “sit spot” in nature to sit, relax, reflect, and enjoy the sights, smells, and sounds around them. A sit spot can be in your backyard, your favorite park, or, even in your schoolyard!  Ask students if they have a sit spot at home? Is their sit spot inside or outside? What do they enjoy about their sit spot?

Take kids outside to an area on or near your schoolyard that has trees, grass, or other natural areas. Encourage children to explore for a few minutes to find a spot that they like, that they can claim as “their own”. You may have to set boundaries as to where they can go etc. Have the children get settled in their spot and sit for a few minutes. Tell them this is their time to relax and think. They can daydream or let their minds wander.

When you are done at your sit spots encourage children to share how they felt when they were sitting in their sit spots. What did they notice? What did they enjoy about their sit spots? What makes it special to them?

Try to return to your sit spot location once a week, make it a regular part of your school week.

Book List

Arnosky, J. 1993. Crinkleroot's Guide to Walking in Wild Places. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.

Baylor, B. and P. Parnall. 1997. The Other Way to Listen. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.

Becker, B. and B. Huang. 1995. The Quiet Way Home. Holt, Henry, and Company

Capogna, V.V. 1999. Did You Ever Wonder about Things You Find in Your Backyard? Marshall Cavendish Inc.

Graff, N.P. and G.B. Karas. 1998. In the Hush of the Evening. HarperCollins Publishers.

Hoban, T. 1984. Is It Rough? Is It Smooth? Is It Shiny? HarperCollins Publishers.

Martin, Jr., B. and J. Endicott. 1988. Listen to the Rain. Henry Holt & Company, Incorporated.

Morrison, G. 2004. Nature in the Neighborhood. Walter Lorraine Books/Houghton Mifflin Books.

Paladino, C. 1993. Land, Sea, and Sky: Poems to Celebrate the Earth. Little, Brown & Company.

Paolilli, P. and D. Brewer. 2001. Silver Seeds: A Book of Nature Poems. Viking.

Rockwell, A. and F. Lessac. 2008. Clouds (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Series). HarperCollins Publishers.

Rotner, S. 1992. Nature Spy. Atheneum.

Ryder, J., and D. Nolan. 1990. Under Your Feet. Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.

Showers, P. and Aliki. 1993. The Listening Walk. HarperCollins Children's Books.

Silverstein, S. 2004. The Giving Tree. HarperCollins Publishers.

Yolen, J. and J. Stemple. Color Me a Rhyme: Nature Poems for Young People. Boyds Mills Press.