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Jun 29, 2008 7:22pm
This week’s recommendations for reading, in the car, on your way to spend a day in the park I hope! I love Dirt! by Jennifer Ward Oh, what fun a child can have by jumping in mud puddles, collecting bugs, and listening to the birds! And yet, many children today have become so  occupied with TV, computers, and video games, that unstructured, outdoor play is sadly becoming a thing of the past. I Love Dirt! is a call to parents, educators, and caregivers to help children recover one of the great joys of childhood. Through fifty-two activities, readers will find a wealth of creative ways to actively engage children, ages four to nine, in nature. Each project is meant to promote exploration, stimulate imagination, and heighten a sense of wonder. A Natural Sense of Wonder by Rick Van Noy The question of how parents should appropriately connect their children with nature is accessibly and gently articulated here. This is a great book for a wide range of parents and is full of the realities of parenting in a postmodern age. Whereas Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods is issues oriented and broadly sociological, A Natural Sense of Wonder is hands on. —David Sobel, author of Beyond EcophobiaA wonderful, timely, and much needed lyrical reminder of the fundamental importance of children’s ongoing experience of nature as the basis of creativity, problem-solving, critical thinking, and so much more that ultimately makes us human. Van Noy’s book is a profoundly moving, powerful, and eloquent reminder of this basic truth, with which our modern society, estranged from nature, has lost touch to its ultimate detriment. —Stephen R. Kellert, coeditor of Children and Nature Classic Litterature The Geography of Children by Gary Nabhan More than half of American children get their environmental information from the media, according to the authors, who find this a disturbing trend. In alternating essays, conservation biologist Nabham ( Gathering the Desert ) and Trimble ( Great Sand Dunes ) examine the needs of children to experience nature firsthand. Each author draws on his childhood experiences: Nabham’s among the steel mills and sand dunes of Gary, Ind., and Trimble’s travels in the West with his geologist father. They describe how their own children react to the world of nature and look at Southwest Indian cultures that are closely tied to nature. Trimble speaks to three-generations of a ranch family in Nevada; Nabham visits an extended family on a Mexican ranch. Observing social activities on school playgrounds, Trimble discovers more interaction between the sexes on grassy areas than on bare asphalt. This thoughtful presentation, testifying to children’s need for direct contact with nature, has value for parents and those who work with children

This week’s recommendations for reading, in the car, on your way to spend a day in the park I hope!

I love Dirt! by Jennifer Ward

Oh, what fun a child can have by jumping in mud puddles, collecting bugs, and listening to the birds! And yet, many children today have become so  occupied with TV, computers, and video games, that unstructured, outdoor play is sadly becoming a thing of the past. I Love Dirt! is a call to parents, educators, and caregivers to help children recover one of the great joys of childhood. Through fifty-two activities, readers will find a wealth of creative ways to actively engage children, ages four to nine, in nature. Each project is meant to promote exploration, stimulate imagination, and heighten a sense of wonder.

A Natural Sense of Wonder by Rick Van Noy

The question of how parents should appropriately connect their children with nature is accessibly and gently articulated here. This is a great book for a wide range of parents and is full of the realities of parenting in a postmodern age. Whereas Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods is issues oriented and broadly sociological, A Natural Sense of Wonder is hands on. —David Sobel, author of Beyond Ecophobia

A wonderful, timely, and much needed lyrical reminder of the fundamental importance of children’s ongoing experience of nature as the basis of creativity, problem-solving, critical thinking, and so much more that ultimately makes us human. Van Noy’s book is a profoundly moving, powerful, and eloquent reminder of this basic truth, with which our modern society, estranged from nature, has lost touch to its ultimate 
detriment. —Stephen R. Kellert, coeditor of Children and Nature

Classic Litterature

The Geography of Children by Gary Nabhan

More than half of American children get their environmental information from the media, according to the authors, who find this a disturbing trend. In alternating essays, conservation biologist Nabham ( Gathering the Desert ) and Trimble ( Great Sand Dunes ) examine the needs of children to experience nature firsthand. Each author draws on his childhood experiences: Nabham’s among the steel mills and sand dunes of Gary, Ind., and Trimble’s travels in the West with his geologist father. They describe how their own children react to the world of nature and look at Southwest Indian cultures that are closely tied to nature. Trimble speaks to three-generations of a ranch family in Nevada; Nabham visits an extended family on a Mexican ranch. Observing social activities on school playgrounds, Trimble discovers more interaction between the sexes on grassy areas than on bare asphalt. This thoughtful presentation, testifying to children’s need for direct contact with nature, has value for parents and those who work with children
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