As parents, we often try to find ways to bring nature into our homes. After all, fresh air and natural landscapes are good for us – and for our children. But sometimes it can be difficult to find ways to do this that fit into our busy lives. Here are five simple tips for bringing nature into your home, no matter how much space you have or how busy you are.
Bringing nature into your home is a great way to integrate your child’s learning, cultivating a sense of being grounded through nature and giving the opportunity to visit memories of past adventures. Even though we live in an amazing mecca of outdoor activities and beauty, Seattle is still a city.
We don’t always have time to go on a hike, and, although access to the outdoors is a lot better than most cities around the world, occasionally we have to be satisfied with a walk around our neighborhood as outdoor adventure time. There is always plenty of adventure!
Bring Nature Into Your Home
Here are a few ways my family tries to remain “grounded”:
- Planet Earth – We watch this series often as a family but we often have the series running in the background as we tend to other things in our home. The imagery is beautiful. The learning is rich and there is something about these segments that bring a sense of calm and ease.
- Nature Sounds – We mainly listen to “nature sounds” as a means to getting our boys and ourselves to sleep. The sounds are soothing.
- Nature Basket – This one is my favorite. We fill the basket with discoveries we’ve made all over. We have shells from Hawaii, rocks from Cape Cod, twigs from Maine and as of late we have these beautiful acorns from right here in Seattle. A Nature Basket reminds us of being outdoors on that adventure, is a great sensory material for the younger children, and looks lovely on a table.
- Nature Wall or Window – This one we recently made happen after we collected gorgeous leaves that had fallen from the trees in our neighborhood. The colors were out of this world. My boys asked that I carry them home to our nature basket. As I retrieved them from my pockets that evening, I decided to pull out my double-sided tape and place them on the window above our sink. The boys were pleasantly surprised and happy to see their treasures displayed in such a way.
- Nature Collage – We’ve done this collage on a table but I like the idea of doing it on a window too. Lay contact paper down on a table, collect nature goodies and make your collage. I always want to put another piece of contact paper over the collage for safe keeping and because it does a great texture exercise.
Thanks for stopping by!
Marnie