Family Nature Clubs
Family Nature Clubs
So you want to get your children outside, but find that time gets away from you? Why not organize a Family Nature Club with some friends or family and make sure that you have a regular date with the outdoors!
What is a Family Nature Club?
A Family Nature Club is a group of people with an interest in connecting children with nature. Each Family Nature Club is unique.
Some meet weekly at the same local park – playing, building friendships and singing with pre-schoolers and their parents. Some take homeschooling families on lengthy walks for focused nature study. Some take the form of boisterous bush walks that combine kid-driven play with spontaneous nature observation.
Whatever their form, all share these basic goals: Get outside in nature on a frequent basis; gather families to share outdoor adventures; and experience the benefits of time spent together outside.
A few key benefits:
- Recent scientific evidence indicates direct exposure to nature is essential for physical and emotional health as well as normal child development.
- Family Nature Clubs for families can be created in any neighbourhood, whether inner city, suburban or rural.
The Family Nature Clubs approach can break down key barriers, including fear of strangers, since there is safety in numbers. - Motivation factor – it’s much more likely you and your family are going to show up at a park on Saturday morning if you know that there’s another family waiting for you.
- Shared knowledge – many parents want to give their kids the gift of nature, but they don’t feel they know enough about nature to do so.
- And, importantly, there is no need to wait for funding. Families can do this themselves and do it now.
Most importantly, children feel better and behave better out of doors. Let them shake off some of the complexity of their usual lives and behave like kids again. Let your friends, neighbours, and school mates help you do it! Start a Family Nature Club!
How do I get started?
It is pretty simple really...just gather together friends and family with an interest in the outdoors and plan a few accessible, easy, low (or no) cost fun, family-orientated activities outdoors.
One person can do the organizing, or you can take turns. It can be as simple as meeting in your local bushland, or the club can travel farther afield and do more complex activities such as camping, geocaching, bushwalking, or birdwatching.
Family nature clubs toolkit
The purpose of this Family Nature Clubs Tool Kit is to provide inspiration, information, tips and resources for those who are – or who might be – interested in creating a Family Nature Club. In creating the tool kit, we’ve drawn on what many other families have done and learned. We also encourage you to develop and use your own ideas.
