The climate is definitely changing – the climate of nature awareness, that is. More and more teachers and parents recognize the importance of connecting kids with nature, and this year our school programs department is stretching to meet the demand for field teaching in Stanley Park. In fact, this spring we saw almost twice as many students as we had anticipated.
Not only does educational, health and scientific research tell us time in nature is good for kids, the kids tell us that too. Our goal is to help them fall in love with nature, so they will spend more time in it for their own benefit and grow up to protect it.
We recently received some heartfelt thank-you cards from students who participated in our Mysteries of the Marsh program. Here are a few tidbits of what they said:
“I have never seen this many animals in one place before (except the zoo)! I will try to help the earth!” Gulia
“If I was an animal, I would probably want to live in Stanley Park.” Jacob
“I was amazed by how much wildlife there was – I saw four eagles, two eastern grey squirrels, a beaver dam, a wood duck, two blue herons, a raccoon and many songbirds.” Matthew.