How can I help my child learn about the environment?

You do not need a forest to teach your child about the environment. A school playground or a park is an appropriate starting place for young children. If you choose a nearby location, your "field trips" don't have to be long or difficult to plan. Repeat trips to observe changes are easier if you don't travel too far. Because of their enthusiasm for the world around them, young children can learn new and valuable experiences in many different settings.

As the adult who guides your child's explorations, you don't have to know the names of everything your child notices. You don't need to answer every question. It's much more important to encourage a sense of curiosity and wonder than to provide facts your child may have difficulty remembering.

Your attitude has an influence on your child's learning. If you enjoy observing and exploring, your child will, too. Accepting your child's ideas about his or her own discoveries is very important and is a great way to begin a conversation about further discoveries.

By reading about and exploring the environment, you will be helping your child gain many different skills, such as:

• noticing patterns
• sorting objects by attributes
• predicting possible outcomes based on observation and experience
• observing changes over time
• having respect for living things
• using the senses
• collecting, recording and representing discoveries and data in pictures, stories and graphs

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