Photo source: sgbrown
God
has given us so many gifts in nature, we need to teach our children how to
appreciate them. Teach them to “stop and smell the roses” sort of speak. I have
always loved nature and have taught my children to appreciate it as well. Now
hubby and I are teaching our youngest granddaughter, Jazzy, to appreciate even
the smallest things in nature by simply taking her for walks on our place in
the country.
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We are fortunate enough to live on 40 acres in the country
in southern Oklahoma. There is nature all around us every day and I want Jazzy
to appreciate even the smallest of nature’s beauty. As we walk up our driveway,
I take us across a field of wildflowers. She found some tiny little flowers and
told me to be careful not to step on them. I had her pick one so we could take
a picture of it.
As we walked through the woods, we came across this rock,
draped with moss. Jazzy said it looked like it had on a coat. I had to agree
with her, it looks like a cloak of moss to keep the rock protected from the
cold. I’m glad she uses her imagination when she looks at things. So many
children don’t really use their imaginations much these days.
I wanted her to feel the softness of the moss and appreciate
its beauty and texture. She said it was soft, but it still tickled her hand a
little. She asked me if these were little trees and I told her no, that this
was more like the “carpet” of the woods. She wanted to walk on it, but her Papa
told her no, that we would find some rock that didn’t have “carpet” on them to
walk on later.
Jazzy especially liked the “fluffy white flowers” on the
blooming trees. I’m not sure what kind of trees these are, they don’t get any
fruit on them and they really don’t appear to be dog wood trees, but they are
beautiful in spring! She didn’t want to get too close to them as there were
bees buzzing around all the blossoms. I explained to her why the bees were
buzzing the flowers and how important to us they are.
I think she finally started getting a little tired. I know
Papa and I were wore out! We took a little break and sat down for a few moments
before we headed home. When her mom got home from work, Jazzy told her all
about the “cool” things we saw while we were on our walk. I was glad she
enjoyed the walk and I think she learned a few things at the same time.
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