Turn a Nature Walk into a Timeless Treasure
When we experience nature, we experience creation and beauty in motion. The poet Mathew Arnold wrote, “In the dark fermentation of earth, in the never idle workshop of nature, in the eternal movement, yea shall find yourselves again.” Even in the most desolate looking environments, nature is never idle.
There is always something enchanting to be found in nature. Sometimes it takes more than a second glance for a grown-up to believe this, but a child knows it immediately and instinctively. A child will recognize nature in the smallest of spaces. One need not hike through large swaths of land to call it a nature walk. With a child, a nature walk can be realized in your own back yard or in the green spaces between sidewalks. Whether a large park teeming with an abundance of flora and fauna, or a small, empty lot that may require a magnifying glass to find ant hills, there are timeless treasures to be found all around us. Give a child a paper bag, a plastic cup, a butterfly net, and a few unrestrained minutes, and they will find treasures. Perhaps the biggest treasure of all they will find is themselves again and again.