Nature In Your Nurture

A Zoological Childhood

I had a truly privileged upbringing in the way of exposure to nature. My grandpa was a retired entomologist and 15-year MN Zoo volunteer who pet bumblebees in his garden, cared for his rosebushes, and battled squirrels in his birdfeeders. Because my grandparents were actively involved in my childhood, I was given countless opportunities to interact directly with bugs and snakes and lizards in the years when the Zoo Lab was open. Add in an uncle pursuing a degree in ecology and we had all the wildlife books a child could dream of.

I had the privilege of attending an elementary school that took several field trips a year to the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center and where our music teacher taught us folksongs with an emphasis on conservation. I lived on a corner property that bordered the woods where children in the 90s could still wander and explore unsupervised. In my summers, I nearabout lived in the tree at the top of the hill in the summers–reading and writing as I overlooked the canopy of the neighboring woods. I wouldn’t realize how rare all of these early exposures were (and were becoming) until well after college.

Expanding Horizons

In 2015, a colleague introduced to principals of nature education and risky play that challenged the conventional views I had about education and expanded my vision of what teaching could look like. When you find someone who embraces your passions while challenging your preconceptions, hold onto that person–they’ll help you find exactly where you want to be.  She’s still my best friend.

In 2016, I got involved volunteering with my local herpetological society and over the next several years my weekends would become filled with hands-on educational outreach programs, board meetings, and annual biological surveys in the field. Nature education and early childhood education were becoming increasingly intertwined in my life.

My colleague and I dreamed of establishing a nature-based education center that would uphold our values. Because traditional early childhood settings in our area were naturally restrictive to the outdoor experiences we might be able to offer our students, we both left the center-based world we knew.  My friend explored home-based care outside of the Twin Cities metro and while I completed my Montessori certification and finally returned to nannying after a decade of classroom teaching.  I gained comfort in taking a child alone into the “wilds” and found my opportunities for nature education significantly expanded.

Beginning Nature in Your Nurture

In a decade of teaching, and beyond, I frequently used resources like Preschool Express and other teaching websites to find songs to support my themes. As my ideals shifted, I found that the available content increasingly fell short of the sort of natural themes I was now seeking.  I realized I wanted to build up and support early childhood nature education in the way that those resources had supported my classroom aspirations. I want to offer others the types of exposures I had as a child and to share with other caregivers the joy and freedoms that I have found again in nature nannying.

With the launch of NIYN’s Facebook page in 2024, I’ve added three new focuses to help Nature Enthusiasts become Nature Educators:
– Finding more board books with high-quality nature content
– Reviewing local parks for nannies and families to explore in Minnesota and Wisconsin
– Teaching adults to recognize new native (or invasive) plants in our communities

How “Crunchy” am I?

I believe in all-weather play, low-sugar foods, and screen-free childhoods. I like to avoid toys made of brightly colored or cheap plastics and almost anything with batteries. I don’t worry much about whether the food I’m eating is grown organically, but I do worry about the effects of broad-spectrum pesticides on insect populations that impact bird and frog populations, so I try to be conscientious of what agricultural practices I support with my purchases. It’s lovely to be aligned on these values, but I’m also happy to work with families that don’t feel the same way.

I believe in adults managing our own emotions so we can respond appropriately to big emotions or behaviors from children. I believe that children don’t owe me hugs and I’m not comfortable kissing other people’s kids. I believe in teaching toddlers how to do things themselves without expecting them to do things themselves (and trying not to force my unwanted assistance on them). These are values I do prioritize being aligned on.

Excerpts From Thank You Notes