Category Archives: Children and science

Experience is the Best Teacher

Children and science, parenting, Raising kids, , ,

Train up a child…

 

Experience is the Best Teacher

 

One of the most important things parents can do is to make sure that their children have a large quantity and variety of experiences.  Through experiences children learn to appreciate what others go through to provide their needs, gain a better understanding of the world around them, and increase their skill and knowledge.

Adults often exclaim that children do not appreciate what they have.  It is difficult to appreciate what is given to them if they put forth no effort to obtain it.  Such experiences as picking berries or helping in a garden by pulling weeds give children an appreciation that no amount of lecturing could ever accomplish.  They learn first-hand what it takes to provide those items.  It is gratifying to see families picking berries together at Persimmon Hill Berry Farm in Lampe, MO.  There are other places around the area where children can participate as well.  Even gardening in flower pots or buckets in the yard give some needed experience with plants and food provision.

Experiences of watching production of food or other items in factories or plants provide understanding of effort that goes into providing our wants and needs. A trip to factories, a trip to the Tyson chicken plant in Berryville, AR, or other places that produce items we use can be eye-openers to children.  They begin to understand that much work is involved in providing their needs. It is also a good lesson in science to see how machinery works.  When families go on vacation, there are often places where children can take a tour and see how things are produced.  Our grandchildren were able to tour the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, CA.  That was a great thrill for them.  It was especially nice when they were given some free candy at the end of the tour!

Children who are limited in experiences are usually limited in vocabulary as well.  Without realizing it, new words are being used in almost every new experience a child may have.  As children are allowed to participate, they enhance skills and abilities.

Some experiences are a lot of fun as well as educational.  The Butterfly Palace in Branson is a wonderful place to take children. It is so much fun to see those beautiful creatures flying around and the film shown there is excellent. Mission trips for teenagers that many churches sponsor in the summer are wonderful! They certainly foster the understanding of how other people live.  One church in the area is currently sponsoring a trip to Alaska.  Another church periodically sponsors trips to the Navajo reservation to help there in Vacation Bible School.

When we make sure children have a variety of experiences, we find that those experiences, themselves, do the teaching for us.  Only a few words or comments are required to guide the children.  No one has to tell a child how hard it is to provide blueberries to eat if that child has picked a quart or so of them!  I doubt that as much food would be wasted once children learn what goes into providing it for them.  Appreciation is naturally going to come!  When teenagers prepare meals for the family, they are not apt to complain when mom or dad doesn’t have a meal on the table on time for them. They have learned that is it not so easy and they have a greater appreciation of the effort of their folks. When teens see children living in hogans on an Indian reservation, how can they not appreciate what they have?

There are many opportunities for children to experience many things if we are alert to the possibilities. Those experiences teach far more than our words.

 

 

Nature Holds Lessons for Children

Children and science, parenting, Raising kids, , , , , , , ,

Train up a child…

 

Nature Holds Lessons for Children

 

We find excellent object lessons for children all around us in nature. When children learn to observe the lessons in nature, they not only develop a love for science that helps them in school, they also learn the answers to some of life’s most perplexing questions.

Children are born with a natural curiosity that we should continue to cultivate. We can use this curiosity to teach important life lessons that will stay with them as long as they live.

I well remember an occasion with my dad when I was a child. He and I were walking down a dusty path in the field to get the cows for milking. My dad suddenly stopped, stooped down, picked a blade of grass and began looking at it intently. I watched as he drew me close to him and said, “Look there, Patsy, at this blade of grass. Look at all the little lines in it. Look at the little hairs on it.” As he continued to marvel at one blade of grass, he looked skyward at an airplane flying overhead. “You know,” he said, “man can make airplanes. Why, someday he may even be able to fly to the moon. One thing man will never be able to do is to make a blade of grass. Only God can do that!”

Each fall my husband and I marvel as we spy monarch butterflies fluttering past on their way south. How do they know to fly south? Even more remarkable is how they change from a funny caterpillar crawling along to a beautiful butterfly. The female butterfly lays an egg on a milkweed leaf, the egg hatches and the caterpillar eats its own shell and begins feeding on the leaves of the plant. Then it forms a chrysalis, stays inside a short time, and comes out a beautiful butterfly. Does this example not give us a hint of how God can give us life after death?

Children are curious about where they came from, why everyone dies, and what happens after death. When they first find out that all of us must die at some time, they become frightened. The story of the butterfly helps children understand how God has provided life after death for us. Although we can’t fully understand everything about the afterlife, the stories in nature guarantee that we serve a God who is capable of keeping His promise. After all, if God can change a worm to a beautiful butterfly, He can take care of us as well.

Another good lesson from nature can be gotten from a limb of a tree. Early in the spring, we can break a small limb from a tree and show the child how it seems so very lifeless. To look at, it seems dead. In a short time, another limb can be shown to the child showing buds coming out and getting ready to open. This too, is a miracle of God. Just as plants appear to be dead, yet come to life again, so we, too, will someday die but come to life again.

A walk in the woods, or even the front yard, can be an avenue for teaching very important lessons to children from nature. These lessons cost only a little time and effort. They are opportunities we don’t want to miss.