Nature Connection Activities Frog identification.
Natural art.
Download the FrogID app from the Australian Museum and identify the frogs you can hear from your home and surroundings. At the same time, you'll be helping frog experts track populations and changes and therefore monitor our waterway's health.
Find natural objects and create a piece of art. Know that is will piece will last forever - see Andy Goldsworthy a British artist known for his site-specific installations involving natural materials and the passage of time.
Bird identification.
Open your ears.
Count how many different bird species you encounter. Can you name them all? Can you identify a bird by its call?
Close down your eyes and listen for the most distant sound you can hear and then to the closest sound you can hear.
Mapping.
Fox walking.*
Draw your own map of your nature adventure whether it be your backyard or your walk to the park. Note on your map all the things that stand out to you. Create a map for each season so you can do comparisons.
Take off your shoes and feel the different textures under your feet! What is soft, what is rough, what tickles? What is warm and what is cold? Try and walk as quietly as you can, not making a sound.
Rainbow chips.**
Wandering.*
Be on a mission to go and find things in Nature that are from the colours of the rainbow! Find something that is red, yellow, pink, blue, purple, orange, lime green!
Instead of going out to a known destination, just go where your curiosity leads you! Follow a bird, follow an animal track.
Follow a bearing.
Nature journal.
Learn how to read a compass and follow a bearing. Lean how to read a topographic map!
Draw or write of your adventures in Nature.
Build a natural shelter.
Identify bush foods.
*Coyote’s Guide; Jon Young **Earth Education; Steve van Matre
Sit Spot.*
A daily routine.
Try a sit spot - this could be your backyard, balcony or a park or other natural setting. make yourself comfortable, tune into your body and surroundings and sit there simply witnessing the natural world before you. start with 5 mins and build up to 20 mins. or more. Notice what you hear, smell, see. Notice the sounds coming from one side of you, then the other.
Creating a simple daily routine such as a morning walk, eating a meal together and a call with friends at lunchtime helps give structure and safety. Getting into nature daily, putting your feet on the earth or watching the sunset helps us keep connected to the bigger picture, the continuity of life, the rising and setting sun and the seasons and also provides inspiration.
Mandala.
Daylight.
A mandala is a geometric shape that means “circle” in Sanskrit. It is a common design among many different cultures and often appears as the sun, moon, and earth. The circular design expresses the concept that everything is connected in life. You can make a nature mandala with organic materials found in your backyard or on a walk. Things like twigs, leaves, grasses, flowers, berries, pine cones work really well.
Vitamin D plays a vital role in our mental health - in feeling good. Fortunately it is provided to us free through natural light! Of course with lockdown many of us are spending more time indoors than ever so it’s especially important that we take any opportunity we can to get outdoors and into the daylight - even if it’s cloudy?
First, place a meaningful item in the center. After that is in place, use other items you gathered to form the rest of your mandala. Place items near the center first and then continue moving outward from the center until you’ve created a circular design. Continue making patterns until your items are used up and your nature mandala looks complete. And remember, you can create it however you like! You could use bright colors or muted earth tones. Make it big or small. Make it as simple or complex as you want.
Can schoolwork or online meetings happen out on a balcony or in a backyard? Can we walk to the shops instead of driving? Even sitting closer to a window can help if these things aren’t possible.
About Human Nature Since 2015, Human Nature has been dedicated to offering innovative, nature-based mental health interventions for young people. We are proud to offer mental health support in outdoor spaces, where young people demonstrate they feel more comfortable and open to reconnecting with themselves, their peers, their community and nature. This provides a solid start to the process of healing. Human Nature’s unique suite of nature-connected programs are based on decades of lived experience, with trust and healthy relationships at the heart of what we do.