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CONSERVATION
Nature Within Reach
Making outdoor exploration accessible for all kids BY MONICA SEIDEL
DVENTURES IN AND AROUND freshwater
areas are often seen as a core part of childhood in
Canada. Many of us fondly remember going to our
family or friend’s cottage for long weekends, learning how to fish from our older siblings and parents,
and camping in provincial and national parks. After all,
Canada is home to over two million lakes and rivers, tens of
thousands of parks and campgrounds, and countless local
ponds and wetlands.
Time outdoors has many advantages, especially for
young children. There are many developmental benefits of
spending time in nature, such as building immune system
resilience, promoting creativity and imagination, learning
responsibility and risk management, and supporting physical health and sleep quality.
A
Barriers to access
The problem is that outdoor experiences are not equally
afforded to all children. There are many things about natural
areas that can be unnatural for people. Understanding what
kind of wildlife live in an area and their typical behaviours,
how to stay safe – think blackflies, ticks, and swimmer’s
ear – in the outdoors, what to pack, how to know which
outdoor gear to buy and how to afford it, as well as how to
get access to a vehicle all influence someone’s relationship
(or lack thereof ) with nature. Not benefitting from generational wealth in the form of a family cottage, and feeling like
you don’t belong and are not welcome in outdoor spaces,
are other barriers people can face when it comes to creating
memories in nature.
With so many factors going against people at the exact
time that environmental protection and stewardship is
always in the news, something must urgently be done to
bridge and overcome these barriers. Engaging education
programs appropriate for different ages and learning styles
Monica Seidel is Communications
and Fundraising Manager with
Watersheds Canada.
24
WATER C AN ADA • NOV EMBER/ DECEMBER 2024
are needed. This allows children and their families to learn at
their own comfort levels and to find their own interests and
passions within the natural world. What if these barriers could
be reduced, or even removed completely, by something as simple
as a backpack?
Nature Discovery Backpacks
Watersheds Canada’s Nature Discovery Backpacks is a free lending library program, offering families science equipment, identification guides, and a regionally-specific activity book that is tied
to the provincial curriculum. Borrowing a backpack is easy, with
families getting a few weeks to use it and explore. The backpacks
can often be paired with other items, such as a microscope,
telescope, or provincial park pass borrowed from the local public
library, to enhance nature-based learning in one’s community.
The goals of the backpacks are to decrease financial, geographic, experiential, and knowledge-based barriers for children to
participate in community science data collection, native species
identification and planting, and environmental stewardship. In
particular, children, youth, and their caregivers and educators are
given an equal opportunity to safely explore nature at their own
pace. Each backpack is full of science equipment, plain-language
lessons and tips, and species identification guides to make nature
as accessible and interesting as possible. In many cases, using a
Nature Discovery Backpack marks a child’s first experience in
a local nature area, allowing them to create their own positive
nature memories through inquiry-based learning.
A wide variety of species and topics are covered in each
backpack’s custom-made activity book, ensuring there is
something to interest all learners. For example, participants can
use their mathematical and artistic skills to create their own
constellation, activate their imagination while practicing bird
calls and learning how to talk to local avian friends, quiet their
eco-anxiety with guided nature journaling and poetry prompts,
or put on their imaginary lab coats and learn how to collect
and analyze a local water quality sample. No matter someone’s
interests, Nature Discovery Backpacks show them they are
welcome in nature and have an irrefutable role in protecting
and stewarding it.
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
