My wife and I are both biologists. She’s a high school biology teacher and I’m a prairie ecologist. You won’t be surprised that we think it’s important for our kids to get outside and explore nature. However, we don’t often take the kids out with any particular agenda or curriculum in mind. We usually just take them out.
This last weekend, we decided to spend our Sunday afternoon enjoying the pleasant weather preceding what we’re being told might be the blizzard of the century. (C’mon man, it’s just snow and wind! Having said that, if I don’t make it through this storm alive, this will be an ironic last blog post.) Anyway, we took Atticus (age 10) and Calvin (7) out to our family prairie for several hours. Once there, we pretty much let the boys do what they wanted, with the exception that we kept them off the softening ice on the wetland/pond.
Atticus and Calvin displaying sticks they found at the prairie.
I didn’t watch the boys closely the whole time, but as far as I could tell, they spent about 92% of the time they were at the prairie whacking sticks against dead trees. I’m not kidding. Sure, they poked around the prairie and wetland a little, saw some animal tracks, found some bones, practiced getting through barbed wire fences, and played with the dogs a little. But the majority of their experience, and what they’ll probably remember most from the day, was stick whacking.
And that’s just fine with me. They came away from the afternoon with a positive impression of spending time in nature, and they’re excited to go back. That’s just perfect.
Climbing on a dead tree. With sticks.
Calvin and his stick. (Yes, I was having fun with the sun.)
Calvin again. And the sun. Again.
Heading home. Tired and happy.
The Prairie Ecologist 
My boys were just that age when they were whaling away at a log with sticks at our hunting camp–they were making a small divot bigger with all their might. I have pictures to prove it. How fun to see your boys doing the same thing. This old mom is smiling from ear to ear.
Stick whacking, a great way to spend the day. By the way, so is horsetail weed stalk whacking.
Ah, very clever with the laser swords!!
We spent a lot of time hitting rocks with sticks. Got to be good baseball batters.
I burned a pile of cedar boughs. Nice day for a bonfire…my kids might have liked that in younger days, but now one is off to college and the other likes hanging out with friends now more than parents. Enjoy these years while you can!
Please take some pictures of the blizzard after it is over. They often create huge drifts and other unique photo opportunities.
When we were kids we used to pretend to be giants by grabbing onto small dead pine saplings and haul onto them til we uprooted them.
as someone with older kids, yes to everything you wrote. looking back now, my kids will tell you that free time outdoors is what they remember strongly (not because of isolated occurences, but because of frequency and duration).
Loved your post. Have two sons also, and this reminded me of them. Thank you.
I was a weird little boy who didn’t really care for whacking stuff with sticks – Too busy looking at bugs in the grass. But yeah, if it means having a pleasant experience in the great outdoors, go for it!
That was me 30 years ago and my son and daughter today. The outdoors and free time are a recipe for healthy kids, mentally and physically.
Well, ‘the stick’ is in the toy hall of fame! See http://www.toyhalloffame.org/toys/stick