Not Just Saving Caterpillars

“Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar.”  - Bradley Miller

As a childless nature educator, I used to love this quote for the sake of the caterpillar and all animals.  I always knew there were benefits to the child as well, such as empathy for others whether man or beast; but in my younger days, I just wanted the caterpillar to survive.  I worked as a naturalist and animal educator for many years educating children of all ages about the natural world around them.  Today, I am a first time mother of a preschooler.  Although I work for my child now, my convictions for nature education remain the same. 

I find myself teaching my daughter about animals and nature, just as I have taught thousands of children.  However, this time I am enjoying the one-on-one aspect of a single student.  I see my ability to enrich her life with my knowledge of the natural world having infinite possibilities.  She has a trust in me unlike a group of school children and an eagerness to learn from me.  Before she could talk, she learned the word “gentle” and its importance around living things.  Today, she enacts the word as she handles millipedes we find in the road on our walks around the neighborhood.  We let them crawl on my daughter’s hands before we gently get them to safety in the grass near where we found them.  (And we always wash our hands after our walks!)  I’m excited to say, just the other day on one of our walks around the neighborhood, we found a large, green caterpillar (luna moth) curled in the road.  We gently picked it up just like the millipedes, watched it crawl on us for a little while, then gently placed it in the grass and watched it crawl away.  Yes, there is value in that for both the caterpillar and my child.

I’ve decided to create a place to share my knowledge and ideas for educating young children about the natural world around them.  It will be a place to find activities, information, and ideas about nature education as well as a safe place to ask questions and share experiences and information to help my audience teach their own children about nature.  If you or someone you know is interested, please like and share my Facebook page and keep an eye on my blog for educational nature articles.  Hopefully, we’ll save many caterpillars (and more) while teaching empathy and respect for all living creatures to our children.