Empowering young people to become environmental stewards for the next generation is critical to the long-term success of many conservation initiatives. For more than 50 years, San Antonio Chapter member and Master Naturalist Dr. Wendy Drezek has been on the cutting edge of that movement in her work educating children.
Her Growing Up WILD/Project WILD early childhood program and Family Nature Guides were developed for educators of children aged 3-7 to build on children’s natural sense of wonder about nature, wildlife, and the world around them. Sample Family Nature materials include topics like Untangling Invasives–understanding the difference between native, invasive, and aggressive plants–and Ecoregions, which discusses the incredible environmental diversity of Texas.
As a natural extension to that work, Dr. Drezek has also developed the Starting Out Wild Curriculum, a set of over two dozen nature education learning units that are developmentally appropriate for the youngest naturalists, from birth to age 3. For more information, visit txmn.org/alamo/area-resources/starting-out-wild/-Ed
"I’m going to argue for teaching nature to toddlers. Children today are on screens and experiencing life virtually from the earliest months. Our children are experiencing “nature deficit disorder”–lack of contact with the natural world."
Did you like this article? It’s from our Winter 2024 Texas Native Plants magazine. Read more here
