A neighborhood is more than simply the people we interact with as we live, work, play, and educate ourselves. A neighborhood also includes non-human animals, large to microscopic. Plants and the soil they grow in are also part of a neighborhood. We all rely on our mutual neighborhood, our community, for our sustenance and health. What affects the health of one among us affects the health of all of us. Spraying pesticides to maintain a modern lawngrass lawn negatively affects the health of all of us. Growing a lawnflower lawn, an ecologic performance lawn, positively affects the health of all of us.

Through education, we can learn more about the non-human members of our neighborhood and also about our neighborhood’s ecology. Through education we can learn about the cause and effect interconnectedness of our neighborhood’s community ecosystem. This education should be a life long endeavor. This education must always be shared with children, because children will become responsible for our neighborhood’s future.

Children are the transition between the past and its future. The accumulated wisdom and knowledge of past generations passes on to a neighborhood’s future in the minds of each new generation’s children. Adults of recent generations must actively and deliberately share their accumulated wisdom and knowledge with the children of the new generations.

When knowledge of nature and good living practices is preserved by passing it along between the generations, there will be a better chance for the neighborhood to create new and healthier ways of doing things through the future. There will be less chance of adopting harmful new ways of doing things that disrupt the health of the neighbrhood’s residents. The Lawnflower Story illustrates what can happen if a generation fails to learn the wisdom of the past.

The natural world is an interconnected community ecosystem within which all life thrives, subsists, or perishes. Below are two lists of books authored by people who are dedicated to teaching children about this natural world. These authors are actively participating in the transfer of wisdom and knowledge to new generations. You will be supporting their efforts as you yourself teach your children well.

 

The first list contains books written for parents and other educators. They offer instruction and guidance to facilitate adults’ efforts to share nature with children. The second list contains books written for children. These books can be read by children alone or with guidance from parents or other educators. To view a description of a book, click on the book’s title.

 

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder 

 

 

The list below is a very brief sampling of books you can use to share nature with children on those days when the weather is just too inclement to go outside and enjoy hands-on education.