Charlotte Mason, Out-Of-Door Life For The Children

“All this is stale knowledge to older people, but one of the secrets of the educator is to present nothing as stale knowledge, but to put himself in the position of the child, and wonder and admire with him; for every common miracle which the child sees with his own eyes makes of him for the moment another Newton.”

A pretty bloom

“An Observant Child should be put in the way of Things worth Observing.”

Can you see the bee?

They must be let alone, left to themselves a great deal, to take in what they can of the beauty of earth and heavens.
~ Charlotte Mason, Out-Of-Door Life For The Children

Here comes the sun

Children should be made early intimate with the trees, too; should pick out half a dozen trees, oak, elm, ash, beech, in their winter nakedness, and take these to be their year-long friends.
~ Charlotte Mason, Out-Of-Door Life For The Children

Morning in Dadi’s Garden

Snails finding a meal after rain

With regard to the horror which some children show of beetle, spider, worm, that is usually a trick picked up from grown-up people.
~ Charlotte Mason, Out-Of-Door Life For The Children

Looking at the little labybug

Children should be encouraged to watch, patiently and quietly, until they learn something of the habits and history of bee, ant, wasp, spider, hairy caterpillar, dragon-fly, and whatever of larger growth comes in their way.
~ Charlotte Mason, Out-Of-Door Life For The Children

I found The Salamander Room by Anne Mazer in a second-hand bookstore here in Islamabad and it is SUCH a treasure. This is a story about little Brian who finds a salamander and wants to keep it in his room. What follows is a series of gentle questioning from his mum (It’s really sweet that she doesn’t say “Euww! No way!”). She asks how he can cater to the creature’s needs such as “Where will he sleep?” etc.

Brian answers all of her questions and concerns with imaginative solutions:

• make a bed for the salamander with leaves & moss
• bring in crickets & bull frogs to lull it to sleep
• collect wet leaves, stumps and boulders for the salamander’s play
• bring in other salamanders for company
• make a pool and bring in insects for the salamander’s food & drink
• control the insect population by bringing in birds and bullfrogs
• provide trees and ponds for the birds & bullfrogs
• lift off his room’s ceiling so the sun can shine through, trees can grow and so the birds can fly freely

As the story progresses with each addition, Brian’s bedroom is transformed into a lush jungle paradise!

This book is beautifully illustrated by Steven Johnson and is great for teaching little ones about cause and effect, rainforests and how we can do our bit to care for the environment.

Some activities you can do with your kids:

• Learn more about salamanders at Enchanted Learning
• Learn more about rainforests – I found Rainforest Alliance’s site to be a wealth of info & free lesson plans!
• Reading Rainbow also has very nice free educational guides for this book.
• Read The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry – more on this great book in a bit!