Helping City Boys Connect with Nature pt. 1 - Comfortable Mentors, Comfortable Kids - Education Tools and Ideas

Just got back from a 3 day trip with five 12-year-olds. We had a blast. I wanted to share about it to provide tools and ideas for anybody else wanting to give youth meaningful opportunities to connect with nature, themselves, and each other.

For me, this - so underappreciated and overlooked in much of what gets called "education" - is the foundation of for having real choice, knowing how to collaborate with others, and, living in a meaningful, connected way that nourishes life rather than destroys it.

We backpacked a mile uphill in to a gorgeous alpine lake at 7,500ft elevation. Just enough to be physically challenging but not overwhelming for kids who had never carried their camping gear on their backs.

It goes without saying that it is critical to really know your location. Chris (my co-lead) and I spent a weekend scouting in advance. We knew there was plenty of opportunity to play and explore in mini-groups, or have a big group adventure if they were up for it. For us, coming back felt comfortable and familiar, allowing us calm and assurance to handle any drama that might arise.

We had lots of ideas for activities, games, etc, to build skills and awareness, and we also wanted to make sure there was plenty of free time. Most important that they have fun, and that this be a trip where the boys' voices be heard and respected. Really knowing our location gave us the flexibility to improvise, to adapt to how everybody was feeling and what they actually wanted to do.

For the majority of the group, having real choice with adult "authority figures" like us was new and uncomfortable. We'd circle up and ask what they wanted to do... and get blank looks and awkward silences. OK, turn from open questions to specific options. More blank looks. Looks like speaking their minds in front of their peers was also new, as was making decisions together as a group.

So as a small step, we instituted the thumbometer. Thumbs up = "100% hell yea," thumbs down = "absolutely not," in between is in between. After that, we had responses to our questions and offers. If someone had a sideways thumb or downward thumb, we'd ask why, prompting them to take a small step out of their comfort zone, and say in front of the group.

Much of my work as an educator is to find somebody's edge of challenge and give them an opportunity to step into it. I try to offer a step big enough to feel like a stretch, but not so big as to feel impossible. Little steps add up. By the end of the trip, we got instant thumbometer readings and a few kids comfortable in openly saying what they wanted.

Doing this effectively is the skill involved in implementing "challenge by choice." How good you are at it with different people is what determines your ability to connect, and to offer chances for real growth.

This post is getting longer than I expected, so I'll pause for now. In the next few days I'll say more about specific activities, building personal responsibility and group cohesion, and framing our place in nature. For now, if you have any comments or questions, I'd be happy to hear them, and happy to dive deeper into topics that interest people.

Hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed the dish below, made by two of the kids: garlic green onion chicken sausage shiitake mushroom covered in cheese sauce!

~jared~