The pandemic has shifted and challenged every aspect of our lives. Staying home away from work, school, and our social networks takes a toll on emotional and mental well-being. Students of all ages are especially hard hit as they navigate learning at home away from peers.
Nature reduces stress, anxiety, and feelings of isolation
It is important to find ways to take care of ourselves and families as we navigate a worldwide health crisis and adjust to a new social landscape. Fortunately, there is an abundance of nature on the Eastern Shore.
Nature is healing and thankfully, we can still go outside. We can open a window or sit on the front steps, take walks or bike rides, bird watch, and fish. We can connect with the natural world, learn about it, and allow it to work on us in small ways lifting our spirits.
According to the article Ecopsychology: How immersion in nature benefits your health, time spent in nature can help us with some of the very things we are experiencing due to COVID-19. Time in nature reduces stress, anxiety, and feelings of isolation, promotes calm, and lifts moods.
Activities to connect with nature, encourage learning
Teachers are rising to the challenge and working hard to provide lessons that keep students up to date and on track for their grade level. But outdoor educational experiences, like field trips, also need to be re-imagined for at home. In partnership with UVA/LTER, VES Land Trust is developing at home educational activities to replace these learning experiences and help teachers with concrete activities that meet learning objectives.
The following activities take you and your family outside. They can be done at home on your own or with your family. All these activities promote observation and curiosity. They are great for elementary students. But we think older students and adults will enjoy them as well.
Please remember to keep a safe social distance from others when outside.
We’d love to see your observations and read your poems. Share with us by emailing a photo of you completing any of these activities and a photo of your work to info@veslt.org. You can also share your work to social media using #veslandtrust.
We look forward to connecting with you in nature and in person again soon.
Activities
Nature Journaling
Scavenger Hunt
Poetry Prompt 1
Poetry Prompt 2