Raising Kids to Love Nature: Practical Tips from a Florida Homeschool Mama

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If you’re reading this, chances are you want something different for your kids. Maybe you’re tired of watching them gravitate toward screens. Maybe you remember your own childhood—catching fireflies, building forts, coming home with muddy knees and a pocket full of “treasures.” Or maybe you just have this gut feeling that kids need more time outside, even if you’re not totally sure how to make it happen in the chaos of everyday life.

I get it. I’m raising my own elementary-age kids here in Northwest Florida, and while we’re blessed with mild winters and endless sunshine, fostering a genuine love of nature still takes intention. It doesn’t happen by accident—but it also doesn’t have to be complicated.

Here’s what I’ve learned about raising kids to love nature, and some practical tips that actually work for our family.

Start Where You Are (Even If It’s Just the Backyard)

You don’t need to live on a farm or take elaborate hiking trips every weekend. Nature is wherever you are—even in a suburban backyard or a small apartment balcony with container plants.

For us, the backyard is our primary classroom. Our chickens give the kids daily lessons in responsibility and animal behavior. Our mini labradoodle leads impromptu “tracking expeditions” across the yard. The oak tree out back has become a whole ecosystem worth of study.

Make Outside the Default

This sounds simple, but it’s powerful: make going outside the default, not the exception. When my kids finish breakfast, they head outside before anything else. When they’re bored, outside is the first suggestion. When someone’s having a hard day emotionally, we take it to the backyard.

In Florida, this means we’ve learned to work with the heat. Morning hours are golden—literally. We do most of our outdoor time before lunch during the warmer months. A good pair of kids’ rain boots means afternoon thunderstorms become an adventure instead of a reason to stay in.

Give Them Tools for Discovery

One of the biggest shifts in helping my kids love nature was giving them actual tools to explore it—not plastic toys, but real instruments for discovery.

Nature Journals

We follow a Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling, which means nature study is woven into our weeks. Each of my kids has a simple nature journal, and we spend time sketching what we observe—a particular flower, an interesting bug, the way the Spanish moss hangs differently after a storm.

The journals aren’t about perfect drawings. They’re about paying attention. And honestly? I keep one too. Modeling matters.

Field Guides and Pocket Tools

We keep our Sibley bird guide near the back door, and the kids have gotten surprisingly good at identifying the regulars—cardinals, mockingbirds, the occasional painted bunting that makes everyone gasp.

A pocket microscope has been worth its weight in gold. Suddenly a piece of bark becomes fascinating. A feather from the chicken coop turns into a whole science lesson. These small tools turn ordinary moments into discovery.

We also love a good bug catcher kit—we catch, observe, identify, and release. It’s become a ritual, especially during the buggy Florida evenings.

Embrace Unstructured Time

Here’s something I think our generation of parents struggles with: letting kids be bored outside. We want to plan activities, direct their play, make sure they’re “learning something.”

But some of the best nature connection happens in the boring moments. When there’s nothing planned and nowhere to be, kids start noticing things. They build. They dig. They watch ants for twenty minutes. They make up games that involve sticks and imagination.

I call this the “1990s approach” because that’s how so many of us grew up. Our parents didn’t schedule our outdoor time or hand us activity sheets. They just sent us outside.

Practical Ways to Build in Unstructured Time

• After formal lessons, we have “free time” that must be spent outdoors (weather permitting)
• We don’t interrupt their play to offer snacks or activities
• We resist the urge to “fix” what they’re building or correct how they’re playing
• We keep basic supplies accessible—buckets, shovels, old containers, things that can become anything

Some days they’ll spend an hour digging a hole for no reason. That’s perfect.

Let Animals Be Teachers

If you have the space and local regulations allow it, backyard chickens are one of the best nature teachers I’ve found. Our kids have learned about life cycles, predator awareness, seasonal changes, and basic animal husbandry—all from a small flock in our backyard.

We use Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens as our reference, and the kids love flipping through the Kids’ Guide to Chickens when we have questions about behavior or egg production.

But you don’t need chickens. Bird feeders bring nature to you. A container garden invites pollinators. Even just sitting quietly and watching what shows up in your yard teaches observation skills that transfer everywhere.

Talk About What You See (and Admit What You Don’t Know)

One of the best things I do for my kids’ nature connection is simply narrating what I notice and wondering out loud.

“Look at that hawk circling—I wonder what she’s hunting.”

“This mushroom popped up overnight! I wonder what made it grow so fast.”

“I’ve never seen that bug before. Let’s look it up.”

Admitting you don’t know something is powerful. It shows kids that curiosity matters more than having all the answers. We look things up together, which often leads us down rabbit trails of learning that no curriculum could have planned.

Make It Easy on Yourself

Here’s my honest truth: if getting outside is complicated, it won’t happen consistently. So we’ve made it as easy as possible.

• Sunscreen, bug spray, and hats live by the back door. We use non-toxic sunscreen because the kids apply it themselves and I don’t worry about what’s absorbing into their skin.
• Shoes that can get muddy stay on the porch.
• We have a “nature shelf” where interesting finds can live temporarily.
• Basic first aid supplies are within reach (because Florida + bare feet + nature = occasional encounters with fire ants).

Lowering the barrier means it actually happens.

Raising Kids to Love Nature Is a Long Game

I want to be honest with you: not every nature walk is magical. Sometimes my kids whine about the heat. Sometimes they’d rather be inside. Sometimes the mosquitoes win.

But over time, I’m watching something take root. My kids notice things now. They get excited about a caterpillar or a cool cloud formation. They ask questions about the natural world because they’ve spent enough time in it to care.

That’s the goal—not perfect Pinterest-worthy nature studies, but kids who feel at home outside. Kids who know what a thunderstorm smells like and which birds sing at dawn. Kids who grew up with dirt under their fingernails and wonder in their hearts.

We’re not doing anything fancy over here. Just opening the back door, handing them a journal, and letting Florida’s wild spaces do a lot of the teaching. It’s working.

And I have a feeling it could work for your family too.