Watch

Helping Kids Connect with Nature

Creator:
Published:
February 15, 2024
February 8, 2021
Watch this park naturalist help kids connect with nature.

Amal Farrough loves inspiring an appreciation for the natural world in others. Through her work as a park naturalist, she offers students an opportunity to learn about nature through lessons about how maple syrup is made. She believes that by drawing them into that experience with the natural world, they, too, can grow to love it and protect it.

"The more that people are connected to the natural world, the more they will be inclined to care for it."

Video Transcript

Meet Amal: park naturalist

(Kids getting off school bus)

Amal Farrough: I'm an Interpretive Naturalist with the St. Joseph County Parks. And our goal is to hopefully to inspire love and affection for the natural world — which to me is the first step in maybe understanding it and protecting it. But it has to start with liking it in the first place.

Amal leads a program that teaches kids how maple syrup is made.

(Speaking to room of students) Okay, so I want you to imagine this is a real maple tree. If I went up to a maple tree and I drilled a hole in the side of it, do you think that maple syrup would come running out, and I could just put my pancakes underneath? And get maple syrup on it?

Students: No.

Amal: We want them to go all the way from the very first beginnings of it in the tree to the very final product that they're eating. (Outside with students, gathered around a tree) There's a scar. See where it's kind of cracked? That might be a scar. (Drilling into tree) See any crumbs falling?

There are a lot of kids who struggle with classroom learning, and then when they get outside, all of a sudden they can focus their natural energy and enthusiasm can be channeled into directions that are very constructive. They can feel successful, they can feel less frustrated.

(In sugar house, preparing syrup) Now I'm going to show you what some sap looks like when it first comes out. Okay, here's what it looks like. You see that?

Student: It looks like water.

Amal: It looks like water.

When we're cooking maple syrup, the water is boiling out of the syrup basically, turning into steam, and going up and out of the sugar house. The sugar molecules are too heavy. They don't evaporate. So they stay in the pan. So the concentration of sugar gets higher and higher and higher until it becomes maple syrup.

(To students) Are you ready to taste it?

Students: Yes!

Amal: The more that people are connected to the natural world, the more they will be inclined to care for it. And I think as environmental issues like climate change begin to be more obvious. I mean, we are starting at the very simplest and smallest end of that spectrum. So even if we can get kids out here and they just have a positive experience outdoors in nature, to me, that's a success. Because that is a step towards loving and appreciating it, which eventually will hopefully be protecting and caring for it.

(Talking to students) Is it banana syrup?

Students: No.

Amal: No. What kind of syrup?

Students: Maple syrup.

Amal: Maple syrup. That's right.

Creators:
Grotto
Published:
February 15, 2024
February 8, 2021
On a related note...
Strangers Come Together to Help Native Groups Hit by Pandemic

Strangers Come Together to Help Native Groups Hit by Pandemic

Grotto

The Courage to Say Hello

The Courage to Say Hello

Chuck Fry

Meaningful Work for Persons with Developmental Disabilities

Meaningful Work for Persons with Developmental Disabilities

Grotto

Offering Hope in the Red Light District of Nairobi

Offering Hope in the Red Light District of Nairobi

Grotto

The Word of the Year isn’t a Word — It’s an Emoji

The Word of the Year isn’t a Word — It’s an Emoji

Mike Jordan Laskey

"God ate"

"God ate"

Bond Warner Strong

8 Pay-It-Forward Ideas You Can Do on a Budget

8 Pay-It-Forward Ideas You Can Do on a Budget

Jessie McCartney

Retreat Center Focuses on Volunteering in Community | Little Ways: Retreat

Retreat Center Focuses on Volunteering in Community | Little Ways: Retreat

Grotto

Helping His Hometown Get Healthy And Swole

Helping His Hometown Get Healthy And Swole

Grotto

Catholic Worker House Builds Community and Changes Lives

Catholic Worker House Builds Community and Changes Lives

Grotto

Finding Home

Finding Home

Grotto

5 Tips for Using Trivia Night to Build Community

5 Tips for Using Trivia Night to Build Community

Dan Masterton

Spreading Love in This Pandemic with Homemade Bread

Spreading Love in This Pandemic with Homemade Bread

Grotto

From Oil and Gas to Renewable Energy: A Story of Calling

From Oil and Gas to Renewable Energy: A Story of Calling

Grotto

Playing Air Guitar to Make a Better World

Playing Air Guitar to Make a Better World

Grotto

Closing the Gender Gap in STEM Fields

Closing the Gender Gap in STEM Fields

Martha Reilly

3 Keys to Engaging With Those We Disagree With

3 Keys to Engaging With Those We Disagree With

Neil Fulton

Special Olympics Coach Gives Back | Little Ways: Volunteer

Special Olympics Coach Gives Back | Little Ways: Volunteer

Grotto

Healing Racial Tension with Music and Lyrics

Healing Racial Tension with Music and Lyrics

Grotto

Voices of Synod 2018 | Briana Regina Santiago

Voices of Synod 2018 | Briana Regina Santiago

Grotto

newsletter

We’d love to be pals.

Sign up for our newsletter, and we’ll meet you in your inbox each week.