Helping Kids Help Nature by Carrie Krickbaum

Elementary students from the North Fork Valley construct blue bird nest boxes for their schoolyard habitats during a Public Lands Day celebration on the Gunnison National Forest.

It's only natural that kids have some level of fascination with nature – don’t we all? What a thrill to see herds of elk in a meadow, a cow and calf moose in a willow wetland, or the bright blue flash of a bird flying across your path.  The more kids see and learn about these critters, the more they may be inclined to want to DO something to help them. Earth Day in April is often the day where we become more aware of nature and focus on the environment and how to engage in actions to help our planet, but this can be accomplished anytime. 

Bluebird boxes are one of the ways to engage kids in crafty activities that help them learn about nature and provide nesting spots for our local population of bluebirds. Jon Horn of the Black Canyon Audubon Society (BCAS) puts in many hours creating blue bird box kits for kids to construct and hang in the best locations to attract nesting blue birds. For each kit, he assembles the house to make sure the pieces fit, takes them apart, and then puts them in a bag that includes directions. 

What a winning project (and an easy one!) for teachers to incorporate into their environmental education curriculum or Earth Day activities. Outdoor education teacher Krista Javoronok of Ridgway Elementary School loves doing this activity every spring with her 1st grade students. Ouray elementary 1st graders also participated this year by hanging their boxes in a park in Ouray. They did this, along with teacher Jen Anessi and Ouray parks department employee Sean Hart, to help the Mountain Bluebirds in the area. Are you familiar with a river trail or other landscapes with flowing water adjacent to an open field? If you think about it – you may already know a perfect place to hang a blue bird box.  What a pleasant surprise for your kids when the birds decide to move in and make it their new nesting spot! There are many kits available online or instructions to make your own. A couple resources are: Free Bluebird House Plans - Multiple Designs and the Colorado Bluebird Project at: Colorado Bluebird Project | Castle Rock, CO - Official Website. Or you can contact the Audubon Society for one of their kits! Members of the BCAS also design, build, and sell elaborate bird boxes at county fairs.

By engaging kids in these crafty and fun projects, we can extend that interest and concern beyond Earth day throughout the rest of the year.  Nature activities can show kids how to be stewards and learn more about animal behaviors and habitat needs.  

What else can you do with youth to help nature? Project Learning Tree (PLT) is an award-winning environmental education program designed for educators, parents, and community leaders working with youth from preschool through grade 12. It offers hands-on lessons and activities on various topics such as forests, ecosystems, wildlife, and water, making it suitable for diverse communities and geographies. The program aims to help young people gain awareness and knowledge of the environment and their role within it. “LEARNING IS IN OUR NATURE” - Project Learning Tree. Materials can be purchased online at https://shop.plt.org/Shop/ProductDetails/prek-8-environmental-education.

Helping our pollinators… We all know that pollinators are critical to our environment. To support pollinators with kids, you can: 

• Build a cozy bee hotel to provide habitat for solitary bees. 
• Set up a pollinator watering hole to keep them hydrated.
• Plant a pollinator garden with native plants that offer food and shelter for local pollinators 
• Avoid using pesticides, which threaten pollinator populations. 
• Leave some 'wild' spaces in your garden to support pollinators. 

 
The National Wildlife Federation at NWF.org has many ideas and information about helping pollinators. Their blog is:  10 Ways to Save Pollinators - The National Wildlife Federation Blog 
Helping Monarch Butterflies. Monarch Butterfly numbers are rapidly declining. According to an article in USA Today, an annual survey led by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) of the recognizable species wintering in central Mexico found the second-lowest number of monarchs on record. This year’s estimate found the Eastern Monarch Butterfly colonies took up just 2.2 acres of regional forests, 59% less than during the 2022-2023 winter season. 

Many people state that they don’t see the migrating Monarch Butterfly numbers like they used to, whether it’s those that fly to Mexico, or the western route to California. Since Monarch caterpillars feed on milkweed, one way to help them along as they migrate is to plant more milkweed or just don’t kill the milkweed that is naturally growing. A fun activity to do with kids is to make milkweed seed bombs together then plant them or throw them in an area that would be good habitat. The Save Our Monarchs blog has some instructions and resources for creating milkweed seed bombs at: https://www.saveourmonarchs.org/blog/milkweed-seed-balls-101. 

What’s really cool is you can also get your area designated as a butterfly waystation by going to https://monarchwatch.org/waystations. This is a part of the Monarch Watch program that will give you information on types of milkweed to plant for our region and how to have your area certified and placed on the map of waystations across the country on their website. Another way to help them along is to plant a butterfly garden as a food source for migrating Monarchs and other butterflies as well. Information on how to do this can be found on the Colorado State University Extension site at: https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/insects/attracuch as ting-butterflies-to-the-garden-5-504-2/  

Kids have a lot of free time during those long, lazy days of summer – which is the best part of summer vacation for a kid, right?  It is also the perfect time to research together and plan a summer project to help improve the local habitats for our wild neighbors such as bluebirds, pollinators, and Monarch butterflies!  Your project may in fact help their entire population as well. Project Learning Tree, Project Wild and Project Aquatic Wild – are ready made, easy planned activities to engage kids with nature in meaningful, hands-on ways. Be inspired and find a fun activity to learn about nature, explore, observe and make a difference. You will be training our next generation of nature stewards!