Connecting Kids with Nature

These stories illustrate the way Maine Audubon influences the lives of our next generation of conservationists.

With your help, Maine Audubon works every day, connecting people, especially children, with nature.

Holly Twining

Program Naturalist at Fields Pond Audubon Center

Theatre may not be the most common way of connecting kids with nature, but Audubon program naturalist Holly Twining believes that it’s, well, a natural.

“Theatre pulls out the fun side of the natural world,” says Holly, who created and leads a new program at Fields Pond Audubon Center near Bangor in which kids explore the outdoors, rehearse a short naturebased play, and then perform for family and friends.

“Children love experimenting and taking on the roles of animals and trees.”

Plus, she says, theatre is easier for some kids to identify with: “Not everyone wants to come and look through a microscope.”

The best part of engaging kids in nature theatre? “They can just let their imaginations go—which is so important.”

Nathan Laxague

High school senior and Audubon Camper

Seventeen-year-old Nathan Laxague first came to Maine Audubon as a young camper stoked to spend the night outside in a tent.

That was eight years ago, and he hasn’t missed a summer since.

What keeps Nathan not only coming back, but also giving back—as a junior counselor as well as founder and director of the nonprofit organization Kids Against Toxins—is the conviction that education is the best way to address environmental challenges.

And education, he says, begins with the kind of hands-on connections that Maine Audubon provides.

“You don’t really understand how to respect nature,” Nathan says, “until you have a firsthand experience.”

Kevin Brewster

Portland Kindergarten Teacher

Ask kindergarten teacher Kevin Brewster how nature can affect kids and he’ll recall what one of his urban students said at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth the day after a big snow storm.

“Mr. Brewster,” the boy yelled, rolling in the snow for the first time ever, “this is way better than Nintendo!”

Sometimes the effects of nature are more subtle, like when students discover they have a richer vocabulary and more experience to draw from when writing, reading, or trying to understand other cultures.

Whatever the effects, the simple connection with nature is what’s most important, Kevin says—especially as kids spend more and more time indoors.

“Less and less are kids making the connection on their own. Maine Audubon’s programs are great because they get kids out into nature and show them what’s there.”

Be part of the solution. Help Maine Audubon connect kids with nature.

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