TIPS ON TAKING AN INFANT OUT IN NATURE

Here are some tips on how I have been taking my babies out in nature based on their age and abilities.

Infants

I took my children outside from the time they were a few weeks old. I would grab a blanket (I have a nice foldable one with a strap) and let them lie on their back and look around, at the sky, the trees, the leaves... it was always one of the quiet peaceful times of the day. It can be at the park or just in the backyard, at that age just the rustling of the leaves is interesting.

Rolling and scouting 

As they get older they will roll on the blanket and look around. They will start scouting to the edge of the blanket and get their first taste (literally and figuratively) of grass!

Crawling

Now comes the crawling phase. This is when they will adventure off the blanket and start discovering the natural world first hand.  If you have a mouther, in my opinion, this is also the hardest phase. My 10 month old eats everything: paper, grass, books... you name it, he will eat it!

During this phase I am very careful, I make sure that anything he grabs is mouthable and I even select and offer natural items that are large and unlikely to break into small pieces. If he mouths something I deem not acceptable I ask him to give it to me, take it and say "I won't let you eat this rock, it's too small" and offer an alternative with 2 choices "but you can have this branch or this rock" (in a respectful language). However I still follow him and let him crawl where he wants as long at there is no danger.