The Role Children Can Have in Preserving Wildlife

Guest Post by Dylan Reid

Preserving our wildlife is vital for maintaining a vibrant natural environment for centuries to come. By getting future generations involved with wildlife preservation now, we can inspire enthusiasm for conservation that can be carried into adulthood.

Additionally, getting kids outside excels their development. According to Dr. Danae Lund PhD, who “specializes in child and adolescent behavioral health, including psychological and developmental testing at Sanford Health,” getting outside benefits children’s’ development because it builds physically healthier children, contributes to cognitive and social/emotional development, improves sensory skills, increases attention spans, and grows immunity.

Here are three practical ideas for getting children outside and enabling them to learn to support the preservation of our wildlife.

Photo by Melissa Askew on Unsplash

Learn about wildlife

The more knowledge kids have about local wildlife, the better equipped they are to protect it. Plus, when children see evidence of the wildlife that exists in nature, they understand the value of preserving it.

It's important that children are encouraged to observe wildlife in its natural habitat, rather than try to touch it or take it home. For example, children can learn to identify different bird songs or recognize the droppings of animals. Take them out for walks in nature regularly and share your wildlife knowledge with them. If your knowledge is lacking, focus on learning about local plants, trees, animals, and bird species together for a fun and educational family project.

Provide food and shelter for wildlife

Kids often love getting their hands dirty when playing outdoors, so why not give them opportunities to create ways of providing food and shelter for wildlife? They could create a bug hotel out of logs, twigs, dried leaves, bark, and other natural materials, or their own bird feeders out of yogurt containers filled with seeds, nuts, and dried fruits.

If you have space in your garden, your child could even create a dedicated "nature reserve" by dividing off an area designed to stay wild enough for nature. They could scatter meadow grass seeds, plant lots of nectar-rich flowers to attract butterflies and bees, and lay down pieces of bark or logs to serve as habitats for bugs and other small critters.

Go litter picking

An estimated one million animals die every year as a result of ingesting or getting trapped in trash. A really simple way to preserve wildlife is to reduce the amount of litter dropped in streets and parks, and to clean up messy areas.

By encouraging kids to get involved with litter-picking initiatives, you can give them the opportunity to protect their local wildlife, while instilling in them the positive habit of disposing of their own litter responsibly. Make sure kids have adequate safety gear when picking litter, such as protective gloves, hand sanitizer, and collection bags. It’s important to also show children which types of litter are safe for them to pick up and how to identify hazardous waste that should be reported to an adult.

Engaging kids in nature to help them protect it

The best way to teach children about the value of wildlife is to get them engaged with it. Try embarking on some of these ideas with your kids and see how inspired they are to start preserving wildlife.