DOLE] NATURE STUDY IN SUMMER CAMPS 185 



nature work. She can not learn what a bird is by flying, nor how 

 a grasshopper hops by hopping. She must be told how to dis- 

 tinguish an elm tree from an oak, and the problem is how to do it. 

 Let the instruction be ever so informal, the girl soon realizes that 

 her instructor is asking her to work with her head rather than with 

 her hands, and rightly resents it. The writer of this article does 

 not wish to be understood as advocating m.ental idleness during 

 the summer, but it is his experience that a girl will not take a 

 nature lesson presented as such and do it gracefully. She finds 

 ample opportunity for m.ental activity in other lines and does not 

 wish to burden her mind with the distinguishing features of differ- 

 ent classes of birds and plants. Another factor which tends to 

 make nature instruction in simimer camps difficult is the use of 

 the unfortunate term, "Nature Study". Courses of instruction 

 in this subject are now offered in a large number of public and 

 private schools, and when the girl combes to camp and finds the 

 same subject on her list of activities, she generally concludes at 

 once that she doesn't like nature. The psychological effect is 

 bad. 



We believe that these difficulties may be overcome, at least in 

 part, by making the nature work largely incidental to other camp 

 activities. The writer even doubts the advisibility of including 

 nature work as a formal part of the day's program. The instructor 

 should be an almost constant companion to the girls, and should 

 choose the psychological m.om.ent for talking nature. He should 

 always be on hand to see a strange bird, a new flower, a misshapen 

 tree, or other object of interest. Especially should he accompany 

 the girls when they go away from the camp grounds to neighboring 

 mountains and lakes where the flora and fauna may be different 

 from that in the immediate vicinity of the camp. It m.ay be that 

 the camp grounds afford comparatively few things in nature which 

 will attract the child's interest and attention, and those who come 

 back to camp year after year will soon find nature irksome because 

 they observe the same things again and again. More of our work 

 in nature should be devoted to trail making, camping in the open, 

 tramping through the woods, with a compass, etc. ; upon these 

 activities which may be grouped under the term "Wood Craft." 

 We believe that this term is preferable to ' ' Nature Study". These 

 are the things which the girls desire. They are as far removed 

 from school work as possible, do not call for any memory work, 



