THE 



NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



Vol. 18 September, 1922 No. 6 



Children's Interest in Nature-Study 



Clara M. McQuade 



State Teachers College, Chico, Calif. 



"Science rests on a deep and primordial love of Nature in which 

 it has its only real educational value." Howe. Ped. Sem. Oct. 04 

 p. 61. 



If this statement is true it follows that the fostering and develop- 

 ping of that deep and primordial love is obviously the first 

 step to be taken in the teaching of elementary science. 

 Love of nature as well as all other love should be expressed 

 through action and the plans made by any teacher for this early 

 work should enlist the activity of the child in doing things that are 

 worth while and that are so simple that his mind can grasp the 

 reasonableness of them. 



It is not yet known at what age the child begins to be interested 

 in plants and animals but any mother will bear witness to the 

 childs early delight in out-door life and just because the exact 

 time of this awakening is not known, the mother is urged by a 

 great student of child nature (Froebel — Intro, to M. P. p. 7) 

 to keep the child out of doors as much as possible from its earliest 

 infancy and to give it direct contact with as great a variety of 

 natural objects as possible. This contact, he afhrm.s needs only 

 the sympathetic treatment of the mother, herself in love with 

 nature, to cultivate in the child a like deep and abiding love. 



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