Nature offers valuable social-emotional lessons that can help children develop important life skills. Through stories of plants and animals, children can learn caution, empathy, and decision-making. This article offers practical tips, a lesson, and an activity for sharing these stories with children, fostering a deeper connection to the natural world while promoting emotional growth.
For this article, we focus on stories of poisonous plants in nature.
Imagine this: one day, workers at a horse farm in San Diego wake to an awful sight. Twenty-three of their beloved horses are very sick. Searching the stalls, they find poisonous oleander leaves mixed in with carrots and apples. With this knowledge, the workers can act quickly and save the horses’ lives.
The beautiful oleander plant doesn’t look dangerous. Its bushes show off with flashy blossoms in white, pink, red, purple, yellow, or orange. Its flowers smell fresh and sweet, like spring. But oleanders have a deadly secret: they’re highly poisonous. And they are often planted around schools and in yards.
In a similar story, a six-year-old girl was in her family’s garden when she first smelled the top of a poisonous white hemlock plant and then tasted it. She broke out in a severe rash and had swelling on her face. By evening she was feeling lethargic and was having trouble breathing. Fortunately, her mother got medical help right away and the girl recovered.
These true stories about nature have important lessons to teach adults and children alike. Being mindful of potential risks and fostering a healthy respect for the natural world—as well as a deep appreciation of its wonders—is important for everyone.
Understanding risks in nature is essential for those of us with children in our care, whether we’re exploring nature together in a schoolyard, a park, a backyard, or beyond. Even older children need to be aware of poisonous plants and know how to be safe around them.
You can help children learn to be cautious yet curious by sharing nature stories like those above, both of which have happy endings. Follow these simple guidelines for young and older children.
You might say to yourself, “Sure, but I can’t identify every poisonous plant!” Rest assured that most people cannot. What you can do is educate children. You can explain to young children that the plants outside are to be looked at, not tasted, or picked. You can remind them to ask an adult before sniffing or handling unfamiliar flowers and other plants.
When children are older, they can access and build more knowledge around a topic like poisonous plants. They can take classes about plants and learn which ones they can safely eat or touch, as well as which ones must be avoided. The planet is full of edible and even medicinal plants. Knowing their names, both in English and Latin, and what they look like is both fascinating and valuable.
To begin exploring these ideas, consider the following outdoor activity for kids, which can alert them to being careful while still enjoying their natural surroundings.
To prepare for this activity, first select a safe and friendly yard, park, or other outdoor location you can visit with children. Then gather some small objects such as rocks, tennis balls, and toys and hide them beneath the trees, nestled in grass, or behind bushes. Make sure they are hidden well enough not to be immediately noticed by children but can easily be seen when pointed out. This will strengthen the concept that things can be “hidden in plain sight.”
Next, bring children to the outdoor spot and point out the beautiful plants and trees around them. You might know and share some of their names. You can also invite children to name the ones they know. Explain that while these plants are beautiful and interesting, we can all keep ourselves safe by being cautious about them.
Ask children to find the objects you have hidden and place them in a basket. Have children sit down around the basket and talk about the idea of something being hidden in plain sight. Next, share the oleander story and discuss the following questions with children, along with others you might choose for your group.
These questions can guide your discussion with children during the activity. Sample responses are provided and include connections to children’s social-emotional learning.
A horse usually can sense poisonous plants and won’t eat them. However, the leaves were mixed with apples and carrots. Horses love apples and carrots so much that they must have ignored or not noticed the poisonous oleander.
The best way is just to look at plants, not lick or eat them. Sometimes simply touching or smelling can cause an illness or allergic reaction.
It’s easy and natural to miss hidden things unless you are looking for them. Explain that just as the horses overlooked the oleander leaves mixed with sweet apples and carrots, it’s easy for people to overlook or stop noticing dangerous things. And it can be confusing when we encounter situations where good and bad things are mixed together. For example, sometimes kids might join other children in activities or behaviors that seem fun but can be hurtful or dangerous. It’s important for children to talk to adults when they have questions or feel worried. We can also think carefully about the consequences of doing something before we decide whether to do it.
Acknowledge that speaking up isn’t always easy. Help children identify trusted adults who they can go to when they need help.
If you like, end the activity by helping children plant vegetable or herb seeds in plastic cups or in a garden. Children can take care of the plants as they grow, giving them proper water and sunlight. When the plants mature, children can celebrate the experience with a healthy, safe, and tasty harvest
Nature provides powerful social-emotional lessons that can help children develop essential social-emotional skills. By sharing real-life stories of poisonous plants, you can teach children to approach the natural world with respect and curiosity while staying safe. These strategies can be applied to other stories that connect children with nature while promoting their social-emotional development.