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What is a Nature Club?

According to the Children and Nature Network, a Nature Club typically involves a group of individuals dedicated to helping children connect with nature. No two nature clubs are alike. Some may involve families with young children and others are comprised of parents and their tweens and teens. Others may involve all age groups and extended family members who take pride in sharing their knowledge with children. Regardless of the age of the nature club participants, a nature club shares the basic goals of getting outside to explore nature frequently, involvement with the community to participate in outdoor activities together and the joy of experiencing nature together. A nature club doesn't have to be created within a park or large green space. In fact,

nature clubs can be started in the inner city, rural town or even the suburbs. Regardless, the focus is to help families embrace the outdoors more often. Benefits of a Nature Club Children who are connected with nature have been linked to better performance in school. A study completed by the American Institutes for Research in 2005 revealed that students who were involved in outdoor science programs improved their science testing scores by 27 percent. Spending time outdoors has also been shown to reduce stress, help children become more focused, enhance creativity, problem solving and social development. Not to mention, more time outdoors often means children get more exercise, therefore reducing their risk for obesity. Tools for Starting a Nature Club

An enthusiasm for the outdoors, organizational skills and a passion for sharing nature with families are ideal traits for becoming a group leader of a nature club. Start in local neighborhood parks or a nearby hiking trail. Or consider hosting your first meeting at an outdoor interpretive center that often has naturalists on site to provide information to you and other club members. As you research potential meeting sites, you may be surprised at how many hidden nature gems exist in your area. Developing a nature club plan can help you get your thoughts organized. Determine where, when and how often you'd like your nature club to meet. Take the time to outline who you'd like to invite to join your nature club. You can start small, just with your family or close friends or think big by inviting all members of your church or community. Either way, just make a plan to

get your group outdoors frequently to explore nature. Nature Club Nature Clubs are opportunities for social cohesion and for building social capital. Environmental consciousness cannot exist in a vacuum and thus needs social space to find true meaning and relevance. We look to undoing and arresting further environmental degradation by raising awareness and fostering teamwork and social and ecological sensitivity. The foundation of Nature Clubs rests on the belief that each one of us can make a difference and a cohesive group of

empowered individuals can bring about change. What does a Nature Club do? Once a Nature Club is formed a team from WWF-India will conduct an orientation programme for key members. It would be mandatory for the club members to meet at least once in a month and conduct certain mandatory activities, the details of these are provided in this brochure. Members will also be offered a variety of exciting and engaging activities in which they can participate and be a part of Nature Conservation. A calendar of activities will be provided before each month, which will enable you to choose the activities in which you want to participate. WWF-India hopes to reach

out to nature lovers and budding conservationists. Complimentary Activities The members of an NCI will be offered the following complimentary activities: 1. Film screenings at the WWF-India Auditorium followed by a talk or interaction with Conservationists/Experts 2. A Nature Trail 3. Resource support for Environment Education activities carried out in school. 4. Events and competitions on predetermined significant conservation days. 5. An e-newsletter. 6. Library reference facilities in the months of May and June, 12 noon to 4.30 pm., Monday to Friday. 7. Storytelling session Nature stories with a well-known storyteller.

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