Kids` Planet.... - Thorne Nature Experience

Boulder County Kids
Kids’ Planet....
Drawing by Kara Priest
with Thorne Ecological Institute
dren stewardship, wonder, and
respect for nature.”
All these wonderful comments
make us believe that we have
been on the right track for 50
years! We have seen over an over
that by connecting kids to nature
at a young age that they grow up
to be environmentally responsible
citizens of their community.
50 Years!
T
by Dr. Oakleigh Thorne, II
horne Natural Science
School, the “flagship” program of Thorne Ecological
Institute is celebrating its 50th
Anniversary this year! We love
connecting kids to nature. It’s our
mission. This is more important
today than ever, because children
are connected to computer games,
iPods, TV, and all manner of
indoor “tech” stuff. They need to
get outside and have direct handson contact with nature. Richard
Louv, author of Last Child In
The Woods, subtitled his book
Saving Our Children From Nature
Deficit Disorder. His slogan is
“leave no child inside!” At Thorne
Ecological Institute, we totally
agree with this philosophy.
We have seen that when we
take kids on fun field trips to special Open Space spots in Boulder
County, they get all excited about
“diving into nature” and finding
all sorts of critters, plants, and
rocks. They love getting wet,
muddy, and HAPPY! They also
come up with some funny comments. One little boy exclaimed,
“I caught a crawdad and it was
humongous!” There’s no question that one of their favorite
activities is exploring creeks and
muddy ponds. Whatever we catch
is released back into its environment.
Children have some pretty
amazing perceptions, such as,
“This class was the best one I’ve
ever had! You get to save the
Earth and have lots of fun!” We
got a big laugh out of a comment
by Evan, age 8, who reported,
“I saw dinosaur footprints and
found fossils and cleaned them
out!” He didn’t, really. One of our
teachers made this observation,
“Within a few days children are
overheard telling each other to
return beautiful rocks to where
they were found because each
one may be a door to somebody’s
house.” Sofia wrote in her own
words (and spelling!), “My favorite part was when I saw minnows,
tadpools, and a frog and I even
cought a crodad. The water got
up to my whaist! I lernd haow to
make paper and when it was out
of the blender it felt like jelly. I
lernd so much abawt things that I
could not stop lerning and I love
it. I’m 7 years old. P.S. I like this
more than waching tv.”
We also hear from former students who have gone on to higher education. A note from Sarah
said, “When I was speaking to my
parents last night my mom mentioned that you might be interested in hearing from me. I took
a number of classes at the Thorne
Ecological Institute when I was in
elementary school and still think
that they played a large role in
my decision to study science. I’m
now in graduate school at Yale
studying physics and still really
like hands-on science. Thank you
for running a great program that
made such a big difference in my
life!”
We get lots of positive comments from parents. A note from
Ann told us, “Once again my
daughter has had a few exceptional weeks doing Thorne activities here in Boulder. I recommend Thorne to parents I know
because, as I say, they don’t just
put kids out in nature for instance
to do sports but they teach chil-
Dr. Thorne is Founder and Honorary
President of Thorne Ecological
Institute in Boulder. They have
helped “connect kids to nature” for
over 50 years. If you would like
more information about the Thorne
Natural Science School summer
classes for children, go to their Web
site www.thorne-eco.org, you can email info@thorne-eco.org, or call
(303) 499-3647.
Dive Into Nature!
Thorne Natural Science School
Year-Round Education Programs and Half-Day or Full-Day Summer Camps
For more information & free catalog of programs
call, e-mail or check out our Web site!
Boulder and Waterton Canyon Locations
Thorne Ecological Institute
info@thorne-eco.org • www.thorne-eco.org
(303) 499-3647
Summer 2007 • Page 23