What is Nature in Your Backyard?
Nature in Your Backyard brings hands-on wildlife education directly to schools and community spaces. Through outdoor, guided exploration, and nature journaling, children learn how native species live alongside them every day - and how they can connect with wildlife right outside their door.
Key Components of Nature in Your Backyard
When spending the day outside in nature with students, we share four simple steps to explore: look around, notice tiny details, draw it in your nature journal, and ask questions.
Recently, as we walked the trail together, one group of students really took off with the idea. They slowed down to notice small things like patterns on tree bark, tiny insects, and the different shapes of leaves. They filled multiple pages of their journals with drawings and observations.
One 2nd grade student, Weston, gave his journal a special title: “Weston’s Why Book.” He proudly explained that he was going to keep filling it with all of his questions about nature — his whys about the world around him. In that moment, Weston wasn’t just journaling; he was discovering what it meant to truly connect with nature.
When children are encouraged to explore, ask questions, and notice the world around them, they begin to care deeply about it. That sense of curiosity becomes the foundation for a lifelong connection to wildlife and the natural world.
What happens when students connect with nature?
In one of our Nature in Your Backyard programs, a group of 4th graders came to us drained from hours of testing. Within minutes of stepping outside and sketching a single leaf, their energy transformed — faces lit up, questions poured out, and curiosity came alive.
That's the heart of our mission: giving kids simple, joyful moments in nature that spark a lifetime of discovery and care for wildlife.
