Kids can learn a valuable lesson about the outdoors

Nature nurtures.

I've watched this nurturing when my grandkids play in the garden or at the woodland edge, as they happily collect pods under the Kentucky coffee tree, hunt for snail shells, fill baskets with spruce cones and feast on fresh blueberries.

I have fond memories of nurture through nature from my own early days, when bright-red barberries made delightful play "food" for my dolls, and snapdragon "jaws" delighted me by snapping open when I pinched the flowers.

I've learned that water draws kids like a magnet, whether it's a stream, a pond, or a splashing fountain. If there are fish to feed and frogs to watch, so much the better.

Recently, when we added a large boulder to our landscape, I learned just how much kids love to climb to a vantage point.

I've learned that kids don't necessary want to be gardening themselves -- at least not for long -- but they love it when an adult is gardening nearby while they explore the outdoors.

Slowly, I've learned that what kids love outdoors is often not the same thing that adults want. When my grandson overhead his grandpa say he needed to get that fallen tree cut up and removed, the boy protested: "But Grandpa, that's our ship!"

The fallen tree stayed and provides endless enjoyment.

In "A Child's Garden: 60 Ideas to Make Any Garden Come Alive for Children," (Timber Press, $19.95), Molly Dannenmaier says the challenge is to "pepper the backyard with enough surprises that children will always be happening on some new delight that awakens a new part of their consciousness."

The book's pictures, taken in both private and public gardens from coast to coast, are inspiring. And the author's suggestions are so delightful, I soon found myself drawing up a list of new features I'd like to add for the kids in my life.

Why not, for example, a cut-flower garden just for the children? It's a simple idea, but I'm sure children would delight in a small space filled with easy-to-grow flowers like zinnias and cosmos to pick whenever the kids please.

Even though kids and grown-ups want different things outdoors, there are creative ways to create gardens that appeal to all. In place of the ubiquitous plastic turtle filled with sand, for example, Dannenmaier suggests a sandy play area that will blend harmoniously with the landscape. It could be a "sand valley" surrounded by earth and plants. Or a simple box for sand in a cutaway area in a terrace or walkway. Examples in the photos are irresistible.

The author, reminding us that time spent in nature heightens mental acuity and diminishes stress, provides the inspiration to get going on this great gift to the children.