On Thursday, I was invited to see and cover a Natural History Museum of Los Angeles special event. It was an exhibition by, for, and dedicated to our children and nature:

“A Sense of Wonder, A Sense of Place: Viewing Nature Through the Images and Words of Our Children.”

The Sense of Wonder exhibition and installation was the collaboration between the Children’s Nature Institute and the Blueberry Atelier Preschool Program. Its principle idea was to bring children, nature, photography, and writing together.

The Exhibit’s Form, Function, and Display

I was amazed at the photos and poems, all taken and written by preschool children.  The interactive word wall is out of this world fantastic.

The “Discovery Room,” is where groups of school children visiting the Museum first congregate and are oriented to their new surroundings. To keep the kids together– and moving in an organized fashion, each group is given a special name; Scorpion, Snake, Dragon, and so on.

Today the Natural History Museum was very busy with lots of visiting groups from different schools.

Ms. Briana Burrows, the Program Manager at the Museum, graciously showed me the exhibit and answered my many questions.

About 50 students from the Blueberry Atelier Preschool Program participated in this project which took them over a year to put together. Although it was originally planned to be a one day exhibit specifically for the Museum’s Sustainable Sunday feature, A Sense of Wonder, A Sense of Place, it was extended for the entire week.

With activities continuing on all four walks of the Discovery Room, the children had plenty of fun and useful information to choose from:

Using scores of pictures and environmentally sound solutions to today’s “green” issues, Blueberry Atelier was not only able to help their own students learn the importance of nature and the world around them, but those children in turn were able to take that message to other children.

Playing it forward:

As the world becomes a smaller and smaller place, we, as a society, need our children to understand their own individual connection to nature and appreciate the gifts that it provides us.

By learning from the Los Angeles Natural History Museum exhibit–A Sense of Wonder, A Sense of Place: Viewing Nature Through the Images and Words of Our Children–I experienced first hand a message that resonated that uses reason and creativity.

By Travelin’ Local, we preserve our resources by learning to appreciate our hometown and local environs, which in turn gives back to our own community. In no small part– as exemplified by these artistic and precocious kids—while Travelin’ Local, we get to think global but act local.

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