Longtime Minnetonka resident and former Hopkins teacher Larry Wade recently published his first book, “Nature Seeker Workbook: Connecting to the Wilds of Your Neighborhood” geared to children grades 2-5. Wade believes children need to spend more time outdoors and in nature to become better stewards of the environment when they become adults.

Former Gatewood Elementary sixth-grade teacher and Hopkins School District Naturalist Larry Wade sees a growing trend in fewer kids being outside and enjoying nature.

Instead of bemoaning this development, he has attempted to help kids reconnect with the great outdoors by penning his first book, “Nature Seeker Workbook: Connecting to the Wilds of Your Neighborhood,” that includes hundreds of illustrations by Jeannette Dickinson and Amelia Ladd.

Wade, a Minnetonka resident for 30 years, volunteers for the city and skis on Minnehaha Creek during the winter.

“Not now, obviously,” he said, pointing to the thinning ice of the creek. “Anything outside is good for me.”

On April 10, Wade sat down with the Sun Sailor to discuss his new book and how the next generation of children can connect with the environment.

Q: What factors lead you to write this book?
A: I lived in southern California, and I grew up in a canyon called Sespe Creek (in Ventura County north of Los Angeles) and basically was outside 24/7. It was an incredible place to live. And, working with children over the years, I’ve seen their connection to the Earth change and now … the kinds of things I did as a kid, children rarely do.

We didn’t even have a television. That’s where we were technologically. I just really mourn the fact that in the last 10-11 years … I think children need to be outside. They need to be learning about nature. They need be just doing stuff, and I don’t want to say that it’s not happening at all, but a lot of the children I see do not spend much time outside. That’s one of the callings of this book is that you can go out in your neighborhood and have an amazing experience.

Right now, I have about a five-mile radius of where I live and where I go out into nature. I don’t need to go 200 miles north once a year to be in nature. Right now, I see behind us there’s a Pileated woodpecker over there. I can drive to work and see a bald eagle out my front window. I mean, this is an amazing place to grow up. I’m just very concerned about our next generation.

My target age for this book: second- through fifth-grade. That’s when they’re really open to new things and can connect more. That’s sort of the way I’ve designed this. The book is primarily for parents and teachers to get outside – not be totally scheduled every minute – and get some time outside at least once a week and try some of these activities in my book.
Some of them are as simple as, ‘Go sit under a tree for 15 minutes and record everything that you see.’ I’ve got one in there on creating forts. Go out and make a fort and then hang out there – just extremely basic kind of things that I did when I was a kid. I just think kids have lost that opportunity to have that experience. I think in the long run, the Earth is going to suffer because the connection is not going to be strong. That concerns me the most.”

Q: What’s the book about?
A: It’s basically an activity book that takes you through all four seasons. Let’s say a kid is being homeschooled. If they wanted to [know] what to do in fall, what to do in winter, what to do in spring, what to do in summer so that they can go through an entire year of things to do outside that are focused and help them develop a relationship with the Earth. That’s the main thing that’s in there. I have over 600 illustrations in there. The book is illustrated by a Minnetonka artist Jeanette Dickinson. She’s worked with me on a number of projects with kids outside and through her art you can feel her love for the Earth too.”

Q: How have your experiences as Hopkins School District naturalist and teacher shaped this book?
A: There were six or seven years where I was working with students directly, and that’s all I did. Back then, I even created a website they could go to and experience something in the classroom and then we would go outside.

I didn’t have to think about teaching six different subjects a day. I taught one thing. I could try an activity and if it didn’t work, I would adjust it. So, that allowed me to really fine-tune what I was doing and create activities that kids can enjoy that teachers can do or parents can do at home. That was very beneficial.

I haven’t been our district naturalist for 12 years. And last week, I was printing a draft of my book and the woman who was behind the counter, she was like 25, she said, ‘You know, you taught me how to age trees when I was in 5th grade at Alice Smith school.’ And that is not a rare occurrence. Last year, this kid, he was an intern counselor, he said, ‘I went to Minnewashta School, and you showed me my first blue heron.’ We’re talking about 15 years, OK? That’s pretty special. Previous to that I always had kids coming up as adults that would say, ‘Gee whiz, that was pretty special.’

Q: What is the message you’d like to hit home to your target audience, kids in grades 2-5?
A: “Get outside. That’s basically the message of this book. Turn off your technology and get outside at least an hour a day and do something – find something to do outside. Don’t have your phone on. Don’t have anything on – just be a kid. It’s a pretty simple message.”

Q: What can young people at that age do to be good stewards of the environment?
A: “At that age, their job is to learn about where they live. If they pick up trash and stuff like that, that’s awesome. But really, they need to feel strongly about the Earth. Because when they’re adults, if it’s not really in their heart, they don’t really get it – how important seeing a cardinal is, hearing the first call of the robin or any of the frogs. If they don’t really get that, they’re not going to be caring. Their job: get out there and learn as much as they can about their local environment or if they do have a cabin up north – all the better.”

“Nature Seeker Workbook: Connecting to the Wilds of Your Neighborhood” is available at the Minnesota Valley Wildlife Refuge and Fort Snelling State Park. It can also be purchased from Wade’s website, oldnaturalist.com.