Nature’s Next Generation: Inspiring Tomorrow’s Naturalists

The future of conservation may begin with something as simple as a child asking, “What is that?”

A child crouches beside a trail, completely absorbed by a caterpillar inching across a leaf. Another turns over a fallen branch and discovers a salamander hiding beneath it. Somewhere else, a family steps outside after dark and hears an owl calling from the trees.

Then comes the question:

“What is that?”

It may seem like a small moment, but it is exactly where a naturalist can begin.

Before children can care about biodiversity, habitat loss, pollinator decline, disappearing grasslands, or threatened wildlife, they first need an opportunity to know nature. They need to dig in the soil, watch a butterfly visit a flower, hear frogs calling after a rain, discover a feather along a trail, and wonder where it came from.

If we want to grow the next generation of conservationists, perhaps our first job isn't to teach children everything we know.

It is to give them reasons to become curious.

Start with Wonder, Not Worry

Today's young people are growing up surrounded by difficult environmental news. They hear about climate change, disappearing species, habitat destruction, pollution, and declining insect populations.

These are important issues, but environmental education shouldn't begin by asking children to save something they have never had an opportunity to love.

Begin instead with wonder.

Take a child outside and look for five different flowers. Watch a spider build its web. Search for animal tracks after rain. Listen for birds without trying to see them. Sit quietly beside a pond and count how many different sounds you hear.

A child doesn't need to know every species name for the experience to matter.

In fact, one of the most powerful things an adult can say is:

“I don't know. Let's find out.”

Suddenly, adult and child are explorers together.

That simple response teaches something important about science: not knowing isn't failure. It is the beginning of discovery.

Let Nature Be Close to Home

We sometimes make the mistake of presenting nature as somewhere we have to travel to find.

It's in national parks. Wilderness areas. Mountains. Rainforests. Nature preserves.

Those places are extraordinary—but nature is also growing through a crack in the sidewalk.

It is the bumble bee visiting a flower beside the mailbox, the bird building a nest outside the library, the moth resting beneath a porch light, the mushroom appearing after rain, and the tiny ecosystem underneath a fallen leaf.

For a young naturalist, a backyard can be a field station.

A neighborhood park can become an expedition.

A puddle can become an investigation.

When children learn that nature exists wherever they are, exploration becomes something they can do every day.

Give Children Time to Notice

Children are often very good observers—when we give them enough time.

Adults tend to move through nature with a destination. Children stop.

They examine.

They ask questions.

They notice the tiny hole in a leaf, the insect beneath the bark, the unusual seed on the ground, or the sound coming from a tree that everyone else walked past.

Instead of saying, “Come on, we're falling behind,” occasionally allow the discovery to become the destination.

Ask:

What do you notice?

Why do you think that's happening?

What do you think lives here?

What should we look for next?

Those questions encourage children to observe before being given an answer. That is a skill naturalists—and scientists—use throughout their lives.

Let Them Get a Little Dirty

A connection with nature isn't built entirely through screens, books, or worksheets.

Children need opportunities to experience nature with their senses.

Let them smell a leaf.

Feel tree bark.

Listen to a creek.

Plant a seed.

Dig in healthy garden soil.

Watch ants carrying food.

Walk through fallen leaves.

Look beneath a log carefully—and put it back.

These experiences teach something that is difficult to communicate on a page: nature is not simply something to learn about. It is something we are part of.

Hands-on experiences can also make abstract ecological ideas understandable.

A child who watches a caterpillar eating a native host plant begins to understand that plants aren't merely decorations.

A child who sees bees, beetles, and butterflies visiting flowers begins to understand pollination.

A child who discovers salamanders beneath fallen wood begins to understand that what looks “messy” to people can be essential habitat for wildlife.

Ecology becomes visible.

Learn the Names of Your Neighbors

There is something powerful about learning the name of another living thing.

A yellow flower becomes goldenrod.

A bird becomes a Carolina chickadee.

A butterfly becomes an eastern tiger swallowtail.

A tree becomes an oak.

Learning names doesn't mean children need to memorize hundreds of species. Start with one.

Learn one bird that visits the yard.

One native flower.

One tree.

One frog call.

Then add another.

Recognition changes the way we see familiar places. Once a child learns to identify a species, they begin noticing where it occurs, when it appears, what it eats, and what other organisms interact with it.

A landscape that once looked simply “green” begins filling with individuals and relationships.

Turn Technology into a Tool for Exploration

Technology doesn't have to compete with nature.

Used thoughtfully, it can help children explore it.

A smartphone can photograph an unfamiliar flower, record a frog call, map a hiking route, document seasonal changes, or help identify an organism.

Citizen-science platforms can take this even further. Young people can document plants and wildlife, participate in biodiversity surveys, monitor birds or amphibians, count pollinators, and contribute observations that may become useful to researchers.

That can be a transformative realization:

You don't have to wait until you grow up to contribute to science.

The important thing is to use technology as a doorway into nature rather than allowing the screen to become the destination.

Take the photograph.

Make the identification.

Then put the phone down and keep exploring.

Give Young People Real Work

Children quickly recognize the difference between an activity created to occupy them and work that actually matters.

Give them opportunities to contribute.

Let them plant native flowers in a school pollinator garden.

Participate in a community science project.

Collect litter from a stream.

Help remove invasive plants during an organized restoration day.

Record wildlife observations.

Build appropriate habitat features.

Help maintain a community garden.

Teach younger children about pollinators.

When possible, explain why their work matters.

Don't simply say, “We're planting flowers.”

Explain that the plants can provide pollen, nectar, seeds, shelter, or host relationships for wildlife.

Don't simply collect data.

Explain how observations can help us understand which species live in an area and how those populations may change.

Children deserve to know that their contributions have purpose.

Introduce Them to People Who Protect Nature

Ask a child to name environmental careers and you may hear “park ranger” or “zookeeper.”

Those are wonderful careers, but the conservation world is much larger.

Botanists search for rare plants. Wildlife biologists monitor animals. Entomologists study insects. Herpetologists investigate frogs, salamanders, snakes, and turtles. Restoration ecologists rebuild damaged ecosystems. GIS specialists use maps and technology to understand landscapes. Hydrologists study water. Environmental educators introduce communities to nature.

There are also conservation photographers, writers, veterinarians, engineers, land managers, horticulturists, researchers, nonprofit professionals, and many others.

Young people can't aspire to careers they don't know exist.

Meeting someone who has built a life around studying butterflies, restoring a prairie, mapping wildlife habitat, or protecting wetlands can expand a child's understanding of what their own future might look like.

Let Children Become the Teachers

One of the best ways to build confidence in young naturalists is to let them teach someone else.

Ask a child who has learned to identify a bird to show you how they know.

Let a student explain why milkweed matters to monarchs.

Invite young citizen scientists to present their observations.

Have older students lead younger children on a nature walk.

When young people become teachers, something changes.

The message is no longer simply, “Adults know things about nature, and I am here to learn.”

It becomes:

“I know something about nature, and what I know has value.”

That is how environmental education begins creating environmental leadership.

Don't Schedule Every Minute

Perhaps one of the most important activities we can give children is no activity at all.

Let them wander.

Let them sit beside a creek.

Let them watch a beetle.

Let them follow a butterfly.

Let them ask questions for which nobody has prepared an answer.

Structured programs can introduce skills and concepts, but unstructured exploration gives children ownership of discovery.

A child who finds something because an adult instructed them to look for it has completed an activity.

A child who discovers something because they were curious has begun an investigation.

We need both.

From Naturalist to Steward

The goal isn't to turn every child into a professional conservationist.

It is something broader.

We need adults who recognize that insects matter.

Homeowners who understand why native plants matter.

Community leaders who recognize the value of wetlands and grasslands.

Voters who understand biodiversity.

Parents who take their own children outside.

Teachers who make room for nature in education.

Scientists, engineers, farmers, gardeners, writers, business owners, planners, and neighbors who understand that human communities exist within ecosystems rather than apart from them.

Those adults begin as children who were given opportunities to notice.

Begin with One Child and One Discovery

Growing the next generation of naturalists doesn't require an elaborate program.

Start with one walk.

One flower.

One frog call.

One caterpillar.

One question.

When a child stops along the trail and asks, “What is that?”, resist the urge to hurry past.

Stop with them.

Look closely.

Wonder together.

Because somewhere between that first question and the search for its answer, something important can happen.

A child begins recognizing that the world is filled with living things worth discovering.

Discovery becomes curiosity.

Curiosity becomes connection.

Connection becomes understanding.

And understanding can become stewardship.

That is how we grow nature's next generation.

Jodi Morgan is the founder of Nature on the Brink, an environmental education nonprofit dedicated to connecting people with the natural world and inspiring the next generation of conservationists. Through writing, educational programs, youth outreach, and community partnerships, she encourages young people to explore nature, ask questions, and discover how their actions can contribute to protecting biodiversity.

Nature on the Brink: Youth Connection — inspiring curiosity, building connections, and growing the next generation of conservationists.