When I was a kid, my friends and I spent long summer days outdoors, picking daisies, observing roly-poly (also known as pill) bugs, holding caterpillars and trying to catch fireflies (lightning bugs).
It’s still not hard to entice the under-5 set to make mudpies, smell flowers and eat string beans off the vine, but as children get older and turn to screens, nature exploration often falls to the bottom of their boredom-buster lists.
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