The following is an excerpt from

The child within loves nature, by Jessica Fein
July 9, 2000 column in the Boston Sunday Globe, West Weekly

We know that the early years of life are critical for brain development. We understand that it’s essential for infants to be exposed to language long before they are able to speak or read. And it’s been proven that individuals who learn a foreign language as youngsters can master additional foreign languages more easily throughout their lives…It isn’t too far a leap, then, to suppose that the best time to foster a connection with nature is as a youngster.

Needham’s Rachel Rock agrees. Founder and director of Puddlestompers Nature Exploration, Rock targets her programs to the "youngest naturalists," children who are between 2 and 5 years old. Using publicly owned lands in Wellesley and Brookline (and possibly Needham in the future), Puddlestompers teaches children that nature is not something of which to be afraid, rather a place to be free, to explore, and to engage.

Topics in the Puddlestompers program include "Meadow Magic" – in which children explore flowers and pollinators – "The Forest Floor," "Life at a Pond" and "Bugs, Bugs, Bugs." And, says Rock, the classes take place rain or shine.

In a recent rainy-day class, Rock showed the children how to "paint with rain" by dragging construction paper through wet grass. "The kids loved it," she says.

Rock’s mission is not only to engage children and parents in nature exploration, but also to connect families to the publicly owned open spaces in or near their communities and to give something back by directing a portion of the program’s proceeds to local environmental and conservation efforts.