By the time our children were born, playing outdoors had already fallen out of fashion. Concerns about safety ruled the day. And the things most kids got excited about were indoors and increasingly likely to be connected to computer screens. The occasional school field trips were almost always excursions to bigger buildings with bigger screens. The one exception was a middle school overnight or two in the woods guided by a naturalist. But the cost of that was beyond the average family budget, and parents willing to chaperone middle school kids were always hard to find. Those factors, and the fact that 12-year-olds are cruel, kept most of our kids from participating.

That way of growing up was nothing like what I experienced. Then, all the kids -- and I mean all of them -- played outside almost every day until the streetlights came on. And it wasn't always with the other kids in the neighborhood. As an only child, I spent hours playing alone near the creek behind my grandparents' house. That's how I learned to identify most of the plants, birds, or animals I saw and where I practiced important life skills like how to build something with stones and sticks and skipping stones across the water.

But more than anything else, the order and beauty outdoors immersed me in wonder. Creation was full of the Creator; God's footprints and fingerprints were everywhere. And solitude was anything but loneliness. Every weed and wildflower testified to God's existence -- and his love. Our kids really didn't experience much of that, and today's kids are even worse off. By the time they're 10 or 12, most have given up on being outside, and many have given up on faith. It's worth considering the possibility that those realities are connected.

Among the contributions of Pope Francis's pontificate, "Laudato Si'" stands a bit taller than the rest. In May of 2015, this groundbreaking encyclical staked out a new frontier of dialogue between the church and the contemporary world. It gave voice to the wisdom of faith in the public square and garnered the respect of many who routinely dismiss the church as antiquated and irrelevant.

Now, as we observe the 10th anniversary of its release, it's worth considering how we can not only extend the conversation on the "care for our common home" but build on it. Yet, carrying something forward invariably means passing something down. And that task is usually more difficult than it looks. Attention spans are short. Priorities evolve and shift. The next new and shiny thing distracts us. The moment fades.

That is why ecologists Kathleen Hoenke and Bill Jacobs have set themselves to the task of blazing a different path, one that brings the church's teaching on ecology and conservation to children.

"God Made That! Catholic Nature Field Guide" brings the wonder of creation to kids in a way that develops in them a Christian worldview. Drawing from their professional backgrounds, the authors provide countless ways for families to encounter creation with joy, with activities designed for every kind of environment. In the process, "God Made That!" connects the science kids are learning in school with the faith they received at baptism and brings creation and stewardship into conversation with what we believe. This book shows kids that there is complementarity, not conflict, between science and faith. It affirms the ongoing presence and activity of the Holy Spirit in the world and helps children to see that God is still creating.

Catholic children must be given more than the radical environmentalism so stridently promoted by the secular world. They must learn to receive creation as a primordial and marvelous gift from their Creator and recover the capacity to enjoy it. How? By learning once again how to play in the natural world and explore it. "God Made That!" is a worthwhile resource for doing just that.



- Jaymie Stuart Wolfe is a Catholic convert, wife, and mother of eight. Inspired by the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales, she is an author, speaker, and musician, and provides freelance editorial services to numerous publishers and authors as the principal of One More Basket. Find Jaymie on Facebook or follow her on Twitter @YouFeedThem.