Wild, Fun, and Inspiring Nature Quotes for Kids

Some of these nature quotes are modern and some are ancient by today’s standards. No matter when they were said or written, it’s astonishing how significant these words remain.

We hope these nature quotes for kids inspire you and encourage a lifelong love of the outdoors within your family.

Nature Quotes for Kids

This list starts with one of my favorites. Nature isn’t perfectly arranged. It’s WILD and free. It’s sometimes messy and overgrown, but there’s an underlying order. And I don’t know about you, but I’m always going to gravitate toward a field of wildflowers over a perfectly manicured hedge.

In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. ~ Alice Walker

‘Heaven on Earth’ is a choice you must make, not a place you must find. ~ Dr. Wayne Dyer

Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet. ~ Thích Nhất Hạnh

The earth does not belong to us. We belong to the earth. ~ Chief Seattle

For me the door to the woods is the door to the temple. ~ Mary Oliver, Upstream

Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better. ~ Albert Einstein

He is happiest who hath power to gather wisdom from a flower. ~ Mary Howitt

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The earth has music for those who will listen. ~ George Santayana

All my life through, the new sights of nature made me rejoice like a child. ~ Marie Curie

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. ~ Khalil Gibran

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. ~ Lao Tzu

Like music and art, love of nature is a common language that can transcend political or social boundaries. ~ Jimmy Carter

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. ~ John Muir

To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug. ~ Helen Keller

One individual cannot possibly make a difference, alone. It is individual efforts, collectively, that makes a noticeable difference—all the difference in the world! ~ Dr. Jane Goodall

 There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
  There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
  There is society where none intrudes,
  By the deep Sea, and music in its roar:
  I love not Man the less, but Nature more. ~ George Gordon Byron

Quotes About Children and Nature

This collection of thoughts and advice is more geared toward parents. Experts (and your own instincts) agree – our children need more time outside. Unstructured play and access to nature is good for their physical and mental health.

Here are quotes from experts on the importance of getting kids out in nature.

“In the last two decades, childhood has moved indoors. The average American boy or girl spends just four to seven minutes in unstructured outdoor play each day, and more than seven hours each day in front of an electronic screen.” Find more on the body, mind, and spirit benefits of getting outside at the National Wildlife Foundation.

If we want children to flourish, to become truly empowered, let us allow them to love the earth before we ask them to save it. ~ David Sobel

“In nature, there is space for every child, regardless of ability. And if you can get a child hooked on friluftsliv early, it will be a powerful antidote to the allure of digital devices and the sedentary lifestyle that often results from excessive screentime.” ~ Linda McGurk, author of There’s No Such Thing As Bad Weather and The Open Air Life

“Nature captures them, draws them in, and engages with them at a deep and meaningful level, providing a place to learn, grow, and even heal through play.” ~ Ginny Yurich founder of the 1000 Hours Outside movement and author of Until the Streetlights Come On

“If you really want a child to thrive and blossom, lose the screens for the first few years of their lives. During those key developmental periods, let them engaging creative play. Let them explore their surroundings and allow them opportunities to experience nature. But most importantly, let them experience boredom; there is nothing healthier for a child then to learn how to use their own interior resources to work through the challenges of being bored.” ~ Nicholas Kardaras, PhD

“By keeping children under constant supervision, we are keeping them from attaining the very freedom they need to move their bodies fully and frequently throughout the day. Unrestricted play is one of the most valuable educational opportunities we can offer our children.” ~ Angela Hanscom, Balanced and Barefoot

“Unstructured play and nature downtime give children the opportunity to develop passions, interests, and competencies of their own choosing and significantly lowers their stress.” ~ Colleen Kessler, Raising Resilient Sons

Let the children be free; encourage them;
let them run outside when it is raining;
let them remove their shoes when they find a puddle of water;
and when the grass of the meadows is wet with dew,
let them run on it and trample it with their bare feet;
let them rest peacefully when a tree invites them to sleep beneath its shade;
let them shout and laugh when the sun wakes them in the morning.
~ Maria Montessori

Quotes That Encourage Protecting the Environment

These nature quotes can help kids understand how important their efforts are to safeguard our resources. When kids feel they have power to protect the environment, they are more likely to take action.

Do your little bit of good where you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world. ~ Desmond Tutu

We will conserve only what we love. We love only what we know. We know only what we are taught. ~ Baba Dioum

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. ~ Mahatma Ghandi

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. ~ Margaret Mead

The environment, after all, is where we all meet, where we all have a mutual interest. It is one thing that all of us share. It is not only a mirror of ourselves, but a focusing lens on what we can become. ~ Lady Bird Johnson

The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. ~ Joseph Addison

The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard. ~ Gaylord Nelson 

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky. We fell them down and turn them into paper, that we may record our emptiness. ~ Kahlil Gibran

May your life preach more loudly than your lips. ~ William Ellery Channing

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not. ~ Dr. Seuss (The Lorax)

The Earth is what we all have in common. ~ Wendell Berry

Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned will we realize we cannot eat money. ~ Alanis Obomsawin

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Wildness reminds us what it means to be human, what we are connected to rather than what we are separate from. ~ Terry Tempest Williams

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. ~ Rachel Carson

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. ~ Native American Proverb

I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery – air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, “This is what it is to be happy.” ~ Sylvia Plath 

Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty. ~ Albert Einstein

When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. ~ John Muir

There is hope if people will begin to awaken that spiritual part of themselves, that heartfelt knowledge that we are caretakers of this planet. ~ Brooked Medicine Eagle

What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

The poetry of the earth is never dead. ~ John Keats

To waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. ~ William Shakespeare

Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. ~ Hans Christian Andersen

We must teach our children to smell the earth, to taste the rain, to touch the wind, to see things grow, to hear the sun rise and night fall – to care. ~ John Cleal

A nation that destroys is soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people. ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. ~ Anne Frank 

It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment. ~ Ansel Adams

Preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known. ~ Carl Sagan

Plant seeds of happiness, hope, success, and love; it will all come back to you in abundance. This is the law of nature. ~ Steve Maraboli

Do you have a favorite nature quote? If so, tell us the ones you love in the comments.

If you’re an educator looking to take this further, find ways to talk with kids about climate change here.