Its range is not restricted within formal limits; it is neither botany, nor natural history, nor physics; neither instruction on light nor heat nor sound, but it wanders on a voyage of discovery into all these domains.
And in so far as it does this, it appeals very strongly to children.
Children usually delight in flowers and dislike botany, are fond of animals and rather indifferent to natural history.

Life is what awakens their interest; they love the living thing as a whole and do not care much for analysis or classification; these interests grow up later.
The object of informal nature study is to put children directly in touch with the beautiful and wonderful things which are within their reach.
Its lesson-book is everywhere, its time is every time, its spirit is wonder and delight.

This is for the children.

Those who teach it have to look beyond, and it is not so easy to teach as it is to learn.

It cannot, properly speaking, be learned by teachers out of books, though books can do a great deal.