Chances are you have a museum or park nearby. And chances are that museum or park has programs for kids — programs that will teach them about nature. Make a calendar of these events and attend as many as you can. Range out some — up to a three-hour drive — and see if you can find some interesting programs farther afield.
Look for local gem and mineral mines and/or shows. Seek out fossil dig sites. Go to the aquarium — and hit the shows and demonstrations. Consider attending local reptile trade shows, which can be hotbeds of science if you ask questions do a little research beforehand. Mostly, get outside, get muddy, and see what you can find on the trail — or even your own backyard. My budding herpetologist finds many a toad without leaving home.
Find a beach with a museum/aquarium/science center. Go there, and plan your visit around the demonstrations and talks, even if that means you just get to watch feeding time . Ask your kids to write down questions beforehand, then ask them to the staff, who generally are happy to oblige interested, engaged children. Buy a plankton sieve and use it to discover tiny sea life. If you really want to have fun, ask your kids to draw some of the plankton and add the pictures to a family journal.
You’re also going to need to get over your aversion to creepy crawlies. Bigger, looser nets , work well for frogs and toads. Check out some library books and learn to identify what you catch. More fine-mesh nets work well for minnows and tadpoles — you can get these nets cheap in the fishing section of your sporting-goods store. For little kids, who tend to embrace animal capture like tiny Teddy Roosevelts, this is a chance to talk and read about metamorphosis.