Blog – Page 9 – Kids Discover Nature

Our Winter Friends

by MCC

Today is a good day to fill the bird feeder. It is cold and the birds will most certainly be looking for an easy meal since they will be using more of their energy to stay warm. Feeding the birds is a great way to reconnect your children with nature. It allows them to become instant naturalists because it is so easy to observe birds and discuss their behavior. You can help your children identify the birds that appear at your feeder.

Our birds flew South for the winter months ago. Lately, we have seen Blue Jays, Chickadees, Nuthatches, little Downy Woodpeckers, and Tufted Titmice visiting the feeder. The Northern Juncos arrived sometime last week. They must be happy to be in the New England weather. To them, this is like being on vacation in paradise. What we think of as cold and wintry they think is balmy and warm. Juncos travel all the way from the northern reaches of Canada in mid-fall and stay until returning in the spring.

A family of turkeys visits the feeder every couple of days. There are 13 members in this family. One of the jakes tried to land on the feeder and almost knocked the entire thing to the ground before he decided he was too big to perch on it and eat. Luckily for everyone on the ground because they received a free meal.

Once a child is able to identify several birds, she will enjoy looking for them each day. My daughter is eager to head downstairs each morning to see what birds she will find. The fact that she provided the food they are eating makes her feel important and helps build her confidence.

Insects

Rainy days and worms!

by MCC

This is my first post ever on a blog. I am feeling the weight of the impact of those first few words. What do I say? Will people be interested? As I sit and stare at the screen I realize I should just type what is on my mind. So here I go!

My children are on my mind….as they are almost every moment of every day. However, in regard to the topic of this blog, I am thinking about how I am going to do something outside with them today. It’s a rainy, cold, damp and dreary day and the last thing I want to do is go outside. I opened the door to feel how cold it is and my son came toddling over, fighting to get through my legs to the outside. I shivered, kept him trapped behind my legs and closed the door. He screamed and stood pounding at the door obviously wanting to go outside. Then my young daughter said, “Hey, Mom! Can we go outside?” It was then that I realized children do not care much about the weather. They just want to be outside exploring as much as possible.

I had planned to begin this blog months ago in the summer, when the weather was nice and warm and there was plenty to do outside and thus, plenty of fodder for the blog. Today, I realized that parents are even more challenged to take their kids outside on days like today. During the cold months, when it gets dark early and you are not much motivated to root around in the yard, it it is hard to spend time in nature. It is during these months that taking your kids outside is the most important because they spend much of their day inside at school, at playgroup, during recess, etc. I also realized that if I am going to be true to my blog readers, I am going to have to press on even when I really would rather sit inside and read books.

My goal is to take my children outside every day. Even with the best intentions I do not make it outside every single day, but I definitely notice a difference in their behavior on the days it does not work out. They are rambunctious and get into trouble. Whenever this happens I think, “tomorrow we are definitely going outside.” I will strive to share our outdoor activities as often as possible to help give you ideas for taking your children outside and to help you connect them to nature!

So today we are heading outside into the damp, wet weather to reconnect with nature and we are going to look around the yard for worms. Yes, you read correctly, worms. In wet cooler weather, earthworms are close to the surface of the soil. Today is an ideal day for hunting worms, as it is lightly drizzling rain (if it’s sunny where you live you can find them by sprinkling the soil with water and digging down into the dirt — an activity kids especially enjoy). As you walk around the yard they begin to pop up onto the surface. Whether or not kids like to touch worms, they are always mesmerized by them. Once you find some you can study them and talk about their color, size, shape and how they feel. You can explain that they play an important role in nature because they assure that trees and flowers grow by helping to keep the soil healthy.

Earthworms tunnel through the soil like a plow by moving stones and creating air pockets. This keeps the soil from getting compacted and allows the roots of trees and plants room to grow. Not only that, they eat rotten leaves and other matter and their poop (what kid doesn’t like to talk about poop!), called castings, contains nutrients that plants and trees need for healthy growth. You can ask your children what their bodies need to help them grow. You can also explain that worms are food for many creatures, especially birds. You can watch Robins in particular hunt for worms. You often see them running across lawns listening and looking for earthworms in the ground. After explaining all this, before you know it at least 30 minutes will have passed. You will head back inside and everyone will feel good about being outside for a little while.

Well, there you have it. My first tip on getting your kids outside. I pictured in my mind a more glamorous beginning for my blog. After all, there are certainly more glamorous topics about nature. But, in the end, this blog is about how to enjoy and discover nature in simple ways. The ways in which children most enjoy it!

Now get outside and enjoy worm hunting!

Outdoor Activities for Kids

Your kids didn’t go outside today? What’s your excuse?

by MCC

Another winter day has passed. Did your kids spend it hanging around in the house after school watching television or sitting in front of the computer? I have heard the excuses from my kids — “it’s cold, it’s yucky out, I don’t feel like it” and one of my all time favorites….”it’s boring!” Why is it so hard to get kids outside these days? Sometimes I get tired of pushing them out the door and feel like giving in and letting them hang around inside. And it’s true, winter weather makes it hard to go outside to play. It’s so much easier to be outside when the sun warms your face and you don’t have to bundle up.

Really, when it comes down to it though, why is getting kids outside such a challenge? Sometimes I find it strange that I even write a blog about the topic. Shouldn’t it just come naturally? When I was growing up, it was just what my friends and I did. When we arrived home from school, we went outside. Our mothers and fathers didn’t have concerns about us being overweight due to lack of exercise, not getting enough vitamin D, having our intelligence suffer from too much television and time on computers. When did it become so difficult that there is a need for numerous web sites devoted to the topic of enjoying nature and the outdoors?

I know the adult excuses — we’re too busy, there’s too much homework, not enough time in the day, it’s dark too early, etc., etc. etc. Are parents so busy that we can’t spare 20-30 minutes to take our kids outside or make them out go out (if they are old enough) while we get things done around the house even though we know it is so beneficial to them?

Let’s all make it a goal for 2019 to spend more time in nature. It can be done relatively easy if done with baby steps. Here are some good examples:

1. Encourage children walk to school or the bus stop three days per week. Or, reverse it and make it for the walk home. There is an international effort to promote this cause: iwalktoschool.org.
2. Ask your kids to help you take out the garbage or recyclables out to the currb and stop along the way to look at the night sky or make footprints in the snow.
3. Purchase a birdfeeder and start feeding the birds. Have them help you fill it with seed periodically. The National Audubon Society can help you learn how.
4. Go to a book store and look for interesting books to learn about nature. Your children might enjoy a wildlife or bird identification book, activity books or gardening books. Then use the books to do an activity a couple of times per week.
5. Go outside and locate a place to plant a flower or vegetable garden once Spring arrives. Over the next month or two you and your children can decide what you want grow and how you will plant your garden.

Once you accomplish your goal, you can increase your outdoor time little by little. Allow your kids to use their imagination to help figure out what they can do outside. Eventually, going outside will become easier, part of your daily ritual and everyone will have fun!

I invite you to post ideas on simple things you do to encourage your children to spend time outside. You ideas will help all of us reach our goal. Thank you!

Nature Crafts

Fairies and Elves in the Yard

by Jodi Valenta

A favorite childhood fantasy right in your own backyard

You can inspire your child’s imagination in your own backyard and connect them to nature at the same time! Children enjoy stories about fairies and elves and creating a home for them utilizing natural materials is a fun way to keep them busy and allow their imagination to bloom!

Making Elf and Fairy Houses
You can make them anywhere using materials you find in the yard or in a park. Ideas are fallen leaves, fruit, bark, seeds, nuts, sticks, moss, stones or anything your children find interesting. Follow these steps to help your child create on on his or her own.

Find an appropriate spot to build the houses such as between the roots of a tree, beside a log, among a pile a stones or beside a boulder. Allow your child to choose a spoton their own.
Allow your child to arrange the materials into a house they envision in their imagination.
You can help them add walkways, windows, fencing, doors, and a even a garden.
As children search and play they will become familiar with the natural materials and develop an awareness of the never-ending process of growth and decay as they find rotting leaves or chewed nuts.
Allow them plenty of time to create whatever they want.
Choose somewhere they can return to easily. Their play can be ongoing over time and they may create an entire village.
Try visiting different environments where they can collect different types of materials.
Make sure everyone washes their hands when finished!!

I introduced this activity to my children and my five-year old daughter was enthralled. She was so involved that she forgot to ask me to play tag or hide n’ seek, which is a daily favorite. My two-year-old son enjoyed copying my daughter and made little piles with his collected materials and he beamed with pride. We were outside until dusk and I had to drag them inside!

You can look forward to watching their little village grow over the next several weeks and then be buried under the first snowfall. It will be especially exciting to rediscover it next spring when it magically appears again after the snow melts.

You can end the day with a fun romp in the giant leaf pile. The perfect end to a perfect day outdoors.

Warning: Do not let your children collect fungi or berries that could be poisonous. If there is any question in your mind a “no touch” policy is best.

Nature Activities for Kids

Falling for Fall

by MCC

How to capture the joy of this favorite season with your kids

Ahh the sights, sounds, and scents of Fall. All around creatures are going into hibernation mode. Sometimes wouldn’t it be great to head south along with the birds! Speaking of migration, now is the time that you can point out flocks of birds migrating to your kids. We recently had huge flock of Blackbirds pass through our neighborhood, as they do every year. It’s really neat to watch hundreds of birds foraging together in the leaves and grass. When they fly they are huge mass blackness against the blue sky.

Around this time, we also watch for the Northern Juncos to arrive here yet from Canada. Now that the wind has turned brisk and cold, we expect them any day now.

You and your kids can watch the winter preparations going on around you, too. You can point out he squirrels and chipmunks foraging for food. Talk about what tress lose their leaves first and last. Often its the maples, birch, tulip and sassafras trees followed by the oak trees. You can easily spend and entire afternoon identifying leaves you all find. Another idea is to race acorns down a hill to see which one wins.

You know those rocks that kids often collect and are found alll over the house! Now is the time to convert to items found around the yard or in the neighborhood park. All kids enjoy collecting things and collections are especially handy to help them learn sorting , counting, comparing and contrasting.

Here are some tips on having fun with collections during Fall:

Ask you children to find a boxes, jars or plastic containers from your recyclables bin. They can paint or decorate them prior to heading outside.
Once outside look for items on the ground. You can look for items in several categories.
- Seeds – Maple “helicopter” seeds, acorns, hazelnuts, rose hips, various cones, chestnuts, berries
- Leaves of all varieties and colors
- Twigs and branches
- Spent fern and flower fronds

Warning: Do not let your children collect fungi or berries that could be poisonous. If there is any question in your mind a “no touch” policy is best.

3. Spread all the items they have found out onto the lawn and have them sort them by color, type, size, etc.
4. Use use the items to make fun things like masks, decorative hats, mobile and much more.

Once your child is fisnihed, ask him or her to put all the items into the various containers lable them and organize them on a shelf them inside. This is the perfect was to always have items to use in artwork or creations throughout the winter! The bonus is that they are natural and totally free!

There are so many fun activities to do in the fall! Check back next week for more fun activity ideas.

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