Jodi Valenta – Page 2 – Kids Discover Nature

8 Step Plan to Disconnect Your Kids from the…

by Jodi Valenta

“School’s out for summer!”
That notorious verse by Alice Cooper brings with it thoughts of all the possibilities 10 sunlit hours brings. Aside from no schedules, studying and homework, summer means many wonderful days of hanging out at home.

The Challenge of those Wonderful Long Summer Days

Along with the fun of summer comes a bit of angst for parents. There lies ahead the challenge of keeping the kids busy and fending off boredom and bickering while all the while resisting the urge to stare at screens. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that kids shouldn’t have any screen time. The challenge is how to fill it with more hours of the day doing something else, preferably outdoors. If you have a game plan for each day, it will be easier to keep the day full with fun, quality activities. As a result, children will reap the many benefits of spending time in nature, and you will be able to carve out some time for yourself in the process.

The Plan for Success

Turn it off – Yes, turn the damn thing off! Neither your children nor you need it. Do yourself and your family a favor and stop the constant glow. Create rules that limit them to a reasonable amount of time. This link can give you information to help you determine what amount of time is best for your family
Write a plan – Ok, now sit down and figure out what you want to do this summer. It’s not about all those projects you have been meaning to finish. It is about developing a family outdoor fun plan. List all the activities (camping, biking, hiking, swimming, picnicking, etc., etc.), you would like to do and all the places you would like to go and see.
Set goals – Determine how many activities and or/day trips you want to do each day or week
Develop a schedule – Put your goals into a daily schedule. This will help keep you focused and prevent the urge to turn on the TV or another screen. You’ll be amazed at how quickly your summer calendar will fill up once you start filling in the days. Plus, you and the kids will have something to look forward to all summer. ***Added bonus, your children will appreciate having a schedule as it will help thwart the boredom bug. Plus, they can help stick with the plan.
Be prepared – There are two ways to be prepared. First, you will hear the inevitable complaints about not wanting to do the planned activities for all the typical reasons (I don’t feel like it, it’s boring, so-and-so doesn’t have to do all this stupid stuff, I’m too tired, etc., etc.). If you are prepared for the complaints, you will be better able to ignore them. Second, if you have everything organized for the activity the night before, you’ll be ready to go and won’t waste time in the morning trying to prepare and then give up because you feel like it’s too late and there are other things you could be doing.
Let It Go – Don’t worry so much about what’s not getting done and try to remember that your children are only young once and that summer provides a precious opportunity to spend quality time with them. Plus, you will notice over time that because they have had exercise, were able to breathe fresh air, felt the freedom that being in nature brings, had your undivided attention for a solid block of time and, as my dad says, “had the stink blown off of them,” they will be more willing to play independently and give you some time to yourself.
Go Outside – Even if it is as simple as digging in the dirt, drawing with driveway chalk, or lying on a blanket in the yard and watching for and listening to the birds, just get out there!
Enjoy – Yes, enjoy all the benefits of connecting your kids to nature while creating wonderful family memories.

Are you with me?

Writer’s Note – Inevitably some of my reader’s will have the opinion that summer is a time to do away with schedules and take a break from the planning and scheduling. I do not disagree. However, planning to BE OUTSIDE is very different than planning for the school year and all the activities and expectations it brings. The purpose of my 8-Step Plan is to provide parents with a strategy for breaking the screen habit and creating a new, healthier one. Experts say it takes 21 days to break an old habit and adopt a new one, so this cannot be accomplished without a serious plan of attack. Once you do it, you will find you can ease up on the plan because being outside will become a normal part of your life.

Camping with kids

Must-Haves to Make Overnight Camping in the Backyard Fun

by Jodi Valenta

I Can Feel It in the Air
I don’t know about you, but this time of year gets me thinking about s’mores and cozy sleeping bags. When the end-of-summer evenings begin to turn cool and there is a crisp feeling in the air, your backyard is the perfect place to camp and enjoy the weather. Why go to all the trouble of packing up and leaving home when you can have your own camping fun right in the backyard? No crowds, no park fees to pay, no hours to drive — just grab your stuff and make your backyard campsite your family’s new favorite place to be. To help you prepare for your evenings in the backyard, this is the first of a series of posts to help you get organized and stay safe with a very special post at the end about night critters

Can Camping in the Backyard Really be Fun?

Sure, it can! The nice thing about camping in the backyard is that you only need to worry about the essentials. It will take time to prepare everything, but having these items on-hand at the site will prevent you from having to trek back and forth dozens of times between the campsite and the house. The key to a successful and fun backyard camping with kids is to make sure they are comfortable, safe and have things to do to keep them busy. To be sure everyone has an enjoyable experience I developed the following checklist:

Essential Family Backyard Camping Checklist:

For comfort

Tent (or blanket, tarp, bed sheet or sheet of plastic draped over a clothesline or tree branch, with corners held down by stakes or rocks)
Sleeping bag (or a sheet and blankets or comforter)
Sleeping pad (or air mattress, old comforter or blanket) to keep out the chill from the ground
Pillows
Camp chairs or something to sit upon
Table or blanket for eating and game playing outside
Clothing – several layers, which can be removed or added depending on the weather
Hats – use your judgment on the type based on the weather
Insect repellent
Flashlight (with extra batteries) for trips to the bathroom, easing night time fears and reading – one for each child to prevent arguments.

For meals

Full drinking bottles
Munchies and/or food you can cook if you have a campfire (i.e. marshmallows, graham crackers, chocolate bars for s’mores)
Long, sturdy sticks for cooking over the camp fire (i.e. s’mores, hot dogs)
Cooking and eating utensils
Pocket knife
Napkins and paper or dish towels
Water (in a jug or cooler)
Plates and cups
Matches
Trash bag

For fun

Games, books, playing cards, crayons, paper
Identification guides (field guide to animals, insects, birds, trees, stars, etc.)
Items for nature exploration (magnifying glass, binoculars, journal, etc.)
Camera
Musical instruments and song books

If you know of something your family can’t be without when camping in the yard, please add to my list via the comments below. We would all like to hear your great ideas!

Please check back on Monday for tips on how to stay safe when camping in the backyard.

Birds

Five Outdoor Activities to Cure Spring Fever ~ Even…

by Jodi Valenta

Oh my! It was 19 degrees outside this morning. By the calendar, Spring arrived four days ago, but by the thermometer it certainly doesn’t feel that way outside! If you are desperate to get some quality outside time that does not require big effort, following is a list of easy activities designed get you and your families outside, even for just a few minutes.

Look for signs of spring. We walked around the yard over the weekend looking for spring bulbs. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any, because we have to much SNOW on the ground. Maybe you will be luckier than we were.
Listen for and watch the birds. The birds are fully into their springtime activities. Watching them and listening to their chirps is enough to convince the toughest skeptics that spring really is here. Hearing them sing and watching them flit around on the branches really raised our spirits. You might even catch a few migrants passing through on their way back to their breeding grounds.
Find a sunny spot and lie down. The sun will feel so good on your face! Just 10 minutes and you will believe the temps are in the 50’s.
Go for a walk. Back to basics on this one. The warm afternoon sun will warm you up fast, even if the temps are hovering in the 20’s or 30’s.
Watch the sunrise or sunset. Along with the longer days and the time of year comes the opportunity to enjoy the the beautiful colors of the sunrises and sunset and some amazing cloud formations.

Please share your ideas. Any inspiration is appreciated!

With and luck, Old Man Winter will officially bid his “adieu,” and we can all breathe a sign of relief.

Mammals

Wildlife Watching – Deer

by Jodi Valenta

Photo of deer family as seen in our woods during a snowstorm

We have a large family of deer that uses our property as part of their home. We have seen a doe and her six fawns and three bucks that pal around together. They have provided my family with quite an education in deer behavior. We first met the doe the summer we moved into our house. At the time she had two fawns. They were seen once in a while on the outskirts of the property, chewing the underbrush. Each summer since, she has birthed two to three more fawns, which has made for quite a large family.

A brief note on deer biology
Female deer stay together as a family unit and the males leave to lead a somewhat solitary life. Often they form a small group of two to three males, except during the rut (mating season). I often see three bucks pass through our woodland and one day watched them for several hours while they were eyeing the doe and her female offspring during the mating season, though without much luck.

Overpopulation Wreaks Havoc
Needless to say, my shrubs and Hosta have paid the price with so many deer looking for tender morsels! We see more and more of them every year, and in the past several months we have begun to see them several times per week. I can only guess that they are being forced onto our property more often because they have less and less space elsewhere. As the family’s population continues to grow, there will be less and less food for them, which means more damage to the forest underbrush and to our gardens. As much as it annoys me that I never see my plants bloom because they eat the buds (I use deer spray regularly, but they somehow know the second it wears off), I feel sorry for them and the fact that they are overpopulated and starving. Even the hunters we have in the area aren’t enough to keep the population at manageable levels.

Winter Entertainment
Ok, I got sidetracked…as I was saying they have provided much entertainment. The family has been particularly fond of our property during snowstorms. Each time we have had a snowfall, they bed down in the woodland behind our house. They stay there for hours, waiting out the storm. They are so unbelievably patient! As I watched the mother look over her brood quietly laying in the snow during the last storm, I couldn’t help but feel exasperated as I watched my own brood of two practically tear down our walls while they waited for the storm to end!

When it did finally end, my husband and I took the kids out to investigate the area where the deer were hanging out. Here are photos of what we found:

1) Deer tracks in the woods

2) Deer beds where they patiently waited out the snowstorm

Here is a photo of my children being little explorers – I call them my “little peepers.”

I am curious about whether you’ve had any experiences with deer. Do you like to watch them, do they eat your gardens? Do you hunt them? Please post your thoughts in the comments section.

Nature Activities for Kids

Connecting Kids to Nature – Now is the time!

by Jodi Valenta

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, parents often heard from a multitude of experts that kids were losing their connection to nature and the outdoors. We as parents have witnessed this ourselves. We were much more likely to spend the entire day outside playing with friends than kids are today. Now it’s harder to pry children away from their screens, whether it be a computer game, tablet, or smartphone. Often parents have to literally drag their kids outside in order to force them to get fresh air and exercise.

Now that we have spent hours upon hours at home and inside, we are all getting tired of staring at the same four walls. Our eyes and minds need a break from the screen and children, especially, need a break from Zoom and the opportunity to relax and spend time outdoors.

Please let me know what you think in the comments section.

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8 Step Plan to Disconnect Your Kids from the…

Must-Haves to Make Overnight Camping in the Backyard Fun

Five Outdoor Activities to Cure Spring Fever ~ Even…

Wildlife Watching – Deer

Connecting Kids to Nature – Now is the time!

Take the 30-Day Outdoor Challenge