MCC – Page 3 – Kids Discover Nature

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 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.

Destinations

Summer Vacation in New England: Family Fun and Nature…

by MCC

Last summer we packed the car and headed north to the Green Mountains of Vermont where we spent five days at Smuggler’s Notch Resort, which is situated in one of the most beautiful and ecologically diverse natural areas of New England. Though it is well-known for winter kids programs and skiing, it also caters to families vacationing in the summer and provides ample opportunity to connect to nature. In fact, it guarantees families will have fun. With the help of its award-winning children’s programs and ample opportunity for outdoor fun and exploration, we anticipated a great vacation.

Situated at the foot of Mount Mansfield, Smuggs (as it is fondly called) is located on Route 108 between Stowe and Jeffersonville. The drive through the historic and beautiful Smugglers’ Notch Pass and arrived at Smuggs on a sunny day and immediately noticed the breathtaking views of the mountains. Upon arrival we were welcomed by friendly staff and immediately felt like part of the Smuggs family. The first thing we noticed is that kids were everywhere — running, jumping, laughing and enjoying fun in the outdoors.

Activities, Activities, Activities!

There are so many activities available at Smuggler’s Notch, you would have to stay the entire summer to take advantage of them all. There is truly something for everyone! Between the children’s programs, guided hikes and “wikes” (a cross between a walk and a hike), the nature center, eight heated pools, waterslides, splash pools, a driving range, splash parties, bonfire sing-alongs, fishing, biking, climbing and the first of its kind canopy tour in Vermont, enjoying the outdoors is what it’s all about at this resort! You can opt to spend the entire time together as a family and enjoy the numerous activities geared towards families or can enjoy time separately and take advantage of the many kid and adult oriented activities and camps.

Summer Camp to the Max

We registered our daughter for three-days of the Trail Blazers camp. It is Smugg’s version of summer camp — but this is no typical summer camp. Hands down, it offers the most unique programs and activities I have ever seen or experienced and much is focused on nature and the outdoors. The Trail Blazers are encouraged to appreciate nature through nature related games, arts and crafts, nature observations with simple gear such as nets and magnifying glasses, and easy hikes through forests and fields. Not knowing whether Beaner would actually go to camp without crying or wanting to leave early, we quickly learned she was just fine and too busy having fun to even give her parents a second thought. At the end of the day she raved about how much fun she had how her counselor was so terrific. To this day, she still talks about her. Her only complaint was that she was stuck in the kiddie pool with the non or beginning swimmers, even though she could swim. This was a bummer and I tried to arrange for her to have access to the larger pool, but that would have a required her to be with a different age group. She managed to have fun on the slides in the waterfalls, and the time spent swimming was a small portion of the overall day and experience. In the end, she had so much fun, she requested to attend camp for an additional day.

Fun for All

While our daughter was at day camp, we took advantage of some of the other family oriented activities like the Bears and Berries wike (a walk plus hike) and the Family Ties River Walk. Both were fun and educational and I was impressed by the knowledge of the trip leaders.

You can spend a lot of time late afternoons at the various pools, which were never overcrowded and situated in beautiful settings. We spent hours enjoying the water and the pleasant atmosphere. One thing we learned was that late afternoons were often interrupted with thunderstorms, which caused a bit of chaos when the lifeguards had to clear the pools. However, I appreciated their concern for safety and after calling for a ride, we were always driven back to our condo, where we would safely sit on the covered porch and watch the amazing site of downpours and lightening in the mountains.

We also enjoyed the resort’s nature center and interpretive paths through the different areas of the resort that explained its efforts to be eco-friendly. I was impressed by how the management and employees are committed to being responsible stewards of Vermont’s natural resources. The resort is home to Bicknell’s Thrush, a species of special concern in Vermont, black bear and an abundance of other fish and wildlife species. Its habitat, wetlands and natural vegetation are managed with concern for creating a landscape that meets both the needs of the resort and its guests, as well as nature.

The property is huge and driving your vehicle is cumbersome. The resort encourages use of its free on-demand shuttle service to get from place. Another options is to walk, which is great exercise, but can be tough little kids.

Overall, our stay at Smuggler’s Notch was fun, relaxing and memorable. If the goal of your family summer vacation is to connect with nature and have lots of good, old-fashioned family fun with many options for activities, then Smuggler’s Notch should be on your list of resorts to visit.

Camping with kids

Tips to Help You Find Great Summer Outdoor Camps…

by MCC

It’s time to start thinking about where to send the kids to camp this summer. No doubt, your local parenting magazines have ads for various area camps splattered throughout. If you are going to send your kids to summer camp, now is the time to start planning. Not only will you get spots at your top picks when you register early, but you’ll avoid hearing the “I’m bored!” complaint from your kids because they’ll have something better to do than hang around the house all day ALL SUMMER.

Consider this — rather than sign them up for the now typical offering of soccer, computer, basketball, Lego, tumbling camp and the like, why not go the more traditional route and send them to an outdoor camp? They include all the fun stuff like camping, archery, fishing, target shooting, animal tracking, orienteering, hiking, swimming in lakes, cooking by campfire, sleeping in cabins and tents and learning outdoor survival skills. It’s the classic picture we all have in our minds from our camping days.

If you have to specifically look for an outdoor camp for the traditional camp experience. What exactly are outdoor camps? After all, kids are outdoors when they play soccer, tennis, etc. Well, outdoor camps include activities that focus mainly on traditional outdoor activities like boating, hiking and those I mentioned above.

For a multitude of reasons, the popularity of this type of camp has declined. But, given all the news these days about children needing to reconnect with the outdoors and nature, outdoor camps may be enjoying a comeback because they are just what the doctor ordered to help fight childhood depression, obesity and attention deficit disorder. In fact, according to a multitude of research studies, children who are connected to nature are actually better learners. Additionally, a child who is active in nature has reduced stress and increased attention span. Wouldn’t it be great to send your child back to school this fall with an improved ability to learn, increased attention span, less stress and a real connection to nature? Traditional outdoor camps provide an abundance of the outdoors. In fact, their whole purpose is to create that connection and benefit kids in those ways.

If you think you would like to go this route, below is valuable information to get you started. The links will help you find and learn about traditional outdoor camps and what they offer campers.

MySummerCamps.com is an online database that includes outdoor camps as a possible search query and has more than 10,000 camps listed. You can do a specific search for the activity on which you would like your child to focus. Also try the American Camping Association’s site and click on its “Find A Camp” button. It lists all types of camps, but includes many with an outdoorsy focus.

If you have older kids and are looking for adventure or travel camps try: Outward Bound, Moondance Adventures, Adventures Cross Country or Bold Earth.

Lastly, if you want your kids to stay close and would like to go the less expensive route, look for nature specific programs offered by your local park and recreation department or the YMCA. Most offer at least a few day camps that are conducted outside and may include swimming, hiking or even outdoor art lessons.

Good luck and if you find a great camp or have one to recommend, please post it in the comments section.

Birds

Join the Great Backyard Bird Count February 12-15

by MCC

As a follow up to my previous post, here is a wonderful outdoor activity you can do with your children. In that post, I listed “feeding the birds” as an easy activity to use to encourage them to go outside. Well, this one will help you take it one step further because it will help you teach them about nature.

Consider participating in the National Audubon Society’s Great Backyard Bird Count coming up in a few weeks. At the end of this post, I have included the official press release from the National Audubon Society, which includes all the information you need to participate.

If you choose to participate with your children, I recommend taking them to the library to borrow a couple of bird identification books. You can browse through them and point out birds you are likely to find in your yard. Some easy ones are Northern Cardinals, Blue Jays, Black Crows, Black-Capped Chickadees and the Tufted Titmouse. Have them look at the photos or drawings and then read about each species’ habits such as what they eat, where they will build nests in the Spring, etc. Or you can browse the site www.allaboutbirds.org, courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which includes a plethora of information about birds, how to attract them to your yard and birding basics. I also suggest practicing outside with them a few days before the bird count. This will give them some experience in looking for birds and confidence in their ability to find and name them. You could also purchase a set of binoculars to help them feel like official “birdwatchers,” but it isn’t necessary.

Next, go outside between February 12-15 and count. Then, enter your results at http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/input. Audubon, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada use the infromation to learn more about birds and how to protect them. Be sure to send me comments about what you spotted in your backyard. And lastly, have fun!

JOIN THE GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT

February 12-15

New York, NY, January 27, 2010 – Bird watchers coast to coast are invited to take part in the 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, Friday, February 12, through Monday, February 15, 2010.

Participants in the free event will join tens of thousands of volunteers counting birds in their own backyards, local parks or wildlife refuges.

Each checklist submitted by these “citizen scientists” helps researchers at Audubon, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada learn more about birds and how to protect them. Last year, participants turned in more than 93,600 checklists online, creating the continent’s largest instantaneous snapshot of bird populations ever recorded.

“Taking part in the Great Backyard Bird Count is a great way to get outside with family and friends, have fun, and help birds—all at the same time,” said Audubon Education Vice President, Judy Braus. “Even if you can identify a few species you can provide important information that enables scientists to learn more about how the environment is changing and how that affects our conservation priorities.”

Anyone can take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count, from novice bird watchers to experts. Participants count birds for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as they wish) on one or more days of the event and report their sightings online at www.birdcount.org. One 2009 participant said, “Thank you for the opportunity to participate in citizen science. I have had my eyes opened to a whole new interest and I love it!”

“The GBBC is a perfect first step toward the sort of intensive monitoring needed to discover how birds are responding to environmental change,” said Janis Dickinson, Director of Citizen Science at the Cornell Lab. “Winter is such a vulnerable period for birds, so winter bird distributions are likely to be very sensitive to change. There is only one way—citizen science—to gather data on private lands where people live and the GBBC has been doing this across the continent for many years. GBBC has enormous potential both as an early warning system and in capturing and engaging people in more intensive sampling of birds across the landscape.”

Bird populations are always shifting and changing. For example, 2009 GBBC data highlighted a huge southern invasion of Pine Siskins across much of the eastern United States. Participants counted 279,469 Pine Siskins on 18,528 checklists, as compared to the previous high of 38,977 birds on 4,069 checklists in 2005. Failure of seed crops farther north caused the siskins to move south to find their favorite food.

On the www.birdcount.org website, participants can explore real-time maps and charts that show what others are reporting during the count. The site has tips to help identify birds and special materials for educators. Participants may also enter the GBBC photo contest by uploading images taken during the count. Many images will be featured in the GBBC website’s photo gallery. All participants are entered in a drawing for prizes that include bird feeders, binoculars, books, CDs, and many other great birding products.

In 2010, Bird Studies Canada (BSC) joins the GBBC as the program’s Canadian partner. “Bird Studies Canada is delighted to be the Canadian partner for this extremely valuable program,” said George Finney, President of BSC. “Participating in the GBBC is an excellent way for Canadians to reconnect with their love of nature and birds.”

For more information about the GBBC, visit the website at www.birdcount.org. Or contact the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at (800) 843-2473, [email protected], or Audubon at (202) 861-2242 ext. 3050, [email protected]. In Canada, participants may contact Bird Studies Canada at 1-888-448-2473 ext. 134 or [email protected].

The Great Backyard Bird Count is made possible, in part, by generous support from Wild Birds Unlimited.

Photo courtesy the National Digital Library of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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