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• Take walks around your neighborhood and find natural objects you can learn about.
• Pick up trash as you take your walks…you’re helping keep your environment green and clean.
• Collect objects you can use for nature crafts…stones, shells, fallen leaves, acorns, unusual sticks, and more.
• Listen to the birds and try to identify them by sound and sight.  Keep a list and add to it.  Mother taught me to take time to listen to the birds living around us and looking for new ones.
• Identify trees and leaves.  My dad, who worked in the woods as a youth, was forever pointing out trees and leaves to me.
• Take longer hikes as a family…to areas around you and places you encounter on your travels. 
• Learn about the geology and geography of your local area and other places.
• Expand your horizons!

What do you do as a family that’s nature related and allows you to enjoy the out-of-doors?

Post from: Blisstree

Nature Theme Week

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States,

 Encourage youngsters to go outdoors if there are safe areas around your home.  If not, see about taking them to a park , a nearby hiking area or national forest.

 Take walks around the neighborhood.  See how everything around you is changing with the seasons.  This also is an activity to engage in other seasons; compare and contrast what you find in each.

 Take weather observations from your home and keep a chart.  Research different types of weather, how clouds form, what causes the weather you’re experiencing, and even find some weather experiments to do.

 See if there is a nature center within easy distance from your home.  Plan a visit there and make it a half or full day’s outing, complete with picnic lunch.

 Do you have hiking trails near you?  Perhaps you live in the country and have places to hike right on your own property or the neighborhood.  We live on the edge of town, and the area around our home is wooded with trails over abandoned, overgrown  roads. These provide perfect places to hike and explore.

 Build a fort or shelter in your yard or on your property.  We live on 3 wooded acres.  The grandchildren have, for years, built forts or hiding places there, by themselves and with their friends.

 Children often enjoy camping out in the yard, or even on a porch, when the weather is welcoming.  My grandson pitched a tent on the deck last year.  He often used it as his get-away during the day, as well as sleeping there at night.

 What spring and summer activities do you engage in with the youngsters in your life?

Post from: Blisstree

Spring and Summer Parenting

What are you doing in the natural world around you this week?

*Working in the family garden…planting vegetables and flowers?

*Reading books about animals?

*Learning how to care for your pets?

*Exploring around your yard?   What have you found there?

*Taking a hike this weekend?  Or camping out?

*Catching fireflies?  Watching them light up a jar?  Then letting them loose.

*Watching ants scurrying along carrying food to their hill home?

*Lying on your back in the grass and looking at the clouds form all different shapes?

*Noticing the different shades of green on the leaves and bushes?

*Learning about thunderstorms?

Then searching through your books to learn more about these topics?

(Amazon image; click on cover for details)

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

Post from: Blisstree

10 Activities for Nature Week at One Book Two Book