Sun and Shadows

After a few rainy days, the sun is out, the sky is cloudless (for now), and the buds on shrubs and trees are opening into flowers and leaves. Two rabbits were hopping through the backyard this morning and my husband was lucky enough to catch sight of a coyote in the forest behind where he works. It turns out the coyote was snuffling around for the rabbit that revealed itself – and then got away (at top speed) from the predator.

I’m listening to birds singing, but it is harder to see them in the interplay of light and shadow up in the trees. Now it will be safe for them to start building nests that will be shielded by leafy shadows.

On a sunny day, take your kids outside and with chalk, trace their shadows on the driveway. Repeat thirty minutes later, and thirty minutes after that. For fun comparisons, the first time, trace around their feet and then trace the shadow. Every time after that, kids stand in their footprints before you trace their shadow. Even if kids are old enough to understand that the position of the sun in the sky alters the shape of shadows over the day, this is a fun activity.

After tracing three or four silhouettes, kids can color in the images, changing the color chalk they are using each time they have to cross a line – the end result is colorful and crazy, sort of like the child has become tie-dyed.

For more fun ideas, check out Shadow Art and Shadow Activities for Kids.

Puddle Science for Kids

If there’s a puddle, most kids will gravitate toward it. A few kids will hold back but oftentimes that is because of fear of mom or dad’s wrath with wet or muddy clothes. Pull out some old, stained, or never-quite-right clothing from your child’s wardrobe and designate them outdoor play clothes if, as mom or dad (or the adult who hands kids off to mom and dad) you are concerned with seeing grass stains and mud across the knees of a pair of jeans.

Spring and summer are great times of year to explore puddles because the weather is warmer and there is less chance of getting chilled. Rain boots are perfect for splashing around; although, an old pair of sneakers is fine as well. Raincoats can be hot and some kids are happier without a coat – if they can go inside and change into dry clothing after time outside, then kids don’t have to deal with the restriction of not getting wet.

Some kids will go outside and feel right at home exploring and playing in puddles. If your child is weather-wary, join them outdoors and guide them through a few simple activities.

Water Activities
If it is raining, watch the way the drops interact with the surface. Children will learn to look outside on a rainy day and predict how hard it is rainy by watching droplets hit the puddles.

Try floating leaves on puddles. Children will see how the depth of water affects the way the leaf boats can move.

Gather a collection of dry twigs (or use craft sticks) and measure the depth of a few puddles. Can the children hypothesize why some puddles are deeper than others?

Splash! Toss different objects into puddles of different depths. What reaction can kids get from a leaf, an acorn, a pebble, or even themselves! Watch for splash patterns. Kids may even want to measure the depth of water in a puddle after they’ve jumped into it.

Encourage children to come up with their own experiments and games – perhaps they will trace the edge of a puddle and measure by the day or hour how quickly it takes to evaporate. If kids haven’t spent a lot of time outdoors in the rain, they may range from timid to wild; try the experience a few times so they can get used to exploring the rainy world.

Rainy Day Spring Art Projects

Although there are a lot of projects that you can do indoors on a rainy day, these art projects for kids require some rainy to complete these crafts. These projects work best with a light rain; a downpour will wash the color out of the paper. Kids will need to bring these projects outside and leave them in the rain for a few minutes.

Rainy Day Sun Catcher
Run your hand over a coffee filter so to make it as flat as possible. Color the paper with washable marker. Bring the filter outside and set it on a deck or driveway. Once the paper is wet (which depends on how hard it is raining), bring the paper inside to dry. The water will encourage the ink to seep over the paper. When the paper is dry, tape these disks in a window that gets a lot of sun.

Tie Dye Wrapping Paper
You’ll need white paper towel and washable markers. Again color the paper (it isn’t necessary to cover the entire piece with marker) and set out in the rain for a couple of minutes. You can set the paper on trays (like a cookie sheet), but you want to use the back of the tray, particularly if it has sides, so you don’t trap a puddle of water. Hang or drape the paper so it dries. You can wrap small gifts in the paper, either taping
it closed or wrapping ribbon around it.

Painting with Watercolors
If you have a watercolor palette that has only hard bits of paint in the corners of each section, pop out the paint and break it into tiny pieces. Set the paper on the back of a tray or cookie sheet. Scatter the pieces over a sheet of watercolor paper in a random way or individually place the broken pieces of paint.

Bring outside and allow the rain to mix with the paint. This will take longer than the projects with the washable markers. When you bring the paper inside, you can either dab at the puddles of paint with a scrunched up piece of paper towel or you can sprinkle the paper with kosher salt – when the paint dries, you can brush off the salt leaving behind an interesting pattern.

Some kids fear getting wet (Do they have to change their clothes if they get damp? Will their mom become angry if there is mud on their shoes?). Some parents might view sending their kids out into the rain as a hassle. For these projects kids can run out and back in, with no need to change into boots and raincoat. Of course, while the kids are waiting for the paint and ink to do its thing, you can encourage the kids to run around in the rain, stomp in puddles, and look for earthworms on the surface soil. You could even join them.

Easter Games and Passover Activities that Welcome the Return of Spring

What is it about spring holidays that encourage a tradition of hide-and-seek? Those who celebrate Easter hide real eggs or plastic treat-filled eggs; and, a Passover custom is to hide a piece of matzo and then send the children to go look for it – the finder gets a treat. Is it that flowers are popping out of the ground where nothing but dirt was for months and leaves are starting to crack open the tight buds that hid them for so long that games of hiding and revealing seem appropriate?

Celebrate the season with a game of hide-and-go-seek. For variety, try the game probably best known as Sardines, in which everyone goes searching for “It” and then joins her when they find her. The challenge is for the increasingly larger group to remain hidden from those who are yet to find “It.”

Plan a scavenger hunt – there’s no reason it has to be for eggs. Theme Walks with Children describes six different scavenger hunts that you can do in nature or in an urban or suburban neighborhood. Or, play a game of Hot and Cold. Hide something, indoors or outdoors, and as seekers get closer to the object, call out, “tepid, warm, warmer” and as they move away from the item tell them, “cool, colder, icy.”

Although children might not care for the symbolism of these games, they are a reminder that Nature is revealing herself throughout this season.

A Teeny Tiny Nature Hunt

This hike requires kids to look for small items in nature and therefore forces them to walk more slowly. I find that one of the hardest challenges with taking kids into nature – convincing them that they can only really see things in nature if they move slow, giving them the opportunity to look around at their surroundings. If they are dawdling it’s either because they are deep in conversation or they are tired from charging along earlier.

For this nature hunt, give each child a penny. As they walk along, they try to look for things that fit, whole, on the penny. Rocks, seeds, nuts, evergreen needles, buds, grass heads, clover, moss, flowers, ants, millipedes, etc. can all fit on this small surface. If you feel a penny is too small for a child, you could use a yogurt lid, a poker chip, or any other flat surface (it doesn’t have to be round).

Children can do this activity in their backyard as well as any other location in nature. You can play this while walking along a trail or when you stop for a break and the kids want to wander around and explore the area where you’ve paused.

Because the items are so small, you can tell children that they can pluck a bud from a tree branch or a needle from a spruce tree; although, if you’d rather they not damage living plants you can ask kids to hold their penny up to an object in order to confirm the size.

Kids may want to play this game for five minutes or thirty minutes. If the children aren’t inclined to continue moving slowly after finding one or two tiny items, you can randomly call out, “Penny Hunt” while walking and give the children thirty seconds to find as many small objects as they can within that time.

However you play the game, it encourages everyone to notice things that they may have missed while walking along at top speed.

Nature Trail Code Game

This game requires two teams of at least two players each – one of the players on each team can be an adult. You can play this in a large, forested backyard or along the trail in a state forest. Avoid playing this in a wide open space because one team will be setting trail markers that tell the other team where to go.

You can make the patterns below with sticks or stones (or leaves, but they can get blown away). Of course, you can create your own codes, but both teams should do this together so the teams speak a common language. A representative of each team should record the codes on index cards or in a nature notebook so they don’t forget their stick and stone language.

One team heads out, laying trail codes that the other team will follow. Set the markers in the center of the trail. Although the sticks or stones should be large enough to be easily seen, there is no need to make them so large that they become a tripping hazard. After a ten minute or so head start, the second team sets out, reading the codes and following the team.

The first team continues laying markers for another ten minutes and then they can find an ending spot, just off the trail, where they can wait, perhaps with some snacks to share with the second team. For the trip back, the second team heads out first, laying new trail markers for the other team to follow.

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Go Straight

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Turn Right (reverse the direction of the arrow to indicate “Turn Left”)

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Turn around and Go Back


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Not This Way

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Cross the Stream

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Gone Home

Snake Deer Eagle Nature Walk

This walk encourages children to look around and notice things they may otherwise not have notices as they are moving from one place to the next. You can play this game along a nature trail but you can also do this while walking along a street, playing at the park, moving through a museum, or even while in a store.

Start off by explaining to your children that they are going to take an animal-eye view of the area as they travel along the way from one place to the next. Ask them where snakes, deer, and eagles focus their attention. Snakes slither along the ground, getting their view of life from that level. Deer see things from human eye level. Eagles see things well above our heads and even look down on us.

As you walk, call out “snake,” “deer,” or “eagle.” The kids stop for ten seconds and look down, straight ahead, or up (depending on the animal that you called). They then call out something that they see from that angle. The important part is to stop walking so you don’t bump into a tree, another person, fire hydrants, etc.

If you have two or more kids with you they, along with you, can take turns calling out the names of the three animals. Although you can randomly call out and have kids stop to discover what they will notice, you can also notice something interesting, say on the floor, and call out, “snake.” If kids don’t notice what you noticed, you can again call out “snake,” prompting kids to look around a bit more.

This game shouldn’t slow your walk much, even though the kids stop for a few seconds. You can change the names of the animals to suit your child’s interests or the area you are investigating.

Listening to Nature Activities

Perhaps it is the time of year – the birds are singing but the trees are still bare so the sounds of nature stand out particularly sharp. Visual details capture my attention. When I take tests about learning styles or the various intelligences I inevitably “fail” as someone who takes in information through the auditory sense.

I’ve tried to learn to bird by ear, but it is an ability I lack. I’ve learned some of the mnemonics – for example, white throated sparrows sing a song that sounds like “Sam Peabody, Sam Peabody,” but it took me years before one day I heard a familiar, but unidentified, song and it suddenly occurred to me that I was listening to something very much like a bird singing “Sam Peabody, Sam Peabody.”

The following activities don’t require that you or the children you are with identify the sources of the sound; however, they do make you more aware of the sounds around you. You can do these activities anywhere outdoors – backyard, schoolyard, forest, field; preferably somewhere manmade sounds don’t entirely overwhelm the sounds of nature.

Sound Map
Each person starts with an index card and a marking pen (because markers don’t require as much pressure as a pencil or pen to leave a mark). Draw an “X” in the middle of the card. This represents the individual. As each person detects a sound, he or she draws a dot indicating where they think that sound is in relationship to where he or she is sitting.

For the individual who thinks they know what is making the sound, they could instead draw a simple picture of the plane, bird, wind in the trees, etc. that creating the sound. Natural and manmade sounds should all be noticed and recorded. Do this activity for five-to-ten minutes.

Sound Pictures
For this activity, you’ll interpret sound into an image. The image consists of geometric shapes, no need to draw a bird if you think you hear a bird or a plane if you hear an airplane. In fact, you’re better off if you don’t name the things which are making the noises you are drawing.
So, the chatter of a bird becomes, “- - - - - - - - - - - - - - .” The wind, at that moment, may sound like, “~~~~~~~~~~~;” the rain on the leaves, “``````````.”

As for me, when I take my morning walk, I hear a bird’s song and look for the source, “Oh, a robin.” Moments later I hear another bird and scan the trees, “Oh, a robin.” Ten minutes later, more birdsong and, yep, another robin.

Animal Movement Games for Preschoolers

These funny animal walks can focus preschoolers indoors, as they move about the room; or outdoors while walking at the park, along the street, or even, I suppose, at the mall. Because today was a cold, rainy day and school vacation is just a few days away, I figured the preschool class that I visit throughout the school year wouldn’t be up to learning about another local animal. I thought that today would be a good day for games.

Duck Walk – The children are ducklings; the instructor is mother duck. Everyone mills about the room. When mother duck calls out, “quack, quack, quack” then the ducklings hurry over to their mother and follow behind her in a straight line.

Hawk & Vulture – Have the children stand and bend over at the waist. To be a soaring hawk, they hold their arms straight out to the side. To be a circling vulture, they hold their arms up, in a “V” formation over their backs. Call out “hawk” and “vulture” as the children then bring their arms to the correct formation. Throw in a few tricks, “hawk, hawk, vulture, hawk, vulture, vulture, vulture.”

Hummingbird Flight – The children hold their bent arms close to their sides and flap their hands very fast. Hummingbirds can fly forward (step forward), backward (step backwards), up (stand on tippy toe), and down (bend knees). With the children flapping their “wings,” call out different directions to move. Can the children understand why hummingbirds each nectar (sugar) from the flowers for enough energy to move so fast?

Fox Walk – After the frantic hummingbird movements, have the children step in the perfect tracking pattern of red foxes. The children walk with heel touching the toe, moving in a straight line or as if they were on a tightrope.

Pigeon Bop – Have the children walk while bobbing their heads front to back with each step.

Deer Walk – You’ll need to do a bit of preparation for this one. Make a deer tail prop from a piece of brown and a piece of white felt or craft foam. Cut both into a wide tail shape, the white piece smaller than the brown. Glue together, leaving a pocket between the two pieces so you can slide your hand inside. Explain that white-tailed deer seem to have brown tails until they see some dancer and move to run way, at which point their tail flips up and the more obvious white is showing. This signals the deer to follow the deer that gave warning. Have the children mill about, pretending to be deer eating grass. When you flip up your tail, the other deer should get in line behind you.

Some of these games work well at gathering the children to you. Other games focus a burst of energy and get kids’ attention for a few moments. Once kids learn these silly movement games, you can use them in an instant, whether you are at home with one child or at school with a group.

Shadow Art

Originally published 4/12/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

Have kids do this project on a sunny day that isn’t too windy. They can do this in their own backyard. They’ll need to start with a large piece of white paper and a pencil. They will also need a sturdy piece of cardboard that they can use as a drawing board and a couple of binder clips to hold the paper in place as they work.

Walk around outside looking for interesting shadows. It doesn’t really matter what is casting the shadow, they’re interested in the shadows themselves. Look for shadows on the ground as well as shadows that may fall on walls. Don’t worry if the entire shadow doesn’t fit on the piece of paper. Hold the paper so an interesting part of the shadow falls across the paper.

Work quickly to trace the shape of the shadow. If there is a slight breeze the objects will move a bit, so they should do as good a job as they can; this doesn’t have to be perfect. Because of the angle of the sun, a traced shadow won’t look like an outline of the object. This can be fun because people looking at the finished artwork won’t necessarily know the inspiration for the piece. After tracing the shadow onto the paper, the kids will want to get some other art supplies. For this project, they can use watercolor paints, colored pencils, pastels, marker, crayons, etc.

Tell the kids to color in the shadow(s) however they like, using a solid color or changing colors when they want. After coloring in the shape, they may want to cut it out and glue it onto a piece of colored construction paper for additional contrast.

Storytelling and Supposition: What's Going on in Nature?

On this morning’s walk several crows (a murder of crows), were going crazy. When I saw a hawk fly up into a tree, followed by four crows, I knew I was seeing mobbing. Crows and other birds will gang up on hawks and owls as a way of pushing predators out of their territory. Now this hawk sat up in a tree, staring at a pond (musing upon frog legs for breakfast?) while the four crows continued to harangue it.

I didn’t find this strange. What was odd was that as I drew closer to the tree (50 feet?) one of the crows flew into a tree closer to the road where I was walking. This crow was silent. The other three crows, no more than ten feet from the hawk also fell silent as I passed. Once I had gone by the tree, the crows started up again and continued cawing until I could no longer hear them.

What caught my curiosity was that this group of crows, perched ten feet from something that could eat them for breakfast, fell silent as I (50 feet away) walked by. Why? What’s going on?

a) The crows thought it was likelier that I would catch one of them than the hawk that was wing’s length away

b) The crows have experienced humans who would side with the charismatic predator and throw things at them so they thought that silence was warranted

c) The crows went the same path as a group of fighting kids suddenly feigning innocence when an adult walks in the room

When you and your kids see something going on in nature, ask why and what and how. Let the kids tell stories, whether that story is a sentence long or the idea takes hold and gets the child chatting for twenty minutes. These stories don’t have to be based on book facts. However, you can encourage the children to incorporate details that they have observed.

This activity encourages creativity and imagination but also observation and curiosity – the kids have to notice something that is different than what they’ve noticed in the past, which means that they need to learn to pay attention to their surroundings on a regular basis, not just while playing games. Read more at Tell a Group Story with Children.

Also, it’s fun to make things up while trying to figure out the world. (Why did the crows fall silent?”

Secret Squirrel

Originally published 4/09/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

You can have kids do this activity in your backyard on their own. (If you live in a city, you can take them to a park.) Ask them to spy on the local wildlife. By local wildlife, I mean squirrels, birds, snakes, lizards, spiders, or whatever other non-threatening animals the kids are likely to find in at home. If neither you nor the kids are certain what animals are out there, then the kids will need to go on a scouting mission.

Depending on your children’s temperament, they can transform themselves into spies, wildlife biologists, or nature photographers. They can decide what they will need with them to complete their mission.

Encourage the kids to dress in colors that will allow them to camouflage with the natural surroundings. Many diurnal (daytime) animals can see in color since daylight allows them to determine if food, such as berries, are ripe. Kids should also take a mechanical pencil (no worries about dull points) and notepad with them and/or bring their camera.

Now, if kids have only ever paid attention to wild animals moving around in enclosures and exhibits, they may not know what to expect from the critters in their backyard. Before heading outside, ask the kids how the animals would respond to a creature or two running around the yard and making a lot of noise. If the kids agree that everything, including a few amoebas, would go into hiding, then ask them how they should behave.

Sneaking, walking on tiptoe, walking slowly, freezing in place, hiding, using peripheral vision (looking out the corner of one’s eyes), being quiet, etc. are all good behaviors for encouraging animals to behave as if those wild humans aren’t suddenly going to start snacking on chickadees.

On a scouting mission, the kids’ job is to find out what animals are moving around in their yard during the day. They should sit or stand in one corner of the yard for five-to-ten minutes; afterwards, move to another corner. Kids should repeat moving to other locations as desired. Kids can take notes, describing what they see, where they see it, and what the creatures were doing.

Kids can use these notes for another expedition, this time focusing on one of the animals. Their goal for this more specific exploration is to observe and record five different behaviors of this animal. It is a bit of a thrill to get animals that normally shy away from humans to act as if you aren’t there and go about their normal activities.

Exploring What and When in Nature

Originally published 4/08/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

If your exploration of nature is snuck into your schedule while walking your child to and from school, then you’ve both probably noticed the differences in your environment between morning and afternoon – the changes in lighting and the temperature are probably the most significant differences that you notice. It is just another small push to your awareness to notice the activity of birds, squirrels, and even insects at these two times.

On the other hand, if your children’s exploration of nature tends to be afterschool in the backyard, they likely notice the seasonal changes from month-to-month while, perhaps, missing the changes throughout the day. Try the following activity on a weekend when you don’t have a zillion things to do – or during a day when you and the kids on vacation.

Along with time, you’ll need a natural location that is close enough for you to visit three or four times throughout the day. In a pinch, this could be your backyard. These visits don’t have to take a lot of time; fifteen-or-twenty minutes tops. You will want to space out these visits to allow for some dramatic differences because of time of day.

For example, you may decide to go outside just before or just after sunrise, then at noon, followed by late afternoon, and then an hour or two after sunset. Again, lighting and temperature will be the first thing you’re likely to notice. Then focus on your senses in turn. What can you hear? What does the ground feel like when you touch it with your hands? How does the air smell? As you move throughout the day, you can compare these sensory experiences to the other times.

Give each child and adult a few minutes to explore followed by a couple of minutes to talk about what they noticed and to share their appreciation of ever-changing nature.

When I used to lead night walks for scouts, the energy level was often off-kilter. Being outside, in the woods, at night, would wind kids up. Eleven-year-old boys would refuse to turn off their flashlights even though they were less than half a mile from the nature center. Going outside much earlier or much later than normal may leave your kids acting wired because it is outside their norm. They may not be able to notice details in their environment because it will seem like so much is going on – both outside as well as in their minds.

You may need to explore these different times of day throughout the year; so, slow that dash from the car to the house to feel the night air on your cheeks and gaze at the moon. Notice not just the what of nature but also the when.

Weather or Not to Send Kids Outside

Originally published 4/06/2011 at explorelongtheway.com

Many adults remember playing outdoors as kids no matter what the weather was; in fact, the way they tell it, their parents insisted on it. Drizzle or downpour, sun or snow, kids played outdoors. The ironic thing is that the topic of playing outside as kids comes up when people start commenting on how today’s kids stay indoors because their parents insist on it.

Now, theoretically, some of those outdoor-playing children of the past are the present-day parents with the deer-in-the-headlights look when they hear that their child will be walking through more than an inch of snow or going outside during a light rain.

So, what happened to the outdoor-playing children of the past to turn them into weather-wary parents of the present? In his book Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv cites evidence to the benefits of being outdoors along with data supporting the increasing unlikelihood of finding children enjoying the outdoors. Yet, if children have a place to go outside – whether it is the schoolyard or the backyard – why do many adults use weather to stop them at the door? Current outdoor clothing seems more apt for the weather than what I wore thirty-plus years ago as a kid. Still, as a child, I was entrenched in a variety of weather-appropriate outerwear.

However, I have seen kids come to outdoor field trips without hats, gloves, and no more than a sweatshirt when there was two feet of snow on the ground. During rainy days at summer camp – a nature camp, mind you, numerous children wouldn’t arrive with a raincoat and they would insist that they didn’t even own such a garment.

I’m thinking that some kids don’t have things to wear outdoors so they don’t go outside and their parents don’t buy them outerwear because their kids don’t go outdoors. Will the child who runs from vehicle to building when it is raining ever become an adult who does more than move from one climate-controlled environment to the next? Will watching the nature channel on a rainy day replace laughing at bedraggled squirrels trying to twitch their tails dry and fluffy or pulling earthworms out of puddles and moving them to the drier soil beneath the shrubs. Can you love nature when you don’t even know it?

A Secret Treasure Walk

Originally published 4/05/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

This activity is a slight variation on the scavenger hunt and it can be included along with other activities the children may engage in while walking. At the beginning of your walk, tell your child or children that they want to look for a secret treasure. This treasure is not something that they will pick up. In fact, it doesn’t have to be something that someone could see or touch; it may be something that the child can hear or smell.

The key element of the secret treasure is that, whatever it is, it should be something that makes the child smile.

Another fundamental aspect to this activity is that when the child (or adult) notices their secret treasure, they should keep it secret and not point it out to other people. This item or experience should not be something the kids have on a scavenger hunt list. In fact, they shouldn’t be expecting to find it at all. It is this unexpected quality that makes it a treasure.

For example, on this morning’s walk the ground was wet and many earthworms were scattered over the sides of the road. I was walking along, alone, and watching that I wasn’t stomping on the still wriggling creatures (I have an odd fondness for earthworms – oftentimes, I’ll pick up worms and set them back onto soil). Then, I noticed in the sand, leftover from the icy winter weather, random curving lines that created a crackle pattern in the damp sand.

Obviously I was looking at the numerous trails of earthworms, far more tracks than even the quantity of earthworms I’d seen on the road could have made. In the warm, wet dark of the previous night the earthworms crept above ground rejoicing in the return to spring and the fact that they were no longer trapped under the frozen topsoil.

As I am sharing my secret treasure at the end of my walk, so you and your children can share your secret treasures. It doesn’t matter if more than one person treasured the same object or experience (since the item stays in nature we can share the memory). We may become jealous of another’s observations (only one person saw the hawk overhead) and it challenges us to sharpen our observation skills the next time.

What Did You See on Your Walk?

Originally published 4/04/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

Yesterday morning the sky was clear blue and the swollen buds on the maples and the beech caught the light just so, making me wish that I had my camera with me. Today the sky was a heavy gray. Cold raindrops (a few looking suspiciously like snowflakes) pelted me on and off. What the two days had in common was that I sighted an impressive flock of wild turkeys with three males on full display, their tails fanned.

On Sunday I counted 14 (or so) turkeys; I didn’t want to get too close and they were on the move. Today I saw the flock twice and both times I counted 18 turkeys. There are probably some Jakes (young males) in the crowd, but I didn’t see the fluffy starts of any beards (an odd feather that sticks out from the chest and gets longer as the male gets older and claims the more familiar moniker, a Tom turkey).

One of the hens (named Jenny, no matter her age) got spooked by my presence – I really wasn’t that close (I was chased once by two turkeys that I got too close to; I won’t make that mistake again) – and she flapped her wings a couple of times. I wasn’t certain if it was me or the other turkeys who were supposed to take warning; however, none of the other turkeys responded.

I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t take flight; watching a feathered basketball-shaped body flying (up to 30 miles an hour) is astounding and a bit nerve-wracking (particularly if it is flying overhead). However, watching the meandering crowd being directed by the Toms was worth the chill in my muscles.

And then, when I got home, I looked up and saw a Great Blue Heron, looking like a pterodactyl in flight, go overhead. Cool. Yeah Spring!

Play the "What Will We Find?" Scavenger Hunt

Originally published 4/03/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

This may be the ultimate scavenger hunt game, one that requires no materials, no gathering of items, miniscule planning, and can be played day after day. The guidelines are simple, before you head out the door on your walk or while on the car drive to your hiking site create a list of five things that you’ll look for during the walk.

The first few times that you ask kids for a list of things that they think they will find you might end up with a list that looks something like, “rock, cloud, bird, dirt, grass.” However, you can start to guide children toward being more specific. For example, if kids can identify robins, then ask them if they will find the robins moving in a large flock (as in winter and early spring) or hanging out solo (after they’ve formed mated pairs in the spring and summer).

Look for a yellow flower as opposed to a flower, a white rock instead of any old rock. If you play this game one day after another, then kids will remember what they saw the day before and they can decide beforehand how many things will be there for a second or even third day in a row.

Everyone notices the first day the daffodils bloom but will you notice the day the blooms are gone? How about challenging kids to a “What Won’t We Find?” Scavenger Hunt? Keep the list realistic since it’s just cheating to say that you won’t find an elephant on your New England-based walk. This could be a fun option during the spring or fall when kids can predict the day all the leaves will finish falling from the Japanese maple at the corner of your street.

This self-directed scavenger hunt can be tweaked for any age child that you are walking with. Older kids could create their own lists so two or three kids walking together would be looking for their own set of items. How specific the items are depends on a child’s background and level of nature knowledge – so, butterfly, orange butterfly, monarch butterfly.

And don’t limit your hunt items to something you can see. Try a sound scavenger hunt, a texture hunt, or a scent search not only for variety but to help kids develop their nature awareness with a variety of senses. Want a little more focus to your walk? Try Theme Walks with Children for ideas that will add a little diversity to your journeys with kids.

The Logistics of Exploring Nature with Kids

Originally published 4/01/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

Everything that you read and hear about kids spending more time outdoors sounds logical. In fact, you think it would be great for your family to go walking in nature during weekends. But where should you start? What do you need to bring with you? What if the kids are miserable and they refuse to go hiking a second time?

Check out How Families Can Take a Successful Nature Walk or Hike with Kids for ideas on keeping kids fed, watered, and entertained whether the walk lasts thirty minutes or two hours. At minimum, bring along water, snacks, basic first aid supplies, sunscreen, insect repellent, a map of the location’s trail system, and a cell phone – turned off, but handy in an emergency.

Which may bring up the thought, how long should you go walking with kids? If neither you nor the kids are used to hiking in the woods, start with five minutes for each year old the child is (or the average age of a few children).

When this proves successful, go with seven-to-ten minutes for each year old. Of course, this isn’t a hard-and-fast rule and it doesn’t mean uninterrupted walking time. Allow some time for snack or water breaks, exploration, and even games – like “I Spy” – or the occasional art project. Thirty minutes of walking can be broken with other activities so you may end up spending an hour or more out on your “walk.”

Remember, that “down time” is probably as important as movement – if you just want exercise, then walk quickly; but, if you really want to appreciate your time in nature, you’ll need to meander so you can actually notice your surroundings; Help Children Develop an Appreciation of Nature with Observation. If you enjoy the experience of walking in nature, chances are your children will develop an enthusiasm for exploring the outdoors.

Rock Collecting as a Kid

Origninally published 3/31/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

I like rocks, but rocks are a hard subject to learn. (Did you laugh at my joke about rocks being hard? Sigh. I keep trying that with kids, but it is such a weak joke no one ever even notices it.) My fascination with rocks may be because when I was a kid the Pet Rock phase hit. Now, my parents, being practical, wouldn’t buy me a real pet rock, but had me go out and about looking for wild rocks.

I had a tin filled with rocks. I was particularly fond of white rocks. Even nowadays I have to restrain myself from picking up every white pebble that I see. I don’t know what happened to my collection. I do remember that it was forced to live in the basement (I suppose that is because they weren’t domesticated rocks). I’m sure that someday I’ll be cleaning the basement and I’ll discover my collection. The cool thing is, it will be just the same as when I left it unlike the yellowed pages of childhood books or the disintegrating artwork done on Manila paper.

I do have a current rock collection, started as an adult when I worked in an educational toy store. There I got tumbled rocks, rough cut pebbles, and slices of agate dyed in colors not found in nature. Whenever I go into a nature-oriented gift shop chances are that I’ll walk out with a rock.

I even have an acquaintance who owns a rock and crystal shop. (Originally, she owned a used bookstore with a few rocks up by the register. I tried to look at the books, but I got distracted by the rocks. All of my return trips were to buy rocks. I was incredibly happy when she moved and got rid of the books but expanded the rocks and crystals.)

At the nature center where I work, I tackled the buckets and boxes of rock collections that were donated when their owners died. It was then that I discovered that a whole lot of rock collectors just collected rocks without necessarily identifying them. Whether I do in-class presentations or field trips about rocks, I always point this out – yeah, the rock cycle is fascinating but picking up and keeping rocks is fun.

I know, parents would prefer to keep rocks outdoors instead of lining windowsills but might I instead recommend, Activities for Kids Who Collect Rocks and Make a Stone Cairn? I still have the compulsion to pick up rocks.

Tree Observation Activities with Kids

Originally published 3/28/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

Although I love walking in the forest, I truly enjoy walking through parks. There is something about walking along a path and seeing individual trees growing separate from one another as opposed to seeing the jumble of a forest that makes me better appreciate the beauty of trees. I think that sometimes people get caught up by the number of trees around them and just see ‘trees’ instead of learning to recognize the distinctive qualities of ‘maples,’ ‘ash,’ or ‘oaks.’

The following activities help children, and adults, notice and then recognize unique characteristics about trees than can then help them identify the trees in their area. You can do these activities with just you and one child or with a group of up to fifteen (break up larger groups).

Tree Silhouette Charades – Notice the overall shape of the trees. Although trees in a park may get lower branches cut off for the safety of human visitors, the shape of different species of trees is distinct. For this game, It looks around and uses his or her body to form the shape of a tree he or she can see. The other players try to figure out which tree It is representing and point to that tree. This works well in winter with bare trees as well as in the summer with trees that have a full canopy of leaves.

Two-Minute Sketches – Give each participant a stack of approximately ten blank index cards and a black marker. Stand someplace where everyone can see a variety of trees with unique shapes. Working quickly, participants sketch the general shape of as many trees as they can within two minutes. Because they don’t have much time, players won’t get bogged down with details.

When time’s up, the leader points to a tree and participants who drew that tree show off their pictures. If you have a competitive group, players can vote for the most realistic sketch for each tree. For a non-competitive activity, after pointing to a tree, ask the participants to describe the shape of the tree with words and then show off the sketches. Players can self-evaluate if their description matches their drawing.

Do you remember drawing ‘lollipop’ trees as a child? These quick activities make kids and adults aware of the distinctive shapes possessed by different species of trees. These activities can be a first step toward noting the individuality of trees and moving closer to learning how to identify trees. For more fun with trees, read Leaf Identification Games and Activities.

Creating Earth Art with Kids

Originally published 3/18/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

Earth art, eco-art, land art … This type of nature art involves using natural materials to produce instillations, art that cannot be removed from its setting. The artist, child or adult, is able to use whatever he or she can find and manipulate without the addition of glue, string, tape, or any other fastener or manmade materials.

Land art is an interesting challenge for children who may be used to more traditional craft projects. Because natural materials lack the uniformity of manufactured supplies kids need to use some creative problem solving in order to balance items, get them

Select a location alongside a path or trail – While you want people to see your creations, you don’t want them stepping on them. You also want to give enough space to the children so they can work without them standing in the middle of a trail where other people are walking.

Encourage children to explore the area and gather a supply of materials before they start creating – Give kids clear boundaries for where they can go to collect supplies (within your sight). Examining the area before they start makes them aware of what is available to use. Also, they’ll find it easier to work on their project if they have stuff to work with, or at least get started.

Will kids be able to use any materials they find or do you want to give them the challenge of just using pinecones, rocks, branches, grass, etc. Although you may think this limits children’s creativity, it encourages them to find unique ways to use what they can. When I did a six-week eco-art series with kids, I encouraged individual days featuring pinecones, branches, grass, and leaves – kids then did two “multi-media” days in which they could use whatever materials they wanted. By selecting different locations for each session kids always had the challenge of working with a variety of materials.

Define individual work areas – Before kids start, they may need to clear leaf litter or create a boundary of branches so other children working at the same time can see other’s work areas. Considering this type of project blends in with the surroundings there is the risk of children stepping on another child’s artwork or taking items from an easily accessible “pile of stuff” without noticing that the items belong to another’s projects.

Will kids work together or individually? – If you want kids to work together, decide whether you will assign pairs or if kids can select their partners. If kids are working by themselves, watch for kids who become frustrated working on their project and then casually start “helping” another child. Oftentimes, the child who was working by himself becomes frustrated by the second child who is now adding their own take to the first child’s project.

Doing earth art with your child or with a camp group or classroom-full of children is a possibility as long as you define clear boundaries – where will kids do the work, will they work together or individually, and what materials will they work with. Part of the fun of land art is that kids make the art, leave it where it is, and then others can discover the creations while on their walk.

Learning about Animals

Originally published 3/15/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

Today I was teaching a tracking program to city kids. Actually, I was indoors talking about movement patterns – how the shape of an animal’s body and the length of its legs affects the way it moves, and therefore the pattern its feet makes while walking through snow or mud.

I pointed out to the kids that we were talking about mammals – specifically, four-legged furry animals. The challenge for these kids seemed to be in picturing animals in their minds. They knew terms like “mammal,” “amphibian,” and “invertebrate” but they had difficulty connecting the terms to specific animals.

Today’s suggestion is an indoor activity. Print out pictures of animals, glue them to index cards, and write the name of the animal on the card. (Be specific with the name; not just “butterfly” but “painted lady.”) The more cards the better; you can add to the deck over the years. Include a variety of local animals and animals from around the world. Include mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, fish, and other invertebrates (animals without backbones, like mollusks and crustaceans).

You may actually be able to find this as a manufactured product. You could easily end up with hundreds of cards so don’t try to make this deck all at once. If you are a teacher, you may want a few duplicate decks of pictures.

Depending on the age and knowledge of the kids, they can play endless games with these cards while learning about animals. Here are a few ideas to get kids started.

· Sort animals into groupings – mammals, birds, etc.
· Group canines, butterflies, hoofed animals, etc.
· Sort animals into those that live in your area and those that live elsewhere.
· Sort animals into habitats – ocean, forest, rainforest, prairie, etc.
· Sort animals as endangered or common.
· Sort animals into sizes (difficult when looking at pictures).
· Sort animals into those that eat plants, meat, insects, fish, anything.
· Sort animals into nocturnal (night), diurnal (day), crepuscular (dawn and dusk).
· Set the animals into food chains or webs.
Each time a child learns something new about animals they can turn to these cards and sort through for animals that meet different qualifications. This means reading up on some of the animals, not just guessing and adding this information to the cards.

The creatures of the earth become familiar – they are more than facts, they are seen in a variety of relationships to one another and the world … and the child.

What's Up?

Originally published 3/14/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

At this time of year, when I go for a walk, I tend to look down. I’ve always been a bit of a klutz and I feel safer keeping my eye on ice, mud, sand, and the inevitable potholes. This morning, I forced myself to look up.

It wasn’t difficult. The juncos and black-capped chickadees kept zipping across my path. I was berated by more than one crow, although the robins quietly watched my walk past their perches in the trees. I did see two hawks sitting next to one another on a branch, which brought many happy feelings and a big, “awww.”

A single sycamore leave twisted at the end of its limb. Squirrel drays, round nests of oak leaves nestled in the crotch of trees. I started counting them (I count a lot of things after thirteen years of taking kids into the woods) and then lost track of the drays as I tried to figure out if the shape in the distance was a male turkey or a really convincing shrub.

If when you walk outdoors you normally stare straight ahead or look down, try looking up every so often. At this time of year you can watch the buds on the trees swell and then burst. You can catch the songbirds claiming their territories as they chase away the competition. And, one of my favorites, looking for interesting shapes in clouds.

Looking up isn’t a hard thing to do. However, when I watch many people walk along, their eyes never gaze skyward. Chances are, though, that on the way to looking up you’ll find yourself looking around and perhaps finding some small joy in what nature is presenting.

Gratitude Meditation

Originally published 3/12/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

I’ve read numerous books and articles that claim your happiness or joy for life will increase if you develop a daily habitat of expressing your gratitude. Depending on the author, the suggestions lean toward keeping a journal in which you write three-to-ten things for which you are grateful. Apparently, it is impossible to feel down or depressed when you are acknowledging those people, occurrences, and events that you appreciate.

Try taking a walk with your children, naming those things for which you are grateful. Be specific. Saying that you appreciate trees doesn’t say anything about trees. Instead, notice that gratitude focuses on particular things.

On my solo walk today I was grateful for the dozen robins doing their quick-stop-quick tango-like dash over the drab lawn. I was grateful for the crisp air that helped wake me up – particularly since we turned the clocks ahead and I woke earlier than my normal time. I was grateful for the view of the early morning sunlight frosting a line of pines. I was grateful for the blue sky and sunlight while walking (an hour later the sky was blanketed with gray clouds). I was grateful for the gray squirrels dashing around; they always cheer me up.

As you walk, state aloud something that catches your eye and for which you are grateful. Encourage your children or whomever you are with to do the same. You may find that expressing your gratitude for nature persuades you to make connections to the other aspects of your life for which you are grateful. For example, watching the birds chasing one another makes me think of the approaching mating season and then prompts me to express my gratitude for the presence in my life of my husband of four months.

If you are doing this with your children, you may want to go home and record some of these in a journal or as a poem. Children can draw or paint a picture and include a line with the image expressing their gratitude for nature.

Don’t limit this to a “do it /did it” sort of activity. Repeat it often. You will find that stating your gratitude while sitting in the house and while moving outdoors creates a different quality to the things that are mentioned.

Wandering in Nature

Originally published 3/12/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

Why did I start a nature activity blog in March when, quite honestly, I’m a bit of a weather wimp? I don’t like being cold or walking through deep snow or over ice. For years I’ve toyed with the idea of taking up cross-country skiing or snowshoeing so I could get a better appreciation of winter, but I’ve never mustered the motivation. I’m happy to appreciate nature in winter by gazing through my window.

Don’t get me wrong, if there is less than six inches of snow on the ground and there isn’t a brisk wind, I love walking in the winter. Part of my point is that you don’t have to be into numerous outdoor recreational activities in order to appreciate nature.

Today, I took an early morning walk in the park where I walk all but the winter months. The wind was brisker than I’d like it to be but I needed to get outside without a group of students in tow. Most of the snow has melted except for the plowed piles alongside the roads within the park. Some of these piles are so encrusted that they look a bit like sand castings.

I spotted a couple of chipmunks staring over the top of one pile of sand and snow. When I turned to look at them they vanished, the first chipmunks that I’ve seen since last autumn. Gray squirrels ran here and there, startled by my presence. I saw no white-tailed deer although with the snow gone a winter’s worth of scat was revealed in pebbly piles.

I looked up at one point and saw a hawk flying against the sun. I wondered if it was the red-tail I’ve often seen during warmer weather. The hawk landed in a pine then soared in a half circle, sinking over the other side of a hill, likely in search of one of those chipmunks pushing its way up out of its winter den.

Appreciating nature doesn’t have to take a lot of time, nor does it require any recreational equipment aside from some comfortable sneakers. It only requires some time, a place, and a bit of attention.

A Stillness Activity

Originally published 3/09/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

Stillness isn’t something that we often explore with children. We might long for quiet as they stand in place crunching leaves underfoot or they speak using their very loudest “outdoor voices” while walking along a trail. To capture stillness is different. Stillness isn’t just the absence of sound or movement because it also includes a vibrant level of alertness.

We are more than motionless because every sense is on alert. So, how do you convince kids to explore stillness? For children, stillness is less about meditative reflection and more about the chance to hear insects munching leaves and locating chipmunks roaming through the leaf litter. If you can’t see your children enthusiastically plunging themselves into observant stillness, try a trick that captures their attention.

You can introduce the rewards of stillness and listening by stopping and asking with great surprise and intent, “Did you hear that? What was that?” Use some body language to discourage questions. Now, you didn’t have to hear anything in particular, but chances are when you fall silent you will hear something. Of course, you can’t pull this too often, but at some point you can say that you found it really interesting to listen to the different sounds in nature. If your children agree, try the following activity

Find a spot where you can avoid being disturbed for five-to-fifteen minutes. If you are with two or more kids, look for a clearing where everyone can sit looking out from the center of the space to avoid having the kids stare at one another. Kids should be out of fingertips range of one another. Older children may prefer to scatter to different spots within your sight.

Before separating the kids, let them know how long they will be doing this activity. Plan approximately 30 seconds for each year the child is old (average the number for mixed age groups). If the activity appears to be going well, you can always extend things for a minute or two, but don’t push beyond that time.

Each person sits, lays, or stands in one place with her eyes either opened or closed. Encourage participants to open their attention to the surrounding sights and sounds as well as noticing any interesting smells or textures within their reach. The key is – no movement (no wiggling, twisting one’s head this way and that, no wandering, etc.) except for one’s eyes.

After the experience, ask participants (this includes the adults) to mention at least one thing that they are grateful to have noticed while remaining still. Try this activity at different times of day – dawn, morning, afternoon, dusk, or night. Each time brings unique sights and sounds, even if you always do this activity in your backyard.

The Conscious Effort to be Astonished

Originally published 3/07/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

Today is warm and raining. I’m watching some of the most stubborn piles of snow shrink, revealing bits of trash, sand, leaves, and dirt. It’s a dreary sort of in-between day where it feels like early spring but looks like all the depressing aspects of winter glommed together. I’m staring out the window hoping some bright yellow-green sprout will catch my eye, but nothing yet.

However, spring will creep in; if I’m not paying attention, then one day I will look out the window and marvel that it is “suddenly” spring. Instead, I am making it my goal to notice the small, slow steps toward spring because if the weather continues to melt the snow and soften the ground in a few weeks the yellow-spotted salamanders will move toward their vernal pools and flail about “congressing” to attract the females and the wood frogs will start their quacking mating calls.

I am tempted to rush things along and bring in a branch from the dogwood in the front yard and force it to bloom. Read more … By the time the buds open, spring will be here. Forcing the buds on a branch to bloom is easy enough and a fun project for a parent or a teacher to do with their children. Once you clip the branch and bring it inside you don’t have to do much else besides continue to add water to the jar or vase.

You don’t get instant gratification, this takes a while. You can also select a spot at home where you remember crocuses or daffodils or snowdrops appearing and stop at that spot each day. This takes seconds to do with children and when you see the green poking up through the mud, it seems like magic.

Now, you may be used to walking by a spot and saying, “Oh, look at the flowers starting to come up.” However, if they are already there, the delight of watching mud reveal its secrets doesn’t happen. Exploring nature doesn’t have to take a lot of time; but, it does sometimes require the conscious effort to be astonished.

Wild Encounters

Originally published 3/04/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

The other day I was teaching at an environmental education conference and I met a gentleman who recognized the wildlife sanctuary where I work as the place where he went to camp sixty years ago. He recalled putting peanut butter on his fingers to encourage dragonflies to land on his hand. I don’t recall ever hearing or reading this tip but I was fascinated by the magical quality of such an experience. Did that experience capture his attention so that he remained connected to the environmental field?

I few years ago I’d stand in the cold with a scattering of sunflower seeds in my palm as I would try to entice chickadees to land and snatch a seed. A few birds were brave enough or hungry enough to stop for a fraction of a second before flying off. The touch of the tiny claws was unbelievably delicate.

I would tell kids about my experience in my backyard and I’d convince them to join me in the front yard of the wildlife sanctuary. The promise of this contact with a wild animal (even a chickadee) was enough to get a group of 8-year-olds to stand like statues for 20-minutes and then ask to try again the following week.

A favorite book that I read time and again as a kid was something along the line of Pets from Woods, Fields, and Streams, about the joys and work involved with keeping raccoons, crows, and snakes. I would have adored having wild pets, although even a dog and cats were the extent of my parents’ idea of pets.

When I was in junior high, the students could explore a pond during recess. Most of us would catch the small frogs in the pond. I now know that the pond was really a vernal pool – a basin that would hold snow melt and spring rain water and create a breeding pool for many amphibians. The tiny frogs were spring peepers – I don’t remember anyone explaining any of this when I was a kid. Sticking my hand in the brown water, feeling the slime on the leaves and the squashy mud was worth the reward of holding a frog.

Although it isn’t safe to touch many wild animals (and sometimes the danger is to the animal), there is something to be said for those magical encounters with the inhabitants of the natural places we visit.

Children and Nature v Parental Rules

Originally published 3/03/2011 at explorealongtheway.com


I was never an outdoor sort of kid while growing up. Yes, I spent time outdoors but my mother never wanted my brother or me to stray far from the house. We could ride our bikes up and down a stretch of our street but no further unless our father was with us. If we didn’t ride past the house at regular intervals, mom would call for us. If we wanted to play with the neighbor a few houses up the street, we had to let her know.

I’m 45 years old. I grew up in a safe suburb. When I read Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods a few years ago or I listen to people who teach in the environmental field talk about the wonderful times they had in nature, I don’t entirely understand their experiences. However, when people talk about children’s disconnection from nature, I better understand – my parents didn’t want me wandering through the woods or getting dirty.

I remember one day a girl from the neighborhood raking the leaves in the front yard into a pile. My family got home from errands and we were baffled by the pile of leaves. When the girl showed up and announced that her efforts were so the kids in the neighborhood could jump in the leaf pile, my father discarded the idea. Yes, if we played in the leaves, they would have scattered everywhere and dad would have had to rake, but if the neighborhood girl hadn’t made a pile of leaves we would have been raking them anyway. I don’t really recall ever jumping in a pile of leaves.

Another neighbor had a quarter acre of land, most which was field. We could see the line where a fire had burnt much of the land years ago. I didn’t know about field succession, how plants grow back after a patch of disturbed land is left alone; but the place was magically different than any other yard in the neighborhood. We had a “house” formed by staghorn sumac that grew over our heads. (I only learned the name of the shrub in my 30s when I started working in the environmental field.) This connection to nature fell within my parents’ parameters, although I was forever getting in trouble for not returning home when the expected me.

I entered the environmental field by accident. My parents weren’t happy with the choice – why didn’t I work in medical billing or as an accountant or for the post office? I’ve come to believe that even without a childhood filled with jumping in leaf piles and catching fireflies that it is possible to learn to truly see and appreciate nature. These are my steps along a forest path ….

Write a Diamante about Nature

Originally published 3/01/2011 at explorealongtheway.com
While making observations in nature you may want a record of what you see. You could take a picture or make some notes, but another way of collecting your interpretation of your time in nature is to write a poem.

If you never willingly wrote a poem because you think a poem has to be obscure, this simple format allows you to capture tangible details. In essence, a diamante is a diamond-shape poem. The lines don’t have to rhyme. As an added bonus for adults and the children, you don’t even have to think in partial or entire lines of poetry. A diamante is constructed of individual words that are placed in a specific pattern.

A poem is a great way to capture observations that you and children have made in nature. A diamante feels a bit more purposeful than taking notes; because, what are you going to do with those notes? When you write a poem, you are done. Accent a diamante with a photograph or a drawing and you can set the two in a scrapbook or combine them on the computer and post them online for friends and family to share.

The basic format of a diamante uses specific types of words. Writers can work on this poem on their own or you can lead this as a group activity, with individuals calling out words that fit the structure. The key to holding this structure together is that the selected words should have something to do with the topic, as described by the first word.

Line 1: Noun (person, place or thing)

Line 2: Adjective Adjective (words that describes a person place or thing; not an action)

Line 3: Participle Participle Participle (a verb, an action, ending in –ing)

Line 4: Noun Noun Noun Noun

Line 5: Participle Participle Participle

Line 6: Adjective Adjective

Line 7: Noun (another way of describing the person, place, or thing from the first line)

You use the words that best capture the sights, senses and experiences of a specific location. That’s it. Sixteen words, no punctuation. You are a poet. Why not start by writing a diamante and posting it below in the comments?

Taking Mental Pictures of Nature

Originally published 2/28/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

Many ways exist to encourage children and adults to see nature in different ways. The following nature game, often referred to as “Camera” encourages observations skills. Individuals should work in pairs. Preferably, the two paired together are similar in height, because one will guide the other individual who will keep her eyes closed. One player will be the photographer and the other the camera.

This isn’t the best activity to do with one adult and one preschooler because the child won’t be able to determine that he is directing his father into a low-hanging tree branch. This is a good activity for children to work together. Adults can try this observation game with preteens who will be able to direct an adult.

One person will be the camera and the other the photographer. After five-to-ten minutes, the players will switch roles. The camera closes her eyes as the photographer gently moves his camera, walking to a nearby location where he wishes to take a picture. The photographer can also tilt the head of the camera so she is at the proper angle for the photographer. When the photographer wishes to take a picture, he taps the camera on the shoulder, essentially pushing the shutter button.

The camera responds by opening her eyes for a count of one and then closing her shutters/eyelids. The photographer continues guiding his camera through the area snapping “pictures” while within the time limit. At the end of the time, the camera “processes” the images and tells the photographer what she remembers seeing or what she most enjoyed.

Switch roles. By acting as the photographer, an individual focuses on what he finds interesting and hopes that someone else will find interesting. The camera, by only looking at what the photographer wants her to see, is capturing small parts of the area she and her partner are exploring. This nature game allows both players to gain a different appreciation of the area they are investigating.

Seeing Nature

Originally published 2/27/2011 at explorealongtheway.com

If you don’t know anything about nature can you really explore the outdoors with your children or students?

Appreciating nature is about much more than identifying the naming the things around you. When I walk through a local park I’ll often walk along testing my so-so tree identification skills. However, when I do, I miss seeing the trees. Instead, I focus on leaf shapes, branching, and bark – the tree is reduced to parts and a name.

When I don’t care about identification I see shapes of trees. I see the way the wind plays with the leaves. I better appreciate the colors and textures of the leaves and the bark of those trees. I notice buds, the play of light, and the sound of the wind rustling the leaves. I am certain that trees generate different sounds but I lack the ear to discern such variations.

Am I suggesting that there is no value to identification? No. But if we zip by something, naming it (correctly or incorrectly), without really seeing the uniqueness of that sycamore or that white ash, what have we experienced?

Do this – go outside with your children and pick up something they can hold in their hand. One person looks at the object and names something they can observe. Pass that same object to another person who holds up the item and describes another feature. If you are with one child, pass the object back and forth; if you are with a group, pass the object to different people.

Look at the object from the top, the bottom, each side (if there are sides), from different angles so two views are seen at once. Hold the object close to the face. Look at it from a distance. Name its colors. Smell the object. Rub it against your cheek or your wrist. How many different ways can you and your child (or children) view that pine cone, sea shell, piece of bark, etc.

If you are doing this activity with a group, switch objects when your observations of one item are exhausted. What happens if you suggest to a child who says that there is no other way to describe an object that there is one more way to look at the item?

This activity develops observation and creative thinking skills. Try it with a variety of objects found in different places.

Photography Crafts for Kids

Originally published 2/25/2011 at explorealongtheway.com
In yesterday’s blog, “Nature and Kids – Been There, Seen That?” I suggested that parents and their children or preteens go out to one spot in nature each day and notice how it was different from the previous day. An easy place to visit may be a tree in your backyard, although you could visit a pond or vernal pool, a garden (even if it gets covered in snow), or any place that you will be able to go to the majority of the year’s days.

Older kids and preteens may find this activity more interesting if they take a photograph each day. However, they shouldn’t just snap a picture from the same angle each day. First, they should look at their tree questing for something different. Today they see a caterpillar and take its picture.

These photographs could become part of a nature observation blog. Maybe the blog consists of the photograph and fewer than ten words each day and only grandma who lives across the country reads this blog.

Maybe a month or a season of photographs gets put into a slide show, combined with music, and go onto YouTube. Maybe the images become the screen saver on the family computer – another photograph gets added each day – and you end up watching the year scroll by.

A crafty child may create a scrapbook combining photographs with pressed leaves or smudges of dirt or sand smeared across the paper. Print out the pictures to make a collage for each season. The pictures don’t all have to be the same size. Older children and preteens who know how to insert and manipulate the placement of pictures on the computer could connect the images from a month onto a single-page document. At the end of the year, you have a book.

You don’t have to start this project on January 1st. Start this in the spring so you can watch nature expand toward summer and then quiet itself for the winter. You may have more time in the summer to make this a regular activity. A teacher may begin this in the fall and go throughout the school year – will her students want to go to the schoolyard in the summer so that they can see how nature presents itself during this season?

The key here isn’t what you do with your observations; your goal is to start noticing what is happening outside your front door.

Nature and Kids - Been There, Seen That?

Originally published 2/24/2011

For kids who don’t spend a lot of time exploring nature, the outdoors may be a place that they associate with a “been there, seen that” attitude. Some of the kids that I lead on field trips at Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary will sigh with exasperation, “I’ve already walked on this trail. Can we go another way?”

When I ask them when they’ve been to Moose Hill in the past they often respond with a month or a season other than the one they are in at that moment. Do they think that they will have the same experience in May that they had in March of the previous year? If they went to Disney World, maybe; but nature is more than a scenic attraction.

Yesterday I saw wild turkeys along this trail; today I notice the catkins of the yellow birch are opening. (Catkins are flexible stalks of flowers that look like caterpillars but can waggle like the tail of a displeased feline.) If you walk the same path everyday you will notice something different each day.

We (adults and children) need to learn to not just look at nature but to see it. Do this – pick a small spot that you and your children can visit each day. This location can be in your backyard or along your street. It could be a small tree lining a city street. Go to this spot each day for thirty-or-sixty-seconds, more time if you have it.

Look at this place and tell yourself to find something different today than you did yesterday. It isn’t “cheating” to say, “Well, yesterday the branches were wet because it had rained at night and today the branches are dry.” That is an observation.

Notice the textures – feel the bud at the tip of a branch each day as it gets a little plumper and then opens. Feel the leaves as they change from tiny wrinkled things to smooth, expansive leaves. Notice how long it takes for that to happen.

Are the sounds different? Do you hear birds chirping from where you are standing? Compare the rustle of leaves to the rattling of bare branches. Notice the smell of the damp earth or the exhaust from the truck that just drove by.

This micro-exploration doesn’t take a lot of time and has a game-like quality to it. Noticing a change in nature is a bit like those “Can you spot the differences?” pictures where you compare two images and observe that the little girl isn’t holding an ice cream cone in both drawings. Only this observation game shows you the wonders of nature.