Getting Ready for Fall

I know, autumn is a couple of weeks away, but Back-to-School sales and Halloween candy filling a corner of the grocery store has me focusing on this seasonal transition. Go for a walk with your kids (you might be able to do this in your backyard) and look for ten signs that the season is changing. You’ll find the single red leaf, the yellowing grass, and the birds gathering in flocks as they prepare for their southward journey.

Although it is too early to start hunting for favorite fallen leaves, kids can start going through the backyard gathering the toys strewn about from the summer. Box up one summer toy each day, a small ritual acknowledging the quick trip toward autumn. Make summer special with things devoted to that season. And, make autumn special by bringing in things for this season – you and your children can think of what those things can be (bringing the sweaters down from the attic, putting an apple picking trip on the calendar, etc).

Fall into Beginning

Fall is a time to wrap things up. Woodchucks snatch the last mouthfuls of green grass before heading into hibernation. Squirrels and chipmunks continue their wild run to store food for colder weather. Gardeners and farmers start thinking of final harvests.

Yet while some things are winding down, autumn is also a season for starting things. Kids start a new grade. No matter what month their birthdays, fall is like another birthday; instead of announcing a new age, they get to announce their new grade. September or October is also Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Unlike the secular New Year, there are no drinking binges and party hats. However, there is some introspection – what mistakes have been made in the past year and what changes will be incorporated into the New Year?

Even if you aren’t Jewish, you can use the changes of the season, not to mention the start of the school year, as an opportunity to plan some ‘fall cleaning.’ You can connect this contemplation to the environment – Is the lunchbox filled with plastic bags that get tossed each night? How could you change that? Maybe you don’t spend much time outside; consider how you and your children can get outdoors more often.

This doesn’t have to be a parent-directed edict, one more thing that you tell your children they can change. Instead talk together about what you observe in nature and consider how you can incorporate change into your lives. Unlike the January 1st resolution, try to make a promise to include something in your life instead of merely trying to eliminate things and make this a more positive experience.

Keep a Nature Notebook

With school supplies hitting the stores, often at lower prices than you’ll find the rest of the year, consider purchasing an extra notebook or two for nature notes.

A nature notebook can be as detailed or as simple as desired. The age of the child, their writing skills, and their overall schedule are factors that determine how much time the child can give to a nature journal. But, why keep a nature journal? It makes you more aware of nature – if kids know that they’ll be writing or drawing something that they saw during the day, they will make a point of paying attention during the day to things that they can include in the notebook.

Keep the notebook beside the child’s bed along with a pencil, pen, or favorite drawing supplies. Use the five or ten minutes before lights out to encouraging your child to list one-to-five things they observed in nature that day, draw a picture of something they saw, or write a story about what they saw. This calming activity can become a habit the child looks forward to after just a few days of practice.

Write the day, date, and year at the top of the page, everyday.

Make each day’s entry on a new piece of paper. If the child writes small, then they can use a page to hold a few entries, just be certain to start each entry with the date.

If desired, include information about the weather, what the child did during the day, etc. that sets the stage for the observations.

Use words or images or both to describe something the child observed in nature. Younger children can get an adult’s assistance while older children can fill the page on their own.

Keeping a nature journal encourages observation, writing and spelling skills, and a connection to nature with an awareness of the seasons.

Welcome Summer!

Although we look at the first day of summer with anticipation of longer, warmer, sunnier days; more time outdoors; and relaxing or stimulating vacations (and summer camp for kids) – the irony is that the Summer Solstice hails the start of shorter days.

Try this bit of sympathetic magic with your children during this season when schedules change and (perhaps) we have a bit more time. If the idea of magic brings up negative thoughts, consider this a prayer or even a following of the season’s pattern.

You and your children can each think of something in your life that makes you dissatisfied. Maybe the messy state of your child’s bedroom causes arguments. Ask your child to state a goal, “As the summer days dwindle, so does the mess in my bedroom.” Perhaps you say, “As the summer days dwindle, so do my harsh words about your bedroom.” (The two goals do not have to be related.)

Next, decide on a positive action to get this goal rolling. Now, cut that goal in half (so instead of “Clean my room for an hour,” make the statement “Clean my room for half an hour). If this goal still sounds difficult, keep cutting it in half until you laugh with how simple it will be to keep this goal. (“Clean my bedroom for sixty seconds before dinner every day.” “Eliminate my nagging to a single word reminder, ‘room’ fifteen minutes before dinner.”)

Go out into the sun and feel the energy of the sun’s rays energizing your goal. You could also write or draw a picture of the goal and then burn it on the barbecue or fire pit. Toast and eat a marshmallow cooked over the flames created from the paper listing your intent to banish something negative from your life.

Kids may find this magical way of working on a problem different enough that they manage the task. Happy First Day of Summer!

The Colors of Nature

Color activities work with children of all ages. With younger children, looking at the colors in nature helps to teach them their colors as they learn that “red” isn’t always the red in a box of Crayola crayons. With older children and preteens, color activities become more art-based and noticing nature can help this more independent bunch learn how to combine colors in their clothing or their rooms.

Rainbow Hunt – For a color activity that doesn’t require any props, simply challenge children on a walk to find one example of every color of the rainbow or the basic box of eight crayons. Play this as a memory game as well, by naming the different colors and having the children respond with what they found with that color.

Colors of the Season – Cut four-inch squares of construction paper in colors that the child would see on a nature walk – for spring, yellow, light green, dark green, white, pink. Punch a hole in each square and string onto a piece of yarn. As the child walks, they must find examples of those specific colors. If you are with more than one child, rotate the necklace to different children who then get to show the others with them at least one example of each color on the necklace.

Seasonal Color Wheel – Older children may prefer the challenge of mixing paint or color pencils to create the colors they see during a particular walk through nature.

Rainbow Stories – For this activity you’ll need a bag of multi-colored pony beads and enough yarn to make a necklace for each child. As the children find object in different colors, they earn one bead for each color. You can require that two children can’t suggest the same item to earn a bead (so if one child earns a yellow bead for a buttercup, another child must look for a bumblebee or a dandelion to earn their bead).

At the end of the walk, the children must recall the items that earned them each bead and then incorporate those items into a story that they will tell the others with them.

For the child interested in animals, try these Adventures in Color and Camouflage to show the child how animals rely upon the colors of nature to offer them protection. Whether kids are learning their colors or already know their colors, you can incorporate the hues in nature into art, storytelling, and science activities.

Seasonal Color Wheel

What are the colors of spring? Summer? Autumn? Winter? Each season offers a unique color palette. If an interior decorator selected colors for four rooms in the colors of each season, chances are that you’d have no difficulty telling what season was represented in each room. Once children become old enough to be aware that they’ve experienced a season in their past, they too would recognize the colors of the seasons.

You can do these activities during any season; you could even do them each month of the year. The activities go beyond simple color recognition to noticing the variations within colors. Try these as art projects, even if you don’t feel that you yourself are artistically inclined. Do the activities along with your children, students, scouts, or campers.

Color Match
Go to the hardware store and collect an assortment of paint chip samples (start with greens, browns, and grays). If you have the time and inclination, cut the strips apart into individual colors and toss them in a bag or envelope. Now, go outside with the kids and give everyone at least one of the paint samples and encourage them to explore the area looking for as close a match in nature as they can possibly find.

Players can switch to different colors if they can’t find what they are trying to match, or they can hold onto a color in the hopes of matching it elsewhere along their walk. Try this activity in natural settings as well as urban or suburban settings to contrast the colors of not just seasons but environments.

Color Wheel
This activity is a bit more complex because instead of matching colors the participants are creating color matches. Each player will need some paper and either colored pencils or watercolors. Although the manufacture is providing a range of colors, point out those colors can be mixed or layered to create other colors.

Take a plate and draw a circle on the paper. Divide the circle into six, eight, or twelve pie sections. Now, go outside and select a color distinctive of the season and color in one of the pie sections. Again, the yellow of forsythia might not be the yellow of the colored pencil, so encourage exploration and experimentation with the materials as participants practice mixing or layering colors.

Fill in each pie section with a different color. Notice how not all green leaves are the same color green and try to duplicate these different hues. Label the page with the season or the month. Try to repeat throughout the year, creating a color palette for each season.

Try either of these activities with preschoolers all the way up through adults. They give you an awareness of the variety of colors around you as well as bring clarity to the distinctive qualities of each time of the year.