Toddler Tales and Trails October

Today's focus was: Who lives in the autumn forest and What do they Eat.  We started out with an activity where you glue cut out shapes on paper in the shape of birds.  For the preschool age kids this worked great, for the younger kids it was just an opportunity to chew on markers and paste down shapes.  It is hard to reach the developmental stage of each child, but I call it a success just giving kids access to art materials.  They will develop comfort at their own pace. The activity was also just a time when parents / caregivers could connect.  Then we began our session.

Since it was a rainy day we started with a song called “Pitter Patter, Pitter Patter, The Rain is Coming Down.  Then I shared a poem by Langston Hughes called April Rain Song although today I suggested we call it October Rain Song.  Then we read Bring on the Birds by Susan Stockdale.  Followed by singing Little Bird Come to my window…recalling the birds from the book.   Next we read Earl the Squirrel by Don Freeman and then acted out the Grey Squirrel Song before heading out on our nature hike where we looked for food in the autumn forest.

We found Douglas Fir Cones, lichen, and many insects during our bug hunt.

We played a game of “everybody’s it” but called it squirrel tag and when I said home you had to find a tree to rest on and be safe.

It was a lovely day in the rain. 

Quick Notes on a May Toddler Tales and Trails

Today’s theme was birds and their nests and how to watch for signs of birds nesting.  At this time of the year slow down and watch around you.  Do you notice birds flying back and forth to one tree, a bird house or to nest you may have just noticed in the eave of a house?  Use your ears: Listen.  Are little birds tweeting?  Are the parent birds and perhaps supporting family members busily bringing food back to their babies? 

I was unable to get a hold of the story I had planned on reading today Have You Heard the Nesting Bird however we did read a few fun non-fiction stories  Birds by Kevin Henkes and Little Owl Lost by Chris Haughton.  We also looked at pictures of birds nests in the book Urban Roosts: Where Birds Nest in the City by Barbara Nash. Then as we hiked we did a short nest making activity and game where we made paper bag nests.  We hid them in nearby bushes and pretended they were our nests and we needed to feed our babies- gathering pretend worms and insects.  Finally we went on a hike looking for bugs. We looked in the bark of several trees.  We shook the low branches of a fir tree onto a sheet.  

So many books.  So many trails. So many birds.  So many songs.  So many activities. I am looking forward to next month already!

New Understandings on Importance of Nature

I  regularly read the Children and Nature Network articles for inspiration and research.  I loved reading Richard Louv's books Last Child in the Woods and The Nature Principle.  I also am working on a creating a list at my local library of my favorite books for educators and parents.  However,  relevant to families in the NW  Louv recently wrote for the local Parent Map--from this link you can access many resources on nature preschools and parent child classes that just three years ago were still hard to find.

I feel like we are at a turning point in terms of education and early childhood understanding.  While No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top seemed to push out some of the "slow" experiences of raising children- research is now proving that we need to give children time to play.  It needs to be unstructured, but occasionally guided for social emotional growth.   It most likely will even be muddy!  The Washington State Early Learning Guidelines make it clear that outdoor time is great for development, but we have a ways to go in terms of making sure all children have this access.

Two years ago when I presented at the SOAR conference on the benefits of nature,  local preschool teachers at the conference said that they were often limited by regulations regarding the outdoor experiences they could provide for their kids.   As I investigate the schools in my region trying to find out what kindergarten will look like, I am sometimes concerned that there is so much standards based teaching and academics that it often hard for teachers to make the time for unstructured play and outdoor time.   I hope that we will make the time for all children.   As I reflect on Martin Luther King Jr's life and legacy this weekend with my family and community--I realize that is an equity issue to get all children opportunities for great  play and learning out of doors.

Prior to being the  full-time mother that I am currently;  I was a teacher.   I am confident that the more  unstructured outdoor experiences that children have will lead to greater mathematical, scientific and language arts understanding and success down the line.  The fact that my children play day in and day out at a mud pit in the back yard helps them understand their world today and will help them understand the land and water models that they will do in fourth or fifth grade.  Their explorations are teaching them about the elements, about what living organisms need to survive, and how to work together!   Does your local school have a play place for nature discovery?

I feel lucky that I have been able to immerse my children in the urban outdoors.  I invite neighbors to come by and play with us.  I have hosted a local urban nature play group at the library.  I still feel like many children are missing the access to nature.  Today as I march with the local preschool; I dream that all kids will have the ability to learn in nature.

Naturalized Playspaces and Biophilic Design

Today the door is open.  My children are freely wandering inside and outside.  I can tell that they are having a good time by the melodic tones of their voices, even small arguments are resolved as they practicing the art of negotiation with one another.  I feel lucky that we have a yard, a haven for the boys to play and safely learn about the world.  

Mom come here "look at the pollen!" says S. I wander out and see T playing with a small figure, dancing her in the pollen of a newly opened flower.  The wildflower seeds we planted in late spring have just come into bloom.  The boys are enchanted; as am I.  Each time we walk outside we notice something new, something familiar and something of interest.

My most current reading has been a chapter called "Healthy Planet, Healthy Children: Designing Nature into the Daily Spaces of Childhood" by Robin C. Moore and Clare Cooper Marcus. It is part of a book called The Theory Science and Practice of Bringing Buildings to Life: Biophilic Design by Stephen R Kellert, Judith Heerwagen, and Martin L Mador.  I am inspired to be reading about urban planning with a deep respect for children and nature.  This chapter gives great suggestions of how to get children exposed to nature in natural ways, especially by thinking about schoolyard designs and neighborhood parks.  I hope to share this resource with my own community as we go through the design process of re-imagining our own play-field.  It also reminds me that part of the reason behind our efforts of creating great playspaces for children is to create safe places for them to play independently.  It must be connected to larger efforts of improving the walkability of our neighborhoods so that children can get there on their own and have their own play.

Developing a Sense of Place

Our closest natural urban park is Seward Park in Seattle.  The Audubon runs the Environmental Learning Center which offers a lovely Toddler Tales and Trails program.  It wasn't until I mentioned to my boys that the lead early education teacher Cadi was leaving that I realized what an influence this park program had had on my family.  Even though we did not attend weekly; we went regularly over the years.  They were sad about Cadi's departure and wanted to go to her last class and say goodbye even though they had aged out of the 0-3 year old Wednesday class.  I am glad we went.

There is something very special about having been to the same place for years, walking the same trails, and seeing the same people.   As soon as we got to the center the boys were ready to run up the stairs even while I paid the $2 per child fee.  There is a comfort in going to a class whose routine is the same: from opening to closing.  The boys knew what to expect, some songs, some stories, a bit of counting and a hike.  The class didn't let them down.  We even went home with a new song to sing about fish.  

The nature walk is where I am most thankful that we have gone to one place again and again.  The boys know where to look for the "squirrel log" with its telltale sign of douglas fir scales scattered about  and the lightening tree which although burned out is still hosting young branches of big leaf maple.  They hug their friend a newly planted Cedar tree and notice the differences a season makes along the trail.  T even picked up two Douglas Fir cones and noted, "mama look one is open and one is closed.  This one feels pointy."  Although T may not know it he is developing scientific reasoning and skills that will be a scaffold to future learning about cones.  

My children's deep understanding of this single path behind the education center gives my children confidence that they take with them when we go a little farther into the NW wilderness. When my boys feel the soft leaves of the thimbleberry plant or notice the pokey leaves of the oregon grape plant they feel a connection to home.  David Orr writes about Place and Pedagogy in the book Ecological Literacy:Educating Our Children for a Sustainable World.  He references the work of Paul Shepard who writes that writes about "terrain structure" and how it shapes how we learn and who we become.  I  am confident that by giving young children deep knowledge of place it offers grounding in a world that is often filled with dislocation.  

Toddler Tales and Trails

Being a full time parent is a wonderful way to get to experience programs and find out what they are about.  They truly teach me as well as they teach my children.   Our local Audubon offers a great activity for youngsters and their caregivers, Toddler Tales and Trails.  Usually there is a staff naturalist who leads the program.  However, she has lost her voice and since I am a trained volunteer at the park yesterday I was able to lead.    I focused on spring and also nests.  Here is a brief description of our activities.  One hour was a short amount of time to delve into all the things I had prepared, but it was the perfect amount of time for the kids who were ready for free play at the end of our hike.

Opening activities and traditional songs

Read book called Wake Up It's Spring by Lisa Campbell Ernst which the young children seemed to love.  I think it is because of how expressively the illustrator drew the pictures.  It just seemed to resonate with the youngsters.

Sang Pete Seeger's" Litte Bird Fly Through My Window" Kids each chose a stuffed bird that made a sound.  They play the sound and then we sang to their bird. 

Looked at various nests to discover what they were made out of & then I handed each child a small egg carton with play dough to make a nest.  We  searched for things to line it with as we hiked along.

Then read In my Nest by Sara gillingham and Lorena Siminovich which is just a simple board book about what goes into a nest.

Then it was time to prepare for and head out on  our hike.   We stopped numerous times to listen for birds: To point what direction we were hearing them.  

We said "hello" to our friends in the forest such as the lightening tree and a baby cedar that was recently planted.  

We played games of follow the leader when we came to particularly long stretches of our hike- the leader got to choose an animal to move like & then we all moved like that animal.  

We stomped in mud.  Stopped in mud.  Spent time in mud.  

Sang a goodbye song.

Finally, this lovely hour was a full experience for me; however for my children it was just a warm up for a day of play.  The boys then had time to play in the park, read more stories at the "centers" library. Run through a spring rain.  Then home for time to work on their mud pits, which with so much water were extra inviting.