What are the best experiences for children?

All children learn differently. My boys like to observe before jumping in.  Sometimes the first time they see an activity they do not want to take part.  However, they are learning by observing.  I realize this by the way they bring things up over the dinner table.  For example tonight T said, "Rot is good.  It is good for the plants because it shows that there a bugs breaking things down."

Yesterday we did a Fiddleheads session at the Arboretum: the theme was decomposition.   Teacher Sarah always plans wonderful activities and today she had set out stations at the start of class and at one of them were some books.  The boys saw a "Magic School Bus" book and that was what they wanted to read.  Today part of what the boys were talking about came from that book.  They actually retold the story.  Yet, I know that it was also the hands on experiences in the aboretum that they took into their explorations in the yard. I know I certainly did-- gardening today was filled with more attention to all the bugs, millipedes, and centipedes

A few of the activities from the class were:

• make a worm tunnel: the adults stood with their legs apart and the kids all faced them and then crawled through their legs.
• dig in the dirt off the main paths looking for bugs, place them in a white bowl to observe then set them free 
• making a segmented worm out of a hosiery stocking, cotton filler, and rubber bands for the segments

As always it was just getting out to a regularly visited place that caused the most excitement for my boys.  They were especially thrilled when they found how the skunk flower had changed next to the stream.  

I enjoyed seeing how the winter garden had transformed into azeala way.  It was a bright pathway.  The boys wondered if their paths that they had taken in the winter were still there. They were there, just narrower. 

I wonder what learning will stick.  All these outdoor experiences that my boys experience.  Some structured- as in the arboretum classes, some unstructured- just play in the backyard with the neighbors, some laden with vocabulary- while they walk the gardens with mama, and other experiences just filled with wonder.  Some experiences mediated by story, folklore, and silly songs, and other just their own imaginary play.  

My guess is: whenever there are smiles and true awe- there will be a deep bodily memory.

Nature Inspiration for Young Children

I have been creating lists of books that our my favorite at the public library.
Hope you and your young children enjoy them as much as I do.

Nature Inspiration for Young Children | The Seattle Public Library | BiblioCommons
Nature Inspiration for Young Children 2 | The Seattle Public Library | BiblioCommons

An Appreciation

Just wanted to write an appreciation to the Growing up Wild curriculum. It will be taught in a class at the Tacoma Nature Center in July and I highly recommend it.

Today I shared a song from the Bird Beak Adaptation lesson with the naturalist at our local park.   It was about birds and their specials skills and is sung to the tune of all around the mulberry bush.  She incorporated it into her lesson and it was a nice success at the Toddler Tales and Trails session.

The Growing Up Wild curriculum is also helping in developing a Family Nature Program to be hosted at the local library.    Hope to be able to post more details as this develops.  We are focusing our outreach to the ELL community and we will be integrating Somalli tales and activities into the playtime.  

Family Hike

Yesterday we went on a Family Hike.  It was a joy to see so many mothers and children heading into the woods on a cloudy day.  It was an experience to get to be with  many children who are so comfortable in the woods.  Many of them have been a part of the Vashon Wilderness School and have a nature connection due to spending days weekly in the woods at Camp Long.  These children headed immediately off trail and found challenges and adventures throughout the forest.  This program is one of several that aims to teach children about nature from safety, to exploring, to honoring and respecting.   It is an organization inspired by Wilderness Awareness and the children who attend it definitely feel comfortable in the wilderness.

  

I realize however that all families do not always have the same background or comfort in this "off trail" exploration.  I also realize that different parks have a different tolerance of off trail exploration.  So in leading a family nature hike I realize that in general it is particularly important to set ground rules that everyone can follow and feel good about that journey.

When I was at a camp in Minnesota leading teenagers into the woods, the counselors followed the belief that you had to respect the boundaries of the leader most restrictive.  Therefore, if one counselor said, "these rapids are too dangerous" then the whole group would go around the rapids.   This motto existed after a few particularly scary runs down rivers: when canoes capsized, luggage was lost, and boats needed to be repaired.   No one had been hurt, but the lesson had been learned to respect the wild river and the skills and comfort level of the counselors.

Yesterday I had inspired this group of families to get out into the woods, but I realized that I did not fully understand my role.  For the future it made me realize I need to clarify what role I am to have when I plan future hikes so I know whether it is  just an informal event where everyone does sort of their own thing or if it is something that I am guiding, leading and therefore setting parameters and expectations.  The Children and Nature Network has a Family Nature Hike program that has somewhat formalized this role of facilitating Family Nature Hikes and while I never felt it necessary to use it, I can see its place especially when you are getting groups of people together who you may not know.

I plan to lead many more groups into nature.  Each experience I have gives me new insight and reminds me to feel confident in my own gift of teaching nature.  I have a unique perspective as a mother of twin boys and over 20 years as an educator and urban naturalist.  I have much to learn and much to share.

A few activities that I did do on this hike was at the start of the hike get us prepared for animals we may see by having children pull stuffed animal puppets out of a bag.
An group art project where we looked for different colors of green.
A group game of imaginary ball toss where you pass a ball to one another...1st it might be a tennis ball, then a watermelon, a feather ecetera....

Bedtime story: What we do

The other day has become a bedtime story that was repeated by both T and his dad for the past couple of nights.  

There were once four boys who played outside for a long time.  They biked.  They dug out a road.  They played pirates.  When it was dinner both families ate outside.  You could hear the happy voices from each yard.  Our family ate really good food.  After dinner S and T went fishing with sticks and string over the pond (which is just our hillside).  They caught lots of salmon and S cooked them.  Their friends joined them.

Then a big black cloud came overhead.  It got suddenly cold.  The wind began to blow and snow began to fall (really flower petals from the cherry and plum trees). The boys chased the flakes and tried to catch them.  J and T caught the most.  They were fast. Everyone laughed and smiled.  Then it was time to go into the house.  It had started to rain big cold wet drops.  We watched out the door as rain and hail fell down.

After it rained T went out to investigate the cold soaking grass the hail that had lingered and where water had collected.   A crow called then mom called, "time for bed."  Everyone put on pajamas and snuggled up for bed.

Investigating cones

Today the boys and I went to the Arboretum for the fiddleheads program. Teacher Sarah does a great job balancing play, games and explorations  during the two hour sessions.  The boys enjoyed looking at the cones and noticing their different colors and shapes.  They also enjoyed playing the game where they had to "run and find"…."a stem"…"a flower"..."a leaf"….and "a root. " S was always particular proud of his discoveries and would run back to Teacher Sarah to tell what he had seen.

Later this afternoon we played this game in our own yard taking turns calling out what to find: "something red and wet," a yellow leaf, "something dry"...a tulip..a laurel tree leaf.. a hidden spot under the wheelbarrow.  This game can be played with older kids and the added element of something chasing you and the only safe place is "a huckleberry bush" or "a rock" or anything that can be found in the environment.

Puttering

Yesterday the boys and I were outside most of the day.  It went from slightly blustery and rainy in the morning to beautiful spring sunshine.   While we finished a few tasks in the yard more moving dirt, pulling weeds, and planting some patio thyme we also just played.

The boys are amazing at finding things to do and invent.  At one moment S was "riding"our upside down wheelbarrow and he had pulled his bike onto to it and said,"I am Santa fixing a bike that someone returned."  T was working diligently on his roads and mountains.

Meanhwhile the boys were also "harvesting water" from wherever they could find it in the yard and adding it to their dirt to make mud and then using various toys/ tools for funnels.

At one point the boys next door asked us "what we were doing."
I replid, "puttering."
He said, "What it that?"
I said, "it's just doing stuff."

I am not sure that definition is adequate, but it made me realize how happy I am to know that I can putter and how happy it makes me to look out and see my boys putter about, making inventions, rolling down the hill, and then moving things about.

We invited the neighbors over and the play changed from quiet puttering to active building and chasing, laughing and occasional crying...thats what happens during unstructured freeplay.    In the end the boys also built "cobblestone" roads  and this lovely campfire made of stones and flowers.