“Wahoo! This is the coolest place ever, mom!” Jubilant shouts could be heard as we pulled through the trees into an opening that enclosed our hideaway for the next couple of days. We were hear to unplug, to unwind, and to reconnect as a family. We packed food, books, our coloring pencils and watercolors ready for […]
nature walks
Gifts that Spark Nature Explorations: Nature Walk Bag
The great outdoors are so rich with opportunity. Encouraging our kids to explore and delight in the world around us is a powerful way to set them on the course of life-long learning. As I remember back to all of the years of hiking with my parents and having copious amounts of time to […]
Fresh Inspiration for Nature Walks!
Well, I’m back and settling into normal everyday life and dealing with those periodic pesky technical issues that currently center around email. :Gasp: I accidentally deleted my entire blog/book email inbox. So if you have tried to reach me in the last couple of weeks (there are one or two of you), I’d love it […]
Nature making it’s way indoors and learning mapping
It’s been a hot week, so I guess I should be thankful when nature exploration opportunities follow us indoors, right? I was craving flowers to grace our breakfast table earlier this week and went out front to collect some bougainvillea blooms that were spilling over onto the sidewalk. As I placed them in a vase, […]
Crepuscular < Our word for the summer
The shadows lengthen and a light breeze is blowing. The temperature still hovers above 100 degrees, but with no sun beating down from overhead the dry heat is bearable. Dusk approaches and just as most desert animals come out of hiding now, so do we. The boys race ahead, thrilled to be free of […]
Nature Mapping and the Nursery
Last week, I mentioned that we are starting our Daily Outdoors challenge up again and that our family goal for this summer was to ‘nature map our neighborhood.’ We’ve been crazy busy this week with VBS and convention prep, so we haven’t started drawing our maps yet, but we did take stock of our yard and […]