We are all finally home again. YAY!
I don't think my body has ever been this exhausted. Okay, I can think of a few other times...but you get what I mean.
The girls had a great four days with Nana and Grandpa. The weather kept them inside more than I think they all would have liked but they did have time to play in a baby pool in the backyard with lots of fun water play and visit the local zoo. The girls got a chance to "pet" some very interesting animals including a hissing cockroach, skink, other lizards and reptiles. Apparently the hissing cockroach was the big hit with Avery; she kept going back to it again and again. Seriously, only my kid!
We all came home today to tomato plants bursting with blossoms our first sunflower blooming and some much larger pepper and bean plants! Super excited to start seeing some food growing in our garden.
A great weekend was had by all! How was your weekend?
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The Nitty Gritty!
I really wanted to share a bit more information about the children's portion of the Energy Fair that I was working this weekend. If you are interested in the Energy Fair in general (and it is an event that ANYONE in the midwest could benefit from attending) you should go HERE.
So, just a few of the workshops that young children and families could attend over the three day fair included -
Homemade Bubble Wand Making - put on by Rachel from Lusa Organics
Sustainable Singing - TOM PEASE! An amazing children's entertainer.
The Unhuggables and Radical Reptiles - by David Stokes
Homemade Non-Toxic Paint and Homemade Non-Toxic Playdough - put on by Ramy Selim of Sunny Day Earth Solutions.
Recycled Paper Making - put on by Virginia Wiggen of the Aldo Leopold Nature Center (yes, I convinced my boss to drive up for the day and do a workshop for me! how cool is that?!)
Compost Companions - put on by Cassie Bauer of Camp Minikani. This one was a great program that included a compostable v. non-compostable relay race where kids had to put different food item pictures into the right containers and they made these adorable buckets with faces on them to be "compost companions" in their homes. Basically the "companion" is a kitchen compost bin with removable faces pieces on it so kids can change the face up and then have fun "feeding" their companion the things that are compostable. Very cute for super young kids that are learning to compost.
Electric Charades - put on by WISPIRG. This was having the kids identify all the things that use electricity in their homes by having them get into groups pick one electrical appliance and then as a group try to act out that appliance for the other groups to guess. Very fun for older kids and was followed up by a good discussion of alternative ways they could do those jobs without using electricity.
Yoga for Kids and Families - put on by Marguerite Ramlow from Artha Sustainable Living Center.
Project Learning Tree - put on by my fellow coordinator for the children's free play area Jen Knade. I didn't get to attend this one (a girl's got to eat sometime!) so I don't know for sure what all she did but I did get a chance to see a few books that she read and I cannot wait to find them at the library! You will hopefully get to hear about those soon enough.
Building Like Birds - put on by Mark Morgan of Bearpaw Design and Construction. He had the kids mixing mud, water and clay with straw, grass and sticks to build bird nests and learn about how birds build their homes.
And there were many others that I don't have a link for to share with you like knitting with chopsticks, poetry in nature, mini solar cookers, pond class, learning about worms, learning about parts of a plant and which part we eat, building solar race cars, building bird feeders out of a soda bottle and several others!
One of my favorite parts about this weekend is that not all the people that come to present at this event for the kids consider themselves environmental educators or even educators for that matter. They simply want to share a passion that they have with young kids and they understand the value of these kinds of events for not just the parents but the kids too. I think that is amazing and wish more people gave of their time and talents to the kids in their community the way these people do every year!
Honored to have worked with all of them this weekend!
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