Greening Sam and Avery

Day 214: greening goes to school

I volunteered in Sam's school today. The teacher had seen my blog and asked if I would come in and do a tracking lesson with the kids. I was thrilled and honored that she would ask.

I already had the tracking posters from the birthday party that I knew I could use, so I just added a few other activities, some outside time and instant guest teacher!

So, while the kids were eating snack I started out with the track mysteries. I described the tracks and what they were looking at and asked them questions about who they thought the tracks belonged to. Because these were younger kids than the birthday party I knew they would need some more help.

For the help I printed off pictures of a rabbit, coyote and a squirrel. As we were examining the track for each of these animals I would cover up the picture of the animal, all except the legs. We would show them the legs and feet, talk about how they matched the track, what kind of movement they might have and then again asked them what animal they thought it was. As they continued to guess (all wrong) I would show them more and more of the animal pictures or I would show them key features of the animal (rabbit ears, squirrel tail, etc.). This really helped and eventually they got each animal. 

Once they knew the animals we talked about the track mysteries, what the animals were doing and how the tracks were different.

Then we headed out to the hall and practiced moving like the animals (hopping like a rabbit with front feet, our hands, landing behind our back feet; running on hands and feet like coyote, running like squirrel on all fours with front feet landing behind back feet). The kids loved this part.

We headed outside and were actually able to find some rabbit tracks which the kids loved and then we once again practiced moving like animals do, only this time we were moving in the snow!

It was a lot of fun and I think the kids really enjoyed it all too!

Anybody else need a guest teacher?

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The Nitty Gritty!

Here are all the track and animal images that I used just in case you want to try and recreate any of this. I realized that the last time I posted about the tracks I didn't include my images. Just thought I would share!

Download Animal tracks

Day 212: a bit of inspiration

I am writing this post as I sit in a rustic lodge style dining hall over looking thousands of acres of WI woods and an incredible bird feeding station that is attracting more birds to one spot than you can even imagine!

I am in paradise!

I just finished up the keynote speaker and am taking a break to do a bit of blogging then I will head to more sessions on sustainable education, winter outdoor fun for kids and sustainable gardening! And some skiing will be thrown in there too.  

Being away from my kids is always a sacrifice but one that I am willing to make this weekend in the name of environmental education! hehehe (Hope Chris and the kids are surviving!)

Anyway, on to the point of today's post.

My girls are in the hands of their dad today and tomorrow. They will be playing in the snow, seeing friends, reading great books and lots more I am sure but none of which is very interesting, earth shattering or inspiring SO I thought I would instead share some resources and links. 

Here we go...

I am addicted to "The Kids Guide to Nature Activities" by Joe Rhatigan right now. Written for kids it is pretty simple but still SO informative. They do include some organized and outlined activities in there that I am excited about. For example there is a "follow the leader" activity in there that I have never seen before. It shows pictures of symbols that you make on a trail using rocks and sticks to guide the people behind you on a hike or treasure hunt. I don't have a scanner or I would share the symbols on here but they are super simple and if you copied the pages of the book to give to the participants this would be a super fun game to play out in the woods with kids.

Another hike idea that they have is the "no-moving-until-you've-spotted-something-alive-and-moving hike". That just sounds fabulous! You literally stand in one spot and cannot move until you spot something that is moving (plants don't count) and then you can hike again. You can pre-determine how far you will go until you are required to stop and find something else that is moving. I think this would be such a great way to get kids to focus on the little things on a hike and really notice all the wildlife around them.

 

Some other ideas in the book to entice you to check it out:

• how to make a homemade backpack out of a pair of old jeans!
• the whatever-you-find-in-the-kitchen-cabinet snack mix "recipe"
• instructions on how to make your own sleeping bag
• camping checklists for kids
• simple animal calls
• bug traps for catching and observing bugs
• the whole chapter on explore the shore!
• dendrochronology - I know you are curious what that is!!
• and much more!

But not much in this book about winter. And since I know most of us are still dealing with snow, cold and ice I wanted to be sure to share some links for great winter activities.

I don't usually share links or activities that I haven't tested out first because I like to be able to say that the activities work and give some feedback. SO if you try out any of these activities please let me know how they went, a link if you blog about it or share your thoughts with us through the January Monthly Challenge (which will be ending soon and I will compile all the shared ideas into one BIG post!).

This first one is just a super simple list of all the possible things you can do in winter! Most of them I knew but seeing them all in one spot really amazed me at how many cold weather options there really are. Winter Activities - List of 50

This one is a link of links! A giant list of resources for parents, teachers and anyone else that might need crafts, activities, games, printables, etc. for winter fun.

This one is not so much for activities or ideas, it has some really great safety reminders and tips about camping in the winter. There were quite a few that I needed to be reminded of and a couple that were new to me. If you have done or are planning on doing some winter camping I would check this out.

Winter Camping Safety Tips and Tricks  - Boy Scouts of America

And I want to re-share (since I have posted them before) two of my favorite places to get winter fun ideas. Go here or here for some great mom/kid/teacher tested and approved winter fun ideas.

Okay, I can't waste this whole amazing conference on my computer! Gotta go. Be back tomorrow with more to share.

Day 210: sledding

Can you believe that we have had snow now for over two months and today is the first time we have gone sledding this year? I know, me neither! We got a couple of inches of fresh powder this morning so the hills wouldn't be that fast. We have had a couple of people recommend a hill near by so we bundled up and headed out.

It was amazing and everyone had a great time. Sam got brave after going down the hill with us a few times and tried it out by herself three times. She did great. Only problem with that is she is not strong enough to get back up the big hill with the sled all by herself! We had to walk down after her and then walk back up.

Nothing that funny or exciting happened but Chris and I were both exhausted after an hour of sledding! So was Sam and Avery was pretty cold. But it was an awesome hour!

We will be heading out sledding again very soon I am sure.

Any fun sledding stories to share?

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The Nitty Gritty!

Some great books and links added to the Resources page! Be sure to check them out over on the sidebar.

 

Day 202: snowed in our kitchen

First our bathroom and now the kitchen! HA!

Okay, not really that funny. I tried. I'm sick, cut me some slack.

Anyway, Sam had so much fun playing with the snow inside yesterday that I thought more about it and came up with a different way we could play with it today.

I filled a cookie sheet with snow and set it on the kitchen table.

Then I picked out some animals (I will explain more about which ones I picked and why later) to use.

I sat Sam down with the snow and animals in front of her and asked if she remembered how we found tracks out in the snow that animals had made. Did she remember how her own feet made tracks in the snow when she walked? This was her chance to make some tracks by using her toy animals.

I showed her how to push the animals in, how they could walk or run on the snow and make trails and then I handed her the animals.

After she made a bunch of tracks I showed how we could use a spoon to "erase" the tracks and start again.

She loved this part.

But my favorite part was the questions I could ask and the conversations we were having while she was making tracks. Here are some of the questions:

• How many legs does that animal have?
• How are those tracks different from these?
• Put all the animals with two legs over here. And all the animals with four legs over here.
• Can the deer run in a circle?
• Can the deer run in a straight line?
• Are the big feet easier to get into the snow or the small feet?
• Which animal has the biggest feet?

She loved talking about the animals, seperating them into piles and making comparisons. This was a good activity for us but it took a lot of my attention and involvement.

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The Nitty Gritty!

Did you see I posted twice today? I would love for you to scroll down and check out my other post as well! 

So when I was looking for animals to bring this idea into reality I realized that because we have a pretty large collection of wooden animals we don't have many animals with very realistic feet! This might be the first time I am cursing not having more plastic in this house! HA! Anyway, we used a duck (webbed feet and only two), a deer (skinny legs that sink in very far), a giraffe (larger feet than the deer), a cat (smaller animal but actually wider feet proportionately than the deer), a dinosaur (just needed something with REALLY big feet and it only had two feet) and a human.

I think this could be a great activity for a varying range of ages. With older kids the comparisons and use of a wide range of animals would be important. As well as maybe making stories, adding other props or elements with the snow.

This would also work in a classroom setting if enough cookie sheets could be gathered. My daughter's preschool actually had snow in her sensory tub today! I was so impressed/surprised that I actually laughed out loud when I saw it. Don't know if we think a like or if she reads the blog (HI Mrs. Becky if you are out there!).

Okay, now go. Keep scrolling and read my FIRST post from today!

Day 201: it snowed in our bathroom

Not literally but in the sense that my girls got to play with snow in the bath tub! I had seen this idea on several blogs (check for links in the Nittu Gritty!) but never tried it out. So worth it! My girls had a blast and the possibilities are endless.

I simply filled a big empty tub full of snow from on our deck and carried it up to the girl's bathroom, then dumped it all in the bathtub. If I had the energy I would have gone back for more, but with the way I am feeling one load of snow is all I could muster.

Then Sam and I picked out some toys to bring to the bathroom. She decided on her animals and some cars.

 
 
Or course we had the bath toys too.

 
And even Avery liked getting her hands in the snow and adding toys to the mound!

 
But the biggest hit from the day was making and throwing snowballs at the wall!

 

It so fun to see the girls playing with the snow in a new way. We loved being able to play with indoor toys in the snow too. AND the snow did not melt as fast as I was expecting so the girls were able to go back to the activity several times throughout the day. YEAH! (this was exciting because it meant multiple times that I could sit, rest and just watch them play!).

A big hit at this household. Have you tried bringing snow inside? What did you do with it once you got it inside? What was your kid(s) favorite part?

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The Nitty Gritty!

Tip #1 for snow indoors - be sure that it is clean snow! This was harder for us than it may seem. With a big dog I had to be very careful about where I was gathering the snow from! Even the deck does not seem to completely off limits to the dog even though we try to make it so.

Tip #2 for snow indoors - use indoor toys! If you have sand toys and outdoor digging toys that aren't packed away for the season that would be fun too but think outside the box as well. The animals and cars were fun to make dig holes for, make houses for and roads for in the snow.

Tip #3 for snow indoors - start out with no gloves! Let your children play for a while with bare hands. They won't be as cold as they would be outside and they will get the chance to really experience what happens to the snow in their hands; the cold feeling, the melting sensation, the packing of the snow, etc. The kids will tell you when their hands get too cold and then you can let them have gloves.

This idea has been all over the web lately but I happened to find another mom that did it TODAY! Check out Little Learners Lounge.

And if you haven't participated in the January Monthly Challenge yet there is still time! I would love to see what you are doing for some fun with your kids in winter. And if you need some inspiration check out another great post from Little Learners Lounge with lots of ideas about winter play, crafts and books. Or you can check out this great post from Not Just Cute.

I would love to have an end of the month recap of all the ideas that are shared, activities we tried and LINKS to the people that shared the ideas! So please participate in the challenge. Check back to the original post to find out how to join the conversation.