Greening Sam and Avery

bug week - outdoor play link up

There is not much better than some good old puddle jumping and bug hunting!

 
We were looking for butterflies today.

 
We only saw one little one but it was a big hit.

 
And then the puddle jumping began! 

Some serious outdoor fun was had and then we followed it up by some quiet reading time inside learning more about butterflies.

 

 
 

How did you spend your week outdoors? 

Share your outdoor play with us. Here’s just a few guidelines for sharing.

> Any kind of outdoor play is welcome. If it happened outside, then please link it up

> Please do not share any competitions or promotions

> Please link back to this post

> Each week we will feature an activity from the previous week. By contributing you are giving permission for an image and link from your post to be republished.

Thanks for sharing.

>Share this link-up on your site

Day 354: a listening walk

 

One of Sam's friends was over at our house today so I had all three little kiddos by myself. The kids played well together and we had a lot of fun. But I just couldn't get one of the books that I saw thing weekend out of my mind. It was all about a little girl that loves to go on walks with her dad and dog. They don't talk or collect on their walks. They don't sing or play games on their walks. Her dad walks with his hands in his pockets and her dog leads the way with his nose while the little girl just listens. She tells about all the great things she hears and notices on the walk by listening very closely with her ears. I loved this idea. I knew that I could never get Sam to go a whole walk without talking but it did make me realize that I should focus more on nature sounds when we are out playing.

So today on our way to the park with the three kids I kept asking them to stop and listen.

What do you hear? Where is it coming from? Can you see "it"? I kept them focused on each individual noise as long as I could.

Then, when we noticed other things, like ant homes along the cracks in the sidewalk, I would ask them if they could hear them. Or when we were picking flowers I asked if flowers made noise. It was fun to watch their little minds try to hear things that weren't obviously making any noise.

I wish I had this book to actually read to the girls and then go out for a listening walk but I can't fit three kids in my car to get to the library today!

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The Nitty Gritty!

It is great to be reminded about using our other senses and teaching about our other senses! I would love to hear how you all engage your kids with nature and their other senses. Any ideas? Any books that deal with the other senses.

 

Day 339: creating a bug lover

 

 
This is my niece Bailey.

This morning while breakfast was being cooked for 11 people I took the wild crazy big girls out in the yard to do some bug hunting.

 

St. Louis is being overwhelmed right now with cicadas. They are a BIG flying bug and they are everywhere; we heard multiple references this weekend to the biblical locust plague.  May not be quite that many, but it seems close! With cicadas you get cicada "shells".

 
Which is what we were out looking for this morning. On a normal summer morning in St. Louis you can hunt for a long time and maybe find one of these cool little things clinging to a tree but today they were everywhere!

 
 Sam and Parker were enjoying the walk around the yard, commenting on what we were seeing and looking for things but not all that enthusiastic. Bailey was another story. She could not get enough! She wanted to be the one holding them, finding most of them, finding other bugs and super excited about each find.

Like this rolly-polly that instantly curled up in a ball when she picked it up.

 
 

Our walk endly pretty quickly as we were called in for breakfast, then the joys and chaos of a Sunday morning with five kids (aged 1, 2, 3, 4, 5!) took over and we weren't able to get back out again. But after lunch, we we were packing up our car to head out for the long drive home we couldn't find Bailey to give her one more hug. As we pulled out of the driveway we saw her bucket in hand combing the grass! My grin spread from ear to ear. Though her mom may think it is gross and her dad may think I am crazy, I LOVE that she got into searching for these little "shells".

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The Nitty Gritty!

Tips on raising an adventurous bug hunter -

1. Exposure! Bugs may not be your thing but it is so important to expose young kids to EVERYTHING. So, if you aren't up for a bug walk or pond critter catching session check into public programs or camps where someone else could show your kids this amazing little world.

2. Mix up the exposure. While bug walks in the backyard or setting up bug boards can be great for little ones it is also very important to mix up where you go, what you look for and how you look at them. Try out different catching methods, different jars or containers to hold them in, different parks or natural areas and types of bugs.

3. Don't let them see you squirm! I am not a snake person BUT I work really hard to not show my discomfort around the girls when we see a snake on a trail or find one in the backyard. I show excitement and eagerness to learn and observe. I do not want them to grow up thinking anything in the natural world is yucky or have an unnecessary fear of insects or animals. Understanding when they need to be careful, not touch or keep their distance is something totally different and I do work hard to teach them that too.

Day 319: sunshine and fresh air at the park

It was park madness today. A trip to the park after school with friends that included a picnic AND a walk to a different park in our neighborhood this afternoon.

The sun is shining for the first time in days so getting some sun and fresh air was much needed for my little ladies.

I have linked up to this post before but since it fit with all of our outside time today I wanted to share it again....and I loved her idea so much that I thought maybe I would add a few ideas!

So, first go check out Go Explore Nature: 15 Ways to Connect With Nature at the Park.

Now, let me share 5 ideas of my own!

1. Build or sculpt with what's around. Could be sand, sticks, rocks, pince cones, leaves or anything else. Let your kiddos get creative and see what they can create.
2. Make jewlery out of flowers or leaves. Everyone knows about daisy chains or dandelion necklaces, super easy to make and fun for kids of all ages. You can also make leaf crowns like these. 
3. Bug hunts! Even the most concrete and seperated from nature parks will always have bugs of some kind or another. Just start looking and talking about what you find. 
4. Listen. Sometimes if you just sit with your little one, encourage them to be quiet and ask them what they hear the discoveries can be amazing. If you do hear birds, frogs, bugs or other noises try to track them down or just sit and listen. 
5. Walk. Walking to a local neighborhood park is not only greener but it is great exercise for the whole family and can be a good chance to see all kinds of nature. Be sure to ask questions and point out plants, birds or animals along the way.

Just five more ideas but all fun ways to find nature at any park.

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The Nitty Gritty!

Got a few links for you tonight! Some fun new sites I have been checking out lately.

Gardening 4 Kids - lots of great products, ideas, and information

Seeking Greener - lots of great information about having a greener life

The Grass Stain Guru - love their mystery critter posts

 

Day 307: a sidewalk called to us

We headed out this afternoon to find Community Groundworks. The directions that I read seemed simple enough so I didn't write them down...I was wrong. We got lost and couldn't find the gardens. Rats. But while we were driving around we saw this sidewalk that just seemed t stretch on forever and lead to the most amazing sight. So we parked and headed out!

 
 
It was a great walk down to the water. A chance to be out in the amazing sunshine, run through the grass, hunt down dandelions and find some deer tracks!

 
So even though we didn't find and get to explore what we were looking for we had a great outdoor adventure anyway.

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The Nitty Gritty!

After our walk down to the water we drove around for just a few more minutes and OF COURSE got lucky and found Community GroundWorks!  I would love to set up a tour of this place for the girls and I because it looked so amazing. We were running late and had cranky kids so we didn't get out of the car to check it alll out but I would STRONGLY encourage you to visit the website to see this co-housing, community garden, wild space project that is quite the project.  

And I just have to say how excited I am about the next few days...

• Massive yard sales all over town starting tomorrow and going through Sunday. LOVE second hand shopping!
• Plant sale at Olbrich Gardens!
• Native plant sale through UW. Super excited to get some bleeding heart, trilium and ferns to help fill in around our new dry creek bed.
• AND the possibility of putting our kayak in the water this weekend with SAM AND I in it!  Cannot wait to get her in the boat with me for the first time.

Lots to be excited about! Hope you have fun stuff to look forward to as well.

Day 298: spring walk at school

Today was Sam's "Spring Walk" at school. They do a walk in the Fall and in the Spring, typically walking to a local park that has goats the kids can check out and feed. But the weather around here has still been pretty cold so the goats have not been put back outside yet. So, instead the kids did a walk around the neighborhood incorporating a color activity in with the walk. I gave this idea to the teacher, a modified version of our color walk from last summer.

 
The kids all had a great time. It was neat to see Sam in her school setting but also doing something that we would do (and have done many times) at home.

They even got to take a break from color hunting and roll down a hill!

 
 

It was great outside time for all the kids!

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The Nitty Gritty!

Today reaffirmed to me why I could NEVER be a formal early educator. I have patience enough for my own kids, for activities in short spurts and a small amount of patience for keeping a three year old motivated and interested in a task. I saw Sam's preschool teacher go full force on this color walk for almost an HOUR! Every 10 feet she was stopping to point out something, notice a color or ask a question. I was so impressed. Even when the kids started to lose interest she would get excited about another yellow flower or green leaf and they would all jump right back into the activity.

THIS is what teaching should be about. A lot of people seem to think that teaching is an easy job and today I can tell you that it did not look easy.  I have always had so much admiration for the people that can be in the classroom with kids everyday. They have one of the hardest jobs, I think, and one of the most important.  I could NOT have done, at that same energy level, what Sam's teacher did today. I saw a GOOD teacher today and I am so happy that we are blessed to have her as Sam's teacher.

Day 280: really enjoy the moment

Do you know how to really slow down and enjoy a two block walk to the creek on a warm spring day?

Let the 15 month old walk all on her own!

 
 I had plenty of time to take pictures of all the colors and fun things I was finding.

 
 
Who knew landscaping rocks had so much color?!

 
The sight of duck weed might be disgusting or a pain for some people but I LOVE frogs and turtles and they thrive on this stuff so TO ME seeing duck weed means that the sound of spring peepers in my backyard might not be too far away!

And just as Avery was given freedom on the walk today she was given some freedom at the creek as well!

 
The girls had a blast working side-by-side today. And there are actually insects and little critters all over the place for us to catch! So fun. Yay for spring!

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The Nitty Gritty!

Letting go of some of the control that I normally have over Avery is a challenge. She is not ready for much freedom but some days it is fun just to see what she will do with the small amount of freedom that I give her.

Today she did okay on the walk, only veering off to head toward the street a few times. Luckily she was not too worried about keeping up with her sister which I thought was going to be a big issue, causing tantrums and running induced falls.

And at the creek when I sat her down next to the water and showed her how to dip her net SHE DID GREAT! She listened when I told her not to stand up. She listened when I told her not to put her feet in the water. And she listened when I told her not to try and shove Sam in the water! She just sat and played, splashing and laughing with her sister.

But today will probably still be a fluke kind of event. It will be rare that I have the patience to let her walk anywhere right now. And it will be rare that I let her that near to water, with no lifejacket and without my hand planted firmly on her somehow. She is still just one!

Day 255: a spot for her treasures

The snow is almost melted. Grass is reappearing. Which means treasures are once again being uncovered! Rocks, sticks, pine cones, leaves and much more. Sam is having so much fun re-discovering the joy of finding, carrying and bringing home lots of treasures. When we are in our neighborhood on a walk she knows she is allowed to collect treasures and bring them home, so long as she can carry them. But her treasures, until today, have just ended up all over the yard or on her swingset. So today we decided that she needed a special spot where she could keep them all so that she could find them again easily.

 

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The Nitty Gritty!

I do limit Sam's collecting to small items that aren't alive and she cannot pick anything off of plants or walk too far up into other people's yards. Collecting is not something that I encourage while we are out walking but it is a natural tendancy of little kids. Rather than have every walk turn into a fight because I won't let her hold on to a prize leaf or stick I choose to give her guidance with her collecting, have rules and allow her to bring some things home. I don't let her do this, for the most part, when we go anywhere else outside of our neighborhood. But if you do let your kids collect it can make what they find much more meaningful and enable you to use it later in projects or activities if you give them a place to keep their collection.

In other news....it has been mentioned by several people that they can't participate in the Zero Waste Day because they don't cloth diaper. While I would love for everyone to go out and buy cloth diapers and make the switch, I KNOW that it is not possible for everyone to do that. I would love to still have you all participate and see how you do in every other part of your daily life. I am not fully convinced that I can get through the day without any waste, I may fail and have to admit that I throw something away. But the point is to just make ourselves very aware of our waste and then to learn from each other. So even if you don't use cloth diapers I would still encourage you to participate.

Super excited about this day! If you are interested in participating I hope you will grab the button below to let other's know that you are joining in. And then get ready to document all of your trash on Tuesday!!

 

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Day 254: nothing but pictures

 
 
 
 

Day 227: it hit 46

DEGREES! Yes! We got to 46 degrees today.

Perfect for a puddle bike ride! Sam was thrilled to be able to put on her rain boots, coat and go for a bike ride. Daddy took the girls out for a long ride today in the sunny, warm, BEAUTIFUL weather.

We are all getting the spring bug now.

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The Nitty Gritty!

Even though I am super excited about spring coming in WI before spring can arrive we have what I call the season of melt. The time when we are in the 30s-40s every day, the snow is slowly melting, there are puddles, water and sand/salt mixture (that is applied to the streets) everywhere.  Having the girls and the dog outside during the melting season is NOT fun. All that water, mud, sand and salt gets brought into the house and cars. It gets everywhere!  

So while I am thrilled to see the beginning of the end of winter I am not happy about the melt!