Summer Aquariums

Hi everyone!

I know it’s been a while since my last post, so I hope everyone has been outside enjoying the spring weather with the little ones!

The forests and fields are alive with animals this time of year and the firefly’s are out making the nights’ air magical; perfect weather to go exploring!

Our family has been VERY busy enjoying nature! I wanted to share with you one of our favorite spring and summer adventures. Catching Toads! My kids look forward to this all year long, and can’t wait for the weather to warm up and reveal our spring time friends. Yes this may seem scary to some, and according to my friends I am nuts, but seriously it’s not hard. The kids LOVE the idea of being able to really see nature up close. We call them our summer pets, I let the boys keep the toads for a week and then let them go back to nature. You can do it too! Keep reading to find out how!

What we do is get a 10 gallon aquarium. Most pet stores sell them from $10-$15 dollars, we also purchase a metal screen top at the pet store for around $15. Yes this is a bit of investment but I promise you won’t be disappointed. We then prepare the habitat. This is a great opportunity to talk to your kids about what a habitat is, and do some research as to what kind of habitat toads like. The computer is a great place to start your research. I won’t go into details, because part of the joy of teaching kids comes from learning together with them!  Once your habitat is complete it is time to start searching for toads to temporarily occupy your habitat.

Building a toad habitat

If your kids are old enough, a good time to look for toads is at night since most are nocturnal. This is where the fun and magic really begins! I arm each child with a flashlight and send them into the front yard once the sun has gone down. The toads at our house like to hop near our flower pots, and hide under the bushes. We also use our senses to find the toads. Another GREAT teaching opportunity! Since it is dark out and hard to see, we think of other ways we can find toads; such as listening for them. Sometimes that means hearing the croak, but usually that means we are listening for rustling in the leaves, or bushes. We usually find at least 1 toad when we go out at night, but if you don’t no worries, the kids have a blast searching and will be more than willing to try another night.

Night toad catching, with firefly’s lighting the way

Our house rules include that each aquarium we keep has a maximum capacity for toads. Usually the magic number is 3.  This rule is best discussed prior to catching any toads to eliminate screaming kids when they find toad number four and you won’t let them keep it, yup I learned that one the hard way! Our toad friends usually stay a week in the aquarium, as long as we have time to go to the local pet store and pick up some crickets for them. Most pet stores carry crickets in two different sizes, small and large. I recommend getting the small size to ensure the toads can eat them. I usually get 2 dozen crickets per week. It is a TON of fun watching the toads come out to eat.

Toad friends!

Finally I wanted to share some exciting adventures which I will add to my blog in the near future. My oldest son found an injured eastern box turtle earlier this month. We brought him over to NC State Turtle Rescue, and they were able to help him get started on his way to recovery. Since then, we were contacted by the Rescue to see if we could continue the rehab at our house. We were sooo excited! Please stay tuned for Doc McSuffins rehab adventures at our house!

Counting Birds……

A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. Lou Holz

Laying in bed on a Saturday morning, I see the sun starting to peek through the windows, I hear the pitter patter of little feet pajama feet and I hear the sweet morning wake up song sung by the little carolina wren.  Birds have become a regular part of our life.

Almost every morning the boys and I sit down at the kitchen table, and while they have breakfast (and mommy drinks a BIG cup of coffee) we watch the birds having breakfast at the bird feeder. The boys have gotten pretty good at identifying the guys that come all the time, and we even have names for a few “regulars”.

Francine

MY favorite is a sweet, curious carolina wren. She has been hanging around our house for at least 2 years. Every morning, she sings a melodious tune to help us wipe the cobwebs out of our eyes. I have named her Francine the mommy wren.  The boys are always quick to point her out, “look mommy it’s your wren!. Sometimes she is singing from a flower pot, other times she is in the dead marigolds, she has even been seen on several occasions singing a tune in the covered area near our door. Francine always keeps us entertained.

Even though it doesn’t seem much, we are bringing nature to us by having a bird friendly deck; giving the boys a great opportunity to watch nature in action. It also gives the cats plenty of entertainment throughout the day!

If you don’t have a bird feeder somewhere that you can easily observe it, I HIGHLY recommend it! It has given us plenty of entertainment while teaching the boys how to identify different birds.  Depending on where you live will dictate what kind of feeder you should have.  I live near a wooded area and have a TON of squirrels and raccoons that love to eat my bird seed. I FINALLY figured out the magic combination so that the seed was left for the birds. First thing I did was buy a bird feeder that was weight controlled, so when a heavy squirrel or raccoon jumped on it, the openings would close preventing them from getting at the seed. This alone did not deter my seed eating squirrels and raccoons. Those guys are SMART! I then switched my bird seed to Coles blazing hot mix. Apparently hot pepper does not bother the birds, but does the other guys (except deer at my house). Yea! The bird seed is back to being for the birds!  Another great feeder that gives you a “birds” eye view are the window feeders. You stick the feeder with big suction cups to your window. This is VERY exciting because if you sit quietly you can see the birds up close. I also like to put out a dish of water (bird bath) near my deck feeders. I keep things simple and cheap so I use old chinese food containers. The birds love these! Maybe they smell the chinese….. oh wait they can’t smell! (They have olfactory glands, but they aren’t really developed)

Carolina Chickadee enjoying breakfast

A chinese food container bird bath!

The reason why we are discussing birds in this blog 1) because they are super cool, and 2) it’s time for the Great Backyard Bird Count!

What is the Big Backyard Bird Count?

“The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes on one day, or you can count for as long as you like each day of the event. It’s free, fun, and easy—and it helps the birds.”

The count starts Feb. 17th and goes through Feb. 20th.

This is a SUPER COOL project! You can do it anywhere! If you don’t have a bird feeder that you can watch, you can pick a place in your yard OR go over to a local park and watch some birds.  A lot of parks have established feeders where the birds visit on a constant basis, so finding the birds isn’t a hard task!

Don’t know your birds too well? NO WORRIES…. check out the audubon society’s link to help you identify birds. They even have a feature to listen to bird calls!

http://www.audubonbirds.org/

Please check out the GBBC website (link address is below) to learn more info about participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count…. They have a link where you plug in your zipcode and it will give you the types of birds you should see in your area. They also have a printable checklist to help make counting your birds easy! There is no excuse NOT to join in on the fun!

http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/whycount.html

Now that I have you all excited to put up a feeder near your house and count some birds you need an activity to help get the kids into it!

Let’s make some kid binoculars!!!!

Materials Needed (Give or take)

(2) toliet paper tubes or 1 paper towel tube cut into @ 6″ pieces

Crayons, markers, glitter glue, construction paper, glitter, anything your little artist would like to use

Paper hole puncher (or a sharp scissor if you don’t have a puncher)

String- What ever you have, as long as it’s kid friendly, ie. NO FISHING LINE (yes this was a battle with Noah)

Glue

(2) paper clips

Instructions:

Take the two tubes and let the kids decorate them how ever they would like….. let them use their creativity! They can cut out and glue construction paper on them, use crayons or markers, etc.

With adult help, glue the two tubes together along a side and clip with paper clips to help them stay in place while drying

Once dry, take the whole punch (or scissors) and punch a hole on each side to create a place to tie your string neck strap

Tie each string end to the hole to create a strap

Congrats! You now have a GREAT pair of kid binoculars!

The kids love these, and if they break, it’s super easy to make new ones!

Materials for binnoculars

Hard at work decorating binoculars

paper clip used to hold tubes in place while glue is drying

Using our new binoculars to watch the birds

Way too cute! He really enjoys his binoculars!

I hope you have enjoyed this entry, please leave comments on the blog if you participate in the bird count, to let me know how it went!

One last thing, if you haven’t checked out the weblinks I have added to my home page, please do! I have the link to the Jordan Lake Eagle camera, a live cam of baby eagles that hatched in early Jan. There is also a link to acorn naturalist, a great online nature store!

Have fun with nature today!!!!

You Are An Explorer!

Welcome Friends! If this is your first time to my blog, thank you for checking it out! Also be sure to read my first two entries to learn why I started this blog and to understand why Nature is sooo important to a child’s development!

Todays Adventure; Make a Nature Journal and then go exploring!

This mission is super fun to do with kids, you don’t even have to go further than your own backyard to accomplish it! The first thing you will need is a Nature Journal. I am all about keeping things simple, and cheap.  You can use a journal you already have (be sure to dedicate it as your nature journal), OR make your own journal (instructions I liked the best can be found on the weblink below, this isn’t too difficult but YOU WILL need to help your kids). Whichever one you choose, have the kids decorate the outside of it with a “nature” theme. They can draw and color pictures of animals, insects, etc, cut out pictures of nature from magazines and glue them on the cover, or anything else artsy you can think of!

Here is the website for Nature Journal Instructions, feel free to change things a bit! Make it original!

http://bringinguplearners.com/2008/01/28/homeschool-hacking-tips-make-your-own-nature-journal/

Finding and cutting out nature pictures from magazines!

Noah’s Nature Journal!

Now that you have a Nature Journal it’s time to go exploring! This is something you can do any time of year, any kind of weather you are willing to brave, and any time of day! My boy’s love the summer because at least once a week I will let them go night toad hunting. They each have their own special flashlight they take outside with them once it get’s dark to look under bushes, leaves etc. in hopes of finding a toad.

Start small, explore your yard. If you don’t have a yard try the nearest park! Just a friendly reminder; before you go anywhere, look up if you have any poisonous critters in your neck of the woods so that you will be able to identify them and keep your distance if needed.

Once you are there, your mission is to document and observe the world around you as if you’ve never seen it before.

▪   Take notes

▪   Collect things you find on your travels

▪   Document your findings

▪   Notice patterns

▪   Copy

▪   Trace

▪   Focus on one thing at a time

▪   Record what you are drawn to

 This is the fun part! Start by turning over some rocks and logs. Are there any insects? Potato bugs? Worms? Both are safe to pick up. Potato bugs are fun because when scared they curl up into a little ball. Worms are always exciting because they are slimy and wiggly. If there isn’t a critter visible, is there evidence that a critter was there? Look for worm or other insect tracks in the dirt under the rock, also look for worm poop. When you tell a child you are looking for worm poop, the adventure not only got funny but WAY more exciting! Worm poop looks like tiny little drops of dirt all kind of connected.

Chances are you guys are going to find something you weren’t even expecting, kids have a knack at finding cool things. It’s important that you embrace their excitement. Even if you  really don’t like worms or are afraid of them, PRETEND like you do, and act as excited as the kids are when discovered.

When you get home, write in your new super cool journal everything you did and found. Even if you only found a leaf, document it, leaves are cool! Have the kids draw a picture in the nature journal of something they found interesting on your adventure.  It is sooo much fun watching them draw their interpretations of the adventure. Today our family went on an adventure down to the stream behind our house, we saw lots of neat things including amphibian eggs, we played with sticks, and of course threw some rocks in the stream trying to get each other wet. When we came home Noah drew in his nature journal. He drew the rocks in the stream, the eggs attached to the rock, water, and green algae. GREEN ALGAE! Who knew he noticed that! Goes to show you never know what the kids are going to pick up on.

I know you are excited to get going and start exploring…….. so GO! Have fun! Enjoy every minute with your little ones. It is magical watching them explore!

They found some eggs!

Nature and Childhood

Why is going outside and playing in nature important? In today’s world of 24 hr cartoon networks, and every video game available at a touch of a button; children have disconnected from nature. Other factors have also contributed to this disconnect or “Nature deficit disorder” coined by the book “Last Child in the Woods” (GREAT BOOK) such as fewer natural areas to play in, more structured activities children are attending, and parents who might not feel comfortable in nature.

I woke up stressed this morning. It was the start of a couple of crazy weeks that I just didn’t want to deal with. What was the first thing I wanted to do? Go for a walk in the woods. The woods are my sanctuary, when I am in them the stress just melts away. Using all my senses I breathed in and smelled the cool crisp air, I heard the birds singing their good morning songs, and I felt the soft pine needles under my feet. Nature helps you deal with life’s stresses. Children have as many stresses as us adults and they need a safe place to help them deal with them as much as we do. Nature can provide that for them.

The following article is taken from the NC Triangle Gardener, it is the best “sums it up article” that I have seen that also includes references for further reading. Hopefully you will take away how critical it is to get kids outside again! Enjoy!

“Many of us grew up hearing our mothers recommend that we “get outside and get some fresh air.” This piece of advice has some recent research to back it up and it turns out that our mothers, as usual, were totally correct in their advice.

Children who participate in outdoor activities have better levels of concentration and a higher level of self-dicipline, they demonstrate greater abilities to deal with life’s stresses, and they learn new information more rapidly than children denied access to the outdoors.

We all guess that time spent in nature is beneficial; it intuitively makes sense to us. Researchers across the glove are now measuring the specific positive results for children exposed to nature.

Among the findings;

Children with symptoms of ADHD are better able to concentrate after contact with nature (Taylor 2001)

Children with views of and contact with nature score higher on tests of concentration and self discipline. The greener, the better the scores (Wells 2000, Taylor 2002)

Children who play regularly in natural environments show more advanced motor fitness, including coordination, balance, and agility, and they are sick less often (Grahn et al. 1997, Fjortoft 2001)

When children play in natural environments, their play is more diverse, with imaginative and creative play that fosters language and collaborative skills (Moore & Wong 1997, Taylor et al. 1998, Fjortoft 2000).

Exposure to natural environments improves children’s cognitive development by improving their awareness, reasoning and observational skills (Pyle 2002).

Nature buffers the impact of life stress on children and helps them deal with adversity. The greater the amount of nature exposure, the greater the benefits (Wells 2003).

Natural environments stimulate social interaction between children (Moore 1986, Bixler, Floyd & Hammutt 2002).

Outdoor environments are important to children’s development of independence and autonomy (Bartless 1996).

Nature has a positive impact on all of us, and including contact with nature in our lives has powerful benefits. The National Wildlife Federation recommends a Green Hour concept, a time for unstructured play and exploration in nature. Their website has ideas at www.nwf.org/Get-Outside/Be-Out-There/Activities.”

So now we know why it’s important to go outside an play, even if it’s just to your neighborhood park for a short time. Go out and explore! You and your kids will be better because of it! Next post, we will start looking at things to do on your adventures, and how to engage the children with nature! See  ya soon!

Welcome Explorers

I believe all children should be “swingers of birches” so this will be the start of my nature blog. I welcome all who want to explore, get their hands dirty, and truly learn how to appreciate nature and share that love with children. If I help one person learn how to show a child the beauty and excitement in nature I will consider this project a success. Welcome future “swingers of birches”! Below is Robert Frost’s Swinger of Birches poem, please take a moment and just sit back, read, and take it all in. In my next post, I will discuss WHY having children outside in nature is critical to their development and ours!

When I see birches bend to left and right

Across the lines of straighter darker trees,

I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.

But swinging doesn’t bend them down to stay

As ice-storms do. Often you must have seen them

Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning

After a rain. They click upon themselves

As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored

As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.

Soon the sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells

Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust—

Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away

You’d think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.

They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load,

And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed

So low for long, they never right themselves:

You may see their trunks arching in the woods

Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground

Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair

Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.

But I was going to say when Truth broke in

With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm

I should prefer to have some boy bend them

As he went out and in to fetch the cows—

Some boy too far from town to learn baseball,

Whose only play was what he found himself,

Summer or winter, and could play alone.

One by one he subdued his father’s trees

By riding them down over and over again

Until he took the stiffness out of them,

And not one but hung limp, not one was left

For him to conquer. He learned all there was

To learn about not launching out too soon

And so not carrying the tree away

Clear to the ground. He always kept his poise

To the top branches, climbing carefully

With the same pains you use to fill a cup

Up to the brim, and even above the brim.

Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish,

Kicking his way down through the air to the ground.

So was I once myself a swinger of birches.

And so I dream of going back to be.

It’s when I’m weary of considerations,

And life is too much like a pathless wood

Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs

Broken across it, and one eye is weeping

From a twig’s having lashed across it open.

I’d like to get away from earth awhile

And then come back to it and begin over.

May no fate willfully misunderstand me

And half grant what I wish and snatch me away

Not to return. Earth’s the right place for love:

I don’t know where it’s likely to go better.

I’d like to go by climbing a birch tree,

And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk

Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,

But dipped its top and set me down again.

That would be good both going and coming back.

One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.