Kids in the Garden

Egg Planters

2008-03-13T14:23:00.000-07:00

Today's Weather: Chilly 40 degrees, sun changing to clouds

Today's Activity: Carefully, poke a hole on the top of an egg with a nail. Move the nail slowly around to create a finger size hole and let the egg insides drip out of the shell. Wash. Place the shell on a small piece of clay to help it stand. Allow your child to decorate the shell with markers. Add some soil to the inside of your "planter." Place a seed inside. Water and watch it grow!

Butterfly Place

2008-03-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

Today's Weather: Snow ending early, sun peeking through, high of 40 degrees

Today's Activity: Field Trip! What better way to get excited about the garden than by thinking about butterflies. In NH we are lucky enough to be close to The Butterfly Place in Westford Massachusetts. The indoor greenhouse space is sanctuary for butterflies and their beloved flowers. It is a place for kids to learn about our flying friends and the plants that sustain them. It will also help you prepare your child for making their own butterfly garden in the spring.

For more on butterfly centers see "Butterflies, Oh My"

Garden Decoration

2008-03-11T04:40:00.000-07:00

Today's Weather: Sunny and slightly warmer 40 degrees

Today's activity: Head to the store and pick up a little garden statue to keep your child company in the garden. You can get some statues for as little as $5 at places like Home Goods and TJ Maxx. Little bunnies and duckies are great for early spring. Having a "friend" in the garden, a character with which the child can identify, makes the space more special for a child.

Seeds

2008-03-10T14:16:00.000-07:00

Today's Weather: Sunny and Cold

Today's activity: Remember planting a seed in a cup as a kid? Remember how exciting it was to watch the seed crack open and the little green shoot sprout out? Buy your seeds today. There are many online catalogs to review with your kids or order catalogs online. Burpee and Park Seeds are great for vegetables. Vegetables are a good way to start. Kids can start thinking about growing their own food. Let kids look through the shiny pictures. Let them see the many varieties of foods. Let THEM choose what to buy. When the order comes, we'll be ready to plant.

Nature viusalization

2008-03-09T06:50:00.000-07:00

Today's Weather: Sunny, cold and very windy. All of yesterday's heavy rain has turned to ice.

Today's activity: Create a nature visualization for children. Have your child close his eyes and create a nature story. Have the child imagine that he is a living thing in your yard. You may want to try the following words. "Imagine that you are a tiny bulb who hibernated beneath the ground all winter. Imagine your first days pushing out of the soil in spring. As the earth warms while we look toward summer, it warms you. You tingle and stretch yourself awakening to the warmer weather. You feel the strength of your stem, through which you will suck up water and nutrients to make you grow. Imagine that you have grown into a tiny new flower swaying in the spring breeze. The wind gathering beneath your petals and making you flutter like a butterfly." Create your own imagination stories about kids being birds, bugs, and trees. Also have the child imagine that he is himself playing out in nature, lying in the grass, running his toes in fresh dew, etc. This exercise can also be done with movement. I find that the quiet, eyes closed (meditation) version is great to use after a nightmare. It helps calm the child.

The Secret Garden

2008-03-08T13:40:00.000-08:00

Today's Weather: Heavy rains, melting snow. Tonight we turn the clocks ahead.

Today's activity: As a librarian, I tend to turn to books to help teach me about any subject. And while the best way to learn about nature is by experiencing it, there is a lot a child can learn about the subject through the world of books. One can be drawn into a character's world and become excited about a topic by experiencing it through another's stories. I highly recommend The Secret Garden. It's poetic language and charming story about the adventures of three children interacting with nature is magical. On a cold rainy day, a nature book is the perfect prescription for a little sunshine. For more nature books see Suggested Readings on Children and Nature.

Painting with Natural Material

2008-03-07T12:57:00.000-08:00

Today's Weather: Chilly and gray. Heavy rains expected

Today's activity: The old dried plants from last year are starting to peek out from the snow. Gather some dried leaves and branches. Take some everygreen and grass cutting. Bring them inside to use as paintbrushes for great textured natural pictures.

Camera Play

2008-03-06T06:34:00.000-08:00

Today's weather: sunny and warming

Today's Activity: Around age two a child can begin to play with a camera. If she is old enough to look through a viewfinder, she is old enough to take pictures. Use a disposable film camera or one of the new durable digitals made especially by kids. Take your child outside and let them point and shoot. You'll be amazed what they come up with. You can help out by pointing out things such as the melting snow in a rushing brook or moss growing on trees. Using a camera helps one better learn to see the world by forcing the photographer to scout out the details. Consider taking the camera with you on a nature walk.

Plants Drinking Water

2008-03-05T06:50:00.000-08:00

Today's Weather: Heavy rain

Today's Activity: Since we can't go outside today, here's a rainy day activity to get children thinking about spring. This was a favorite of mine to do with my mom when I was a kid. Take a piece of celery and cut off the bottom end. Take a glass of water and add a dark colored food dye. stick the celery in and over the next couple of hours keep returning to the project to watch how the dye moves up the celery stalk. Discuss that this is how plants and trees "drink" water. See http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/Science/celery.html

Nature Walk

2008-03-04T05:13:00.001-08:00

Today's Weather: warm and sunny 55 degrees, turning cold and rainy

Today's Activity: Take a nature walk and talk about all of the things you see, hear and feel. You can go for a walk in the woods, but walking around your own neighborhood is good too. Teach your child to be aware of the nature around them no matter what the setting

the shapes of your shadows on the ground
the feel of the wind on your skin
the smell of firewood
clouds moving across the sky
budding trees
melting snow (don't forget to squish the slush under your feet!)
what is growing between the cracks in the sidewalk
the shapes of seed pods still hanging from the trees at winter's end

Try to walk at least once a week to notice how nature is constantly changing.

"Picking" Icicles

2008-03-03T09:34:00.000-08:00

Today's Weather: 40 degrees, started out sunny. Clouds are now setting in. We are expecting weather in the forties and rain for the next few days.

Today's Activity: After over 100 inches of snow this winter we are ready for spring! We have massive icicles hanging from the house. Before they melt, we are going to make our (hopefully) last icicle garden of the season. One of the wonderful things about gardening is the anticipation of growing wonderful things. All winter we have been talking about what we are going to do in our garden. The biggest project this year will be a big new vegetable garden. My daughter and I are going to "pick" icicles and "plant" them (like a fence) around the space that will become our garden. This way my daughter can visualize the size of the vegetable patch.

Make your own icicle wall or start an icicle collection by "picking" icicles and burying them in the snow.

Gardening Journal

2008-03-02T09:42:00.000-08:00

Today's weather: Cold and sunny. 30 degrees. Very windy. A lazy Sunday.

Today's activity: Create a journal for recording our gardening experiences. Draw a picture of the four seasons on the cover. This journal will record our journey throughout this gardening season. We ordered seeds yesterday.