Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Welcoming the fall

The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

To usher in the season the children and I took our weekly nature walk at Shad Landing State Park. Autumn is my favorite time the whole world seems ablaze. We did a nature scavenger hunt which was a big hit with my little treasure hunters. We collected:

  • something a bird would use in a nest
  • something a squirrel might like for lunch
  • a rough rock
  • a smooth pebble
  • a leaf with pointy tips
  • something yellow that grows in nature
  • something smaller than your thumbnail
  • a stick
  • a leaf that has been chewed on
  • something that would feel nice to walk on barefoot
  • something that would be uncomfortable to walk on
  • a seed
  • a feather
  • a flower
  • an insect

O has no fear and loves to be outside...she found a daddy long legs for her insect. (it's actually an arachnid but who's arguing with a three year old?) She proceeded to let the spider crawl up her arm and shoulder and onto her face...giggling the whole time about how much it tickled! I tried to hide the look of horror and shock I was feeling...I'm not into spiders! T feels the same and he ran away from her in disgust. That's my boy!

The idea for this scavenger hunt came from a book I'm currently reading and highly recommend "Let's Go Outside!" by Jennifer Ward. This book is packed with outdoor activities and projects to get you and your kids closer to nature. In her intro she references a study by the Kaiser Foundation(Washington Post, June 2007) which found that the average child spends six hours a day watching television, playing video games, and/or using a computer....Um WHAT! So please do yourself and your child a favour and go outside and play:)

0 comments: