It is so hard, in our hectic life, to make the time to keep the kids as connected to nature as I think we all need to be. I find myself having to come up with things to make us take time each day - it's pretty crazy. Whatever small things we can sustain are what I look for, though - whatever works.
One thing we do, starting at Thanksgiving as a tradition, is make pine cone bird feeders - the kind where you slather peanut butter all over a pine cone, roll it in birdseed, and hang it somewhere for the birds to find. The Lone Star Baby brought a bunch of pine cones home from her grandmother's house in Denton and we have been busy with the peanut butter and birdseed since we got back. I'm not sure this sort of thing really even helps the birds, but I hope so. It's fun and it does make little kids feel like they are taking care of the birds in winter. I think fostering that feeling of compassion and protectiveness toward nature is the main point (second always to just fostering their enjoyment of being out in it) when they are young.
Do you have any winter traditions that bring your family closer to nature?
4 comments:
I tried a bird feeder a few years ago, and alas, the pigeons and the squirrels drove away the songbirds who had been visiting us. We didn't even have pigeons before the bird feeder! I gave away the birdfeeder, the pigeons left, and I ended up just growing lots of sunflowers for seeds. One new practice we're doing that I hope continues is the seasonal nature table. We've got King Winter here right now, as well as an earth angel (both needlefelted by Nushkie via Etsy.com). We've brought in pinecones and holly-leaves to decorate the nature-table, too. The "table" is really just a shelf on our hutch, but there are some lovely nature tables out there, including the one in my daughter's classroom. Here's a link to a winter nature table: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/136/373495664_94cd51e2d5.jpg?v=0
There's Mrs. Thaw in the background, sweeping away the snow that King Winter brought! Mrs. Thaw is Mother Earth in one of her guises. I just learned this recently....
That is so cool.
That sounds so fun...I've been thinking about doing something similar but have yet to get around to it...good for you for making it a tradition. What I do is force my kids (and myself) to go outside every day that we're home...sometimes the effort of donning four sets of snow clothes feels like too much, and I get much grumbling (internal as well), but once we're out there no one wants to come in.
Do you mean home instead of work/school or home in the evening/night? I can't pull off outside play each work/school day- I can barely manage dinner-bath-obligatory hand of Sleeping Queens-story-bed - and I figure the little one gets plenty of outside time at school and the older one walks every day. It's really me who is deprived of outside time...sigh. Sigh. Sigh.
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