Conservation Celebration Family Fun Sept 27

The Conservation Celebration nature festival at Rust Nature Sanctuary will be fun for the whole family.

On September 27 from noon to 4 pm you can enjoy live Bluegrass by Acoustic Burgoo and music by Moon Music, art and nature crafters, magicians and street theatre, food and fun. There will be lots of hands-on activities for children, guided nature walks, house tours, nature exhibits, exhibits of solar and other “green” personal and home products.

Admission is free.

WHEN: Sunday September 27: Noon to 4pm

WHERE: 802 Childrens Center Road, Leesburg, VA 20175 [Google Map]

The Audubon Naturalist Society’s Rust Sanctuary is a 68-acre nature center with historic Manor House and grounds located at 802 Childrens Center Road, just minutes from downtown Leesburg.

To learn more about the event visit the Event Web Page or call 703-669-2561.

Nature Find is another tool to find outdoor opportunities

The National Wildlife Federation’s Nature Find website lets you search an area for nature related activities and sites.  You can refine your search by type of activity and zip code.

Once you locate a site you are interested in you can select it on the map and get a popup with site information,  driving directions, and event schedule.

Check out Nature Find at this LINK

New site Koddler offers search for “local activities for Kids and Toddlers”

Koddler is a new website that parents will find useful and interesting.

Koddler helps you find local activities for Kids and Toddlers.

At their home page you can do a quick search of “what you are looking for” coupled with the ability to limit your search to your own geographic area.  Audubon Naturalist Society’s Rust Nature Sanctuary is currently one of the featured sites on the home page.

Check it out HERE

Art and Nature Join Hands at Rust Nature Sanctuary

Today’s kids need more “doing”, less “watching”.

According to researchers and educators, nature experiences can provide lasting benefits to children.  In fact, researchers say connecting kids with nature is essential to their cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being.  In addition, research has shown that arts education provides children with mental stimulation and life lessons that help them succeed in school and beyond.

Children learn by hands-on experiences.

Since nature provides a challenge to all of our senses and art offers the perfect creative outlet, why not combine them?

Bruce McGranahan of Rust Nature Sanctuary and Wendy Green of KidzArt decided to do just that with a partnership between Audubon Naturalist Society and KidzArt.  “Art in Nature” will debut this September 16th at Rust Nature Sanctuary in Leesburg.  The program, designed for elementary school children, will combine  an interactive nature lesson led by a staff naturalist  with  an art lesson led by a certified  KidzArt instructor.  Topics will include: trees and plants, bugs, sea creatures, birds, amphibians and animals. Each session will begin with a nature presentation by a naturalist followed by art instruction and hands-on drawing.

“Nature is directly connected to our health,” says Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods:  Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder .  “It helps us feel better physically and psychologically. It helps us pay attention.”

Research shows that getting kids out in nature increases their physical activity, reduces loneliness, depression and attention problems.  KidzArt stresses problem-solving skills and children show increased self-confidence when they study art.   The “Art in Nature” program will encourage the young naturalist/artist to explore the details and intricacies in nature whether it is the subtlety of plants or the vibrant colors of birds and bugs.

WHEN: Wednesdays from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm beginning September 16 and ending October 21.

WHERE: Rust Nature Sanctuary, 802 Childrens Center Road, Leesburg, VA.  [MAP]

FEE: The registration fee for six lessons is $126.

This class is designed for 1st through 5th graders.  To register for this program go to www.kidzartva.com.  For more information contact Wendy Green at 703-669-3772 or Bruce McGranahan at 703-669-2561.

Childrens Outdoor Bill of Rights

Maryland’s “Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights“

Mar 16-20 is National Wildlife Week

The National Wildlife Federation has some resources to help you jump into some family activities for National Wildlife Week.

Research shows that families connected to nature raise healthier kids and inspire a life-long appreciation of the environment.

The National Wildlife Week website offers free resources to make spending time outdoors easier than ever: activities and service project ideas for kids, Wildlife Watch lists of plants and animals near you, and more. Be Out There™.

Join National Wildlife Federation during this annual celebration.

Kids need recess (adults too)

Even more research to substantiate the value of getting kids outdoors …

The New York Times reports “The 3 R’s? A Fourth Is Crucial, Too: Recess“

New research suggests that play and down time may be as important to a child’s academic experience as reading, science and math, and that regular recess, fitness or nature time can influence behavior, concentration and even grades.

A study published this month in the journal Pediatrics studied the links between recess and classroom behavior among about 11,000 children age 8 and 9. Those who had more than 15 minutes of recess a day showed better behavior in class than those who had little or none. Although disadvantaged children were more likely to be denied recess, the association between better behavior and recess time held up even after researchers controlled for a number of variables, including sex, ethnicity, public or private school and class size.

A small study of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder last year found that walks outdoors appeared to improve scores on tests of attention and concentration. Notably, children who took walks in natural settings did better than those who walked in urban areas, according to the report, published online in August in The Journal of Attention Disorders. The researchers found that a dose of nature worked as well as a dose of medication to improve concentration, or even better.

READ FULL ARTICLE >>>

Gardening – good for all ages and the environment too

What can be more sustainable than growing your own food?  Anyone can plant a small garden even if it’s just a container with tomato plants.  Be sure to avoid harmful chemicals and if possible harvest rainwater for watering.

Gardening has benefits that go way beyond just growing food – benefits for all ages from children to seniors.

Researchers at Kansas State University already have shown that gardening can offer enough moderate physical activity to keep older adults in shape.

“One of the things we found is that older adults who are gardeners have better hand strength and pinch force, which is a big concern as you age,” said Candice Shoemaker, K-State professor of horticulture. “We found that with gardening tasks older adults can, among other things, improve their hand strength and self-esteem at the same time.”

Among the other health benefits of gardening is keeping older hands strong and nimble. (Credit: iStockphoto/Thomas Voss)

Shoemaker is part of a small team of K-State researchers studying the ways in which gardening affects the health of older adults.  Read more at ScienceDaily [here].

And Summer Minor writes at Eco Childs Play:

Getting kids involved in gardening is very easy to do, no matter if you have a huge yard to grow things in or are using pots on the balcony of your apartment. Even children as young as two can help with basic gardening tasks such as watering, planting, and pulling weeds. Begin by letting your little one in on the planning of your garden. Whether you are growing vegetables or flowers, letting them pick out some of the plants will make kids even more involved. Older children might even enjoy having a small garden of their own. A simple 3 foot by 3 foot square is big enough to grow nearly anything and yet still small enough for kids to manage on their own. Indoor gardeners could give their children a few pots or an entire window box of their own to care for. … CONTINUED

She says if you are looking for a few great books to help you introduce gardening to your kids start with the Eco Child’s Play recommendation of A Child’s Garden: 60 Ideas to Make Any Garden Come Alive for Children.   A few others are …

• Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Gardening Together with Children
• Gardening With Children
• Gardening With Kids
• A Backyard Vegetable Garden for Kids

New book helps your kids do what came natural to former generations.

Research has shown that the disconnection from outdoor activities and unstructured play is having a negative effect on our children.  Here’s a book that is designed to help a parent, or grandparent, get the little ones back outside into meaningful activities.

“I Love Dirt! is a perfect book for parents, teachers, or anyone who cares about children and nature. A nature-lover herself, Jennifer Ward has done an excellent job creating a collection of fun, interactive ways for children everywhere to connect with nature and combat the growing negative impact of sedentary, indoor lifestyles on our youth.”—David Mizejewski, Naturalist, National Wildlife Federation and Host of Animal Planet’s Backyard Habitat

Summer Minor posted a review at Eco Child’s Play:

This is one of my favorite books of ideas for getting kids outside and playing. I Love Dirt is more of an activity guide, featuring 52 wonderful ideas for kids ages 3-8 to get out in nature, explore, and even learn something along the way. The various activities span the entire year, covering ideas for spring, summer, autumn, and winter. No matter if your kids are in the middle of a city, out in the suburbs, or already enjoying the country side you will find something worth doing. I love that Ward also included little “Help Me Understand” sidebars for adults to help us explain the science aspects of nature … CONTINUED

Young Naturalists can learn to read maps and explore

Feb 21, 28: Junior Mapping Program

Saturday, February 21 and 28, 2009
9-11:30am (Grades 1-2)
12:30-3pm (Grades 3-5)
Blandy Experimental Farm & State Arboretum, 400 Blandy Lane, Boyce, VA 22620

For naturalists, being able to read and use a map is an important skill. Participating young naturalists will learn basic map reading and put those skills to the test by exploring Blandy on a “treasure hunt.” Finally, children will create their own map and explore the arbortetum on an outside excursion. Participants should dress warmly. For more information or to register online, please visit Blandy’s website.

Directions

Via Piedmont Environmental Council

Children’s dictionary drops blackberry the plant for BlackBerry the device

Image via Wikipedia

To a child, a blackberry is no longer a plant with an edible fruit but rather an electronic device.

Source: wikipedia

I know that our youth are becoming ever more disconnected from the natural world but now the Oxford Junior Dictionary will no longer bother to define Blackberry as a plant?

Two alarming trends among youth are that they are disconnected from nature and that they have no connection with where their food comes from.  It seems like this idea just feeds it.

According to a post by Robin Elton at Eco Child’s Play:

To make way for modern tech terms such as BlackBerry, blog, voicemail and broadband, the latest edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary has opted to drop terms pertaining to nature.  No longer can a child check this dictionary and learn more about the blackberry, dandelion, acorn, heron, otter, magpie, sycamore, or willow.

Canadian wildlife artist and conservationist Robert Bateman, whose Get to Know Program has been inspiring children to go outdoors and “get to know” their wild neighbours for more than a decade, said the decision is telling kids that nature just isn’t that important.

“This is another nail in the coffin of human beings being acquainted with nature,” Bateman said.“If you can’t name things, how can you love them?”

The Oxford University Press says the 10,000 words and phrases in the junior dictionary were selected using several criteria, including how often words would be used by young children.

MORE >>>

Teens take lead in solar education, promoting sustainable energy

treehugger.com reports that teens are raising awareness and talking to schools about going solar.

photo courtesy of the British Council

Seventeen-year-old Climate Champion Adam Raudonis is the head of Students for Solar Schools, a grassroots organization that aims to outfit high schools with solar panels. The pupil-led group is currently focusing on its first four schools—three in California, one in New York—but has plans to unite with like-minded students around the country. Adam and other young scholars involved in his organization are hard at work, raising funds, collaborating with school leaders, creating petitions and talking to contractors in an effort to create solar-powered, sustainable schools.

“if wait for somebody else to do something, to make our communities better, it [will] never get done.”

More at treehugger >>>

Eating dirt is natural, healthy

Being over-protective of our children can sometimes backfire.  Kids need to play outdoors and eat dirt.

“Children raised in an ultraclean environment, are not being exposed to organisms that help them develop appropriate immune regulatory circuits.”

According to an article at The New York Times, accumulating evidence strongly suggests that eating dirt is good for you.

In studies of what is called the hygiene hypothesis, researchers are concluding that organisms like the millions of bacteria, viruses and especially worms that enter the body along with “dirt” spur the development of a healthy immune system. These studies, along with epidemiological observations, seem to explain why immune system disorders like multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma and allergies have risen significantly in the United States and other developed countries.

“What a child is doing when he puts things in his mouth is allowing his immune response to explore his environment,” Mary Ruebush, a microbiology and immunology instructor, wrote in her new book, “Why Dirt Is Good” (Kaplan). “Not only does this allow for ‘practice’ of immune responses, which will be necessary for protection, but it also plays a critical role in teaching the immature immune response what is best ignored.”

READ FULL ARTICLE >>>

Device may make parents more comfortable with kids playing outside

Available soon … the world’s first GPS locator that locates your child … not just the device.

If this is a way to get kids outdoors, great.

num8 is the world’s first GPS locator device that has been specifically designed with children in mind. It will tell you exactly where your child is, whenever you feel you need to know – at home or even abroad.

All you need is a mobile phone or a computer to find their precise location.

And unlike similar locator products, num8 has been cleverly concealed in a child’s digital watch that is securely fastened to your child and cannot be removed or deactivated without your knowledge. No other child locator in the world can match this.

Another great feature of num8 is the ability to set up a virtual fence as a ‘safe zone’. If your child steps outside this zone you’ll know straight away.

If num8 is removed without your permission an instant alert is sent straight to your phone and/or email with your child’s location. It means total security, absolute peace of mind, all day long.

How it works

Eighth-grader invents window decal to stop bird collisions

CBC News in Canada reports that eighth grader Charlie Sobcov

“wants to stop birds from dying in collisions with windows, but he doesn’t want to ruin anybody’s view.”

For Charlie’s latest school science fair project he invented painted, plastic decals that can be placed in the middle of a window pane, however; the decal is a color that birds can see but humans can’t.

“It’s like putting a big stop sign in the middle of the window.”

The color is ultraviolet, beyond the range of colors visible to humans. That means the “stop sign” lets birds know the window is solid, but is nearly invisible to humans.

GO TO SOURCE PAGE >>>

ANS Kid’s Summer Camps – sign up online starting Feb 2

The Audubon Naturalist Society is taking Summer Camp sign-ups for this Spring and Summer.

Day Camps are for ages 4 to 11.

Camps are at Rust Nature Sanctuary near Leesburg [MAP]

View or Download the Camp Catalog (pdf)

You can register for all camps online [link] beginning Monday, February 2 at 9 AM.

Youth on front lines saving Louisiana coastal wetlands

Via celsius

In 2007, more than 700 young people between the ages of 10 and 18 raised almost 3,000 tree seedlings and another 6,000 native grass plugs in an effort to restore Louisiana coastal wetlands to their original state.

The Louisiana restoration project, formally known as the Coastal Roots Project , isn’t just busywork, though it does keep these young people quite busy. Under the auspices of Louisiana State University, the program – established in 2001, before Katrina left its scars – is now a vital part of coastal restoration .

In all, 17 Louisiana schools in 10 parishes (or districts) have instituted “can” gardens – fenced areas where seedlings are sprouted and nurtured in coffee cans or whatever container comes to hand until the fragile shoots are large enough to transplant back into their native habitat.

READ ARTICLE HERE >>>

Action for Nature website

If you believe nature is in trouble, then the next step is action. Adults and our nation’s youth must accept personal responsibility to change things for the better.   I came across a web site that may help a young person you know be inspired to action.

Action For Nature

According to the website, AFN is a USA-based nonprofit organization that inspires young people to take action for the environment and protect the natural world in their own neighborhood and around the world.

Action For Nature was founded by Shimon Schwarzschild, who made a difference by taking personal action to protect nature.  AFN sponsors the International Young Eco-Hero Award, which honors children and teens ages 8 to 16 who have taken action to protect nature and preserve a healthy environment.

AFN has published the book “Acting for Nature” which tells the stories of “ordinary” youngsters from around the world who have taken “extraordinary” steps to defend the environment.

Learn to love and respect the natural world in which you live. Do not be afraid to take action to stop or hinder the degradation of your personal environment and the annihilation of many of the creatures–including human beings–found in it.

You can learn more at their website and the links below.

Resources for Students >>>

Resources for Parents >>>

Resources for Teachers >>>

Book resource for teachers, parents, environmental educators

From New Society Publishers

As if the Earth Matters

Recommitting to Environmental Education

By Thom Henley and Kenny Peavy

As If The Earth Matters shows how through immersing our children in the beauty of nature we can motivate them to take an active role in conservation.  This book is said to be for parents, school teachers, camp leaders and nature clubs, this book reawakens a child-like joy and sense of wonder in the natural world.

“Teachers who are designing curricula will love the book. But it will be even more valuable for those planning spring or summer outdoor education experiences, where it is an essential!” Read the rest of NSTA’s recommendation.

FREE Environmental Activities from asiftheearthmatters.wordpress.com

“Save the Earth is a sport-like activity that should leave a lasting impression on all its players. You will need a large field and a ball for this game, basketball-size or bigger. A strong, inflatable Earth globe is ideal, but any large blue rubber ball can be painted (green and brown for land masses, and white for swirling clouds) to resemble the Earth as viewed from space.”
Download this activity (pdf)

“Water Wasters/Water Savers is a simple and fun exercise designed to engage participants and lead them into frank discussions on making behavioural changes in their lives. You will need three plastic buckets for this exercise and small plastic or paper drinking cups for two-thirds of the players.”
Download this activity (pdf)

Via Eco Child’s Play:

Children who play outside laugh more, study says

This was posted at the Children & Nature Network:

The more children play outside away from TV and computers, the more they laugh, a study by BBC child psychologist Dr Tessa Livingstone has found.

In fact, it would “not be a bad thing at all” if the recession forced parents to cut back on some of the structured activities, such as extra classes their children are involved in, as this would allow them more time to play, said Dr Livingstone, who will be speaking at a conference in Galway this weekend. She said research had shown that children were probably less safe in terms of paedophilia and grooming in the online world than they were out on the street.

BBC's Children of Our Time

Executive producer of the BBC television series Child of Our Time, Dr Livingstone said it was important to get the balance right between unstructured play and the high level of structured activity – such as music, drama and language classes – that take up so much of the modern child’s time.

As part of this year’s Child of Our Time series, Dr Livingstone’s team studied play, and found that the more children played, the more they laughed, especially when outside. They found the children who played most laughed up to 20 times as much as the children who played less. … CONTINUED