All posts tagged SummerCamp
I have a bit of a Roald Dahl obsession. I am on a mission to read every one of his books because they are just so magical to me. My plan for summer reading this year is to plow through all those I have not yet read. I am hunting down a few obscure books that I can’t find new.
After recently reading his two book autobiography Boy and Going Solo – I am all in. I have a few other Roald Dahl ideas planned – stay tuned for that!
Every summer we go camping and spend days, weeks and even months outside playing in nature. And every summer my girls and their friends build outdoor habitats for the magical, mysterious creatures known as fairies. They will spend hours find items in nature that can serve as ‘beds’, ‘tables’ and ‘food’.
We encourage magic and mystery with the kids while they are in their natural surroundings. Imaginative play through constructing outdoor fairy houses from natural materials such as bark, sticks, stones, flowers, grasses, acorns and pine cones; along with small pieces of trash they find around the camp site like bottle caps, broken sunglasses, pieces of plastic. We use this collection time to have conversations with our mini architects to talk about preserving nature and not littering. We talk about how harmful it is to birds and water life when people don’t properly dispose of their garbage.
When building a fairy house think about all of the possibilities: such as creating a pebble path, making a fence out of sticks, a walnut-shell bathtub, leaf hammock, a bark bed or a stone table.
You can do this in your own back yard, at a playground or even in a container filled with dirt on a balcony of an apartment. You need only to get outside, take a walk, carry a bag or a bucket and collect things. Bring back the found goodies to the place you will construct and begin the process to create a welcoming home for fairies.
Want more ideas? Check out these books – they are some of our favorites:
Fairy House: How to Make Amazing Fairy Furniture, Miniatures, and More from Natural Materials
This week I am kicking off a summer long series inspired by our love of STEAM and nature. I will focus on all kinds of ways to get kids out of the house and off of their tech this summer. It can be hard for working parents to take kids out so I am going to give examples of quick walks, small container planting, and ‘gulp’ . . . unsupervised play.
Want to get started with planning to keep you kids from getting Nature-Deficit Disorder this summer? Start here and read Richard Louv‘s book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder
From the book:
“I like to play indoors better ’cause that’s where all the electrical outlets are,” reports a fourth-grader. Never before in history have children been so plugged in-and so out of touch with the natural world. In this groundbreaking new work, child advocacy expert Richard Louv directly links the lack of nature in the lives of today’s wired generation-he calls it nature deficit-to some of the most disturbing childhood trends, such as rises in obesity, Attention Deficit Disorder (Add), and depression. Some startling facts: By the 1990s the radius around the home where children were allowed to roam on their own had shrunk to a ninth of what it had been in 1970. Today, average eight-year-olds are better able to identify cartoon characters than native species, such as beetles and oak trees, in their own community. The rate at which doctors prescribe antidepressants to children has doubled in the last five years, and recent studies show that too much computer use spells trouble for the developing mind. Nature-deficit disorder is not a medical condition; it is a description of the human costs of alienation from nature. This alienation damages children and shapes adults, families, and communities. There are solutions, though, and they’re right in our own backyards. Last child in the Woods is the first book to bring together cutting-edge research showing that direct exposure to nature is essential for healthy childhood development-physical, emotional, and spiritual. What’s more, nature is a potent therapy for depression, obesity, and Add. Environment-based education dramatically improves standardized test scores and grade point averages and develops skills in problem solving, critical thinking, and decision making. Even creativity is stimulated by childhood experiences in nature.
Outdoor Dance Party!
Let’s make this the summer of outdoor play and exploration. We need more scientists and engineers and artists who are inspired by nature. The Children and Nature Movement is forming – Want to know more about how you can get involved? Click HERE
I am teaching two workshops at the Shemer Art Center for Summer artSpace.
Tuesday June 17, 2014 Clothes Pin Toy Art Workshop From 10 AM – 12:15 PM and again from 12:45 – 3:00PM
Tuesday June 24, 2014Â Duct Tape Toy Art Workshop From 10 AM – 12:15 PM and again from 12:45 – 3:00PM
Both workshops will be inspired by the exhibition Joy of Toys on view at the Shemer Art Center this Summer. The work included in this show highlights toys from around the world created out of recycled materials. Join these workshops to create your own toys out of found objects. Enrollment is online – forms can be downloaded HERE
PROJECT EXAMPLES:
Enrollment is online – forms can be downloaded HERE
I am teaching a workshop this summer for the City of Glendale, AZ. If you have kids looking for a week of creativity sign them up! REGISTER HERE
