Thursday Thirteen – The Green Hour – Go Outside and Play!
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The Green Hour – Discover the Wonder of Nature
As a society, we are raising the first generation of Americans to grow up disconnected from nature.
That’s the bad news.
The good news is that the steps that got us here are easily traced, and the way to work toward reversing them is clear.
The National Wildlife Federation recommends that parents give their kids a “Green Hour” every day, a time for interaction with the natural world. This can take place in a garden, a backyard, the park down the street, or any place that provides safe and accessible green spaces where children can learn and play.
To give parents and caregivers the information, tools, and inspiration to get their kids — and themselves — outside, NWF has created GREENHOUR.ORG, a website rich in family-friendly content and which hosts a supportive virtual community where families can learn, explore, and share their outdoor experiences and backyard adventures
Here are 13 Green Hour ideas
1. Try Letterboxing – it’s first on the list because it’s my favorite outdoor activity!
2. Or how about trailing?
3. Make a fairy house
4. Or a home for a toad
5. Build a bird feeder
6. Participate in Nature Quest Wildlife Watch program and let us know about the wildlife and plants you observe where you live! Wildlife Watch is a national, nature watching program created for people of all ages.
7. Take part in the Great American Backyard CampoutTM - Saturday night, June 28.
8 Learn to identify and appreciate the wonder of wildflowers
Three lists of activities from Take A Child Outside
9. Animal Signs and Observations: Activities that encourage discovering animal signs and making observations
10. Trees and Other Plants: Activities that facilitate the exploration of woods and fields
11. After the Sun Goes Down: Activities that involve discovering the night world
12. Maybe you live in the city where it’s not so easy to just step outside into the forest like Red Riding Hood. Here are two articles to help the City Mice learn about nature, too.
Natural Nature Learning
and
Nature Study for City Dwellers
and finally -
13. Don’t forget to check out the blog carnival “Learning In the Great Outdoors” at the beginning of every month. It’s one of the best carnivals out there, packed with wonder filled ideas in each edition.
Now Go Outside and Play!
Great list. I have one grandchild who lives in a wonderful condo on the water—but a condo nonetheless, and I wonder if he will have the opportunity to enjoy the nature that we so take for granted. Thanks for the list! Happy TT!
OK! I will!! great stuff to do!
Gosh… We had this experience with our nieces. They didn’t want to go behind the scenes at the Philly Zoo because they wanted to stay inside. So very weird.
Happy TT!
This is a great list. You make excellent points. We are grateful the flower fairies stick around and always need new housing!
I was very lucky to grow up able to visit grandparents that lived in the country, and kept a couple of horses for us, so I’ve spent many hours outside playing! Even now, one of my favorite things to do is to sit outside and read when the weather is nice, sometimes I just feel compelled! It’s especially necessary with my current job, since I can’t even see any windows to the outside from where my desk is! Hubby and I like to occasionally tour a couple of different nature parks in our area during the summer. If I ever do have kids, I definitely plan on teaching them to appreciate the outdoors!
Although we live in a townhouse, I keep a small potted garden on our balcony. My children help. They get to help pick out seeds, plant them and water them. We have an odd mixture of herbs, vegetables and flowers.
My grandfather had the most wonderful orange grove. The time spent with him in it – well, I treasure the memory.
SJR
The Pink Flamingo
We love letterboxing! In fact, we’ve found all the letterboxes here in our area…I guess it’s time to actually create some boxes ourselves! Thanks for another neat list of ideas!
great 13.
Those are some really good ideas!
[...] Wren and see her list of thirteen great ideas/resources for spending time with kids outdoors at: http://grandmotherwren.com/?p=109 [...]
[...] the wise and wonderful ‘Grandmother Wren’, whose advice – given in the Green Hour – is Go Outside and Play!. Hear, hear, I say. And is Grandmother Wren satisfied with just telling us to head into the [...]
I was thrilled to see your wonderful list of ideas and links… THEN there, as the Grand Finale, your promotion of Learning in the Great Outdoors!! Thank you so much! Didn’t Charlie do a great job this month?