Monsters in the Garden at Wellfield Botanic Gardens

We had a wonderful fall walk and trick or treating at Wellfield's Monster in the Garden program. They had the place decked out for the season!

Helping the Monarch Butterfly

I have been checking milkweed plants for monarch caterpillars since mid-July to no avail, until I happened to look at the one surviving plant I'd transplanted at Woodlawn Nature Center  while doing some work out there. We found three caterpillars! Two were very tiny. My husband brought them home on the milkweed and put the top of the plant in water. They munched, munched, and munched. We transferred them to a critter cage to contain them better, but couldn't find one. I assumed we had left one behind. We brought them home so we had plenty of access to milkweed and could feed it every day. 

Loose Parts Play Quotes

Here is a collection of loose parts play and PLAY quotes I collected recently. Which resonate with you? 

“In any environment, both the degree of inventiveness and creativity, and the possibility of discovery, are directly proportional to the number and kinds of variables in it.”    

Simon Nicholson

 

“Children learn most readily and easily in a laboratory-type environment where they can experiment, enjoy and find out things for themselves.” 

Simon Nicholson

“A ‘loose-parts’ toy, as Nicholson defined it, is open-ended; children may use it in many ways and combine it with other loose-parts through imagination and creativity . . . Nature, which excites all the senses, remains the richest source of loose parts.” 

Richard Louv

“Nature is imperfectly perfect, filled with loose parts and possibilities, with mud and dust, nettles and sky, transcendent hands-on moments and skinned knees.” Richard Louv

“The natural connections children make to formal learning through the use of open ended and naturalistic resources should be a motivation to all adults to ensure that these are freely available to young children both indoors and outdoors.”

Eric Erickson

“Play is the highest form of research.”

Albert Einstein

“Play is our favorite way of learning.”

Dianne Ackerman

“Almost all creativity involves purposeful play.”

Abraham Maslow

“Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning.”

Fred Rogers

“A child loves his play, not because it’s easy, but because it’s hard.”

Benjamin Spock

“The playing adult steps sideward into another reality; the play child advances forward to new stages of mastery."

Erik H. Erikson

“Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.”

O. Fred Donaldson

As astronauts and space travelers children puzzle over the future; as dinosaurs and princesses they unearth the past. As weather reporters and restaurant workers they make sense of reality; as monsters and gremlins they make sense of the unreal.

Gretchen Owocki

Which are your favorite loose parts and play quotes? I'm getting ready for a presentation and would love your feedback! Do you have other favorite PLAY or LOOSE PARTS PLAY!

Approaching Fall Guide--Lists of 5!

The Michiana Summer Guide was popular, so I thought I'd put together a few items for fall that may be of interest. I encourage you to also check out the Natural Calendar of Events that I host on Inside Outside Michiana, as there are many neat nature activities in the area.

A few things we like doing as fall approaches . . .

Festivals:

1. The Pow Wow up in Dowagiac is super cool! We love the bright colors, ceremonial dances, and fry bread.


2. Heritage Day at Bonneyville Mill is always a tradition for us! See information on the September 12, 2015 celebration here.

3. Check out Owl-o-Ween at Gene Stratton Porter's house. We had lots of fun! If you don't want to make the drive, Woodlawn Nature Center will have a Creatures of the Night Festival on October 10, 2015. Also, check out El Bosque Encantado through Merry Lea.

4. Go back in time! We really enjoyed Stone Trace in early September. The prices were inexpensive and there was plenty to see and do. Take a walk in the past  Gathering at Five Medals is October 17 and 18, 2015. It's always been great as well.

5. Holiday at the Mill is a fun time to get ready for the holiday spirit! It's usually early in November.

Holiday Activities: 
Halloween Nature Fun is a great way to look at the natural side of the holiday. Hosted at Woodlawn Nature Center in Elkhart. Check for other seasonal activities.

Halloween Hayrides at Oxbow--I don't have a blog post about this, but we've gone several years, even before we lived up here! Be sure to get your tickets early in the day as they will sell out. There are corny jokes on the hay ride, yummy treats, and decorations as you walk through the trails.

Check out natural holiday decorating ideas from Linton's. This was a fun class! Woodlawn Nature Center is hosting a class in early October.


Fall Activities:
1. Go apple picking at Kercher's or another orchard. See our 10 Reasons to Go Apple Picking.

2. Visit a fall activity area. We have enjoyed Knollbrook Farm and Pumpkin Patch for several years.

3. Go to a nature center! Visit Kalamazoo Nature Center, Fernwood in Niles, or Woodlawn Nature Center in Elkhart. All are great places to see as the seasons change. A "preferred" membership from Woodlawn Nature Center offers reciprocity to these other great places! Pair your visit with a program and a hike.

4. Go camping! I love the crisp weather of fall for a bonfire and sleeping in a tent! Woodlawn Nature Center is hosting a very reasonably priced family campout in September. Preregistration due by September 13.

5. Take a fall hike! We really enjoy Lieber Nature Preserve in Bristol. We also had a great fall walk at Wellfield Botanic Gardens. This is a perfect place to snap a few seasonal pictures, too! We stopped one evening when we had on costumes, making it even more exciting.

Try it at Home: 
1. Try using leaves as part of your art or play. See 11 Ways to Play with Leaves.

2. Build fine motor skills with Pumpkin Pounding and other pumping decorating. 

3. Go on a fall flower hunt! See our Ideas for Fall Flower Hunts.

4. Fall is a harvest time. Start collecting seeds and pods. See 20 Things to Do with Seeds, Acorns, and Pods.

5. Spend some time with trees! Check out this popular post about the nature preschool program at Woodlawn Nature Center.

You might also enjoy the Summer and Winter Guides as well! 

By the way, we absolutely LOVED the Maker Faire in Fort Wayne! In 2015, it was in August. Watch for it next year. Regional tinkerers shared their love for creating things. I could see the creativity level of my children soar!

Shapes in Nature: Pipe Cleaners!

As our children get older and involved in more activities, I find myself waiting around town with younger kids more and more. This summer our oldest attended band camp and we waited outside the high school for an hour daily. There s a wide strip of grass with a few trees between the parking lot and the street. We often spent time playing out on the grass, exploring, and reading while we were there. One day, we had a pack of pipe cleaners (I mean chenille stems--why do we call them that now?) we picked up at a nearby garage sale and an idea I had seen to use pipe cleaner shapes for a shape hunt. I was totally impressed with how much we focused on shapes during the hour. It also really carried over into other outdoor time and conversations. This is a keeper activity for sure! 

We started with some basic shapes, like a triangle. A portion of a mushroom and the angle in a y-shaped stick fit the triangle well!

We found circles everywhere! My eight-year-old noticed the circumference of the tree was also a circle!

Mushrooms and a cut off branch also were circles!

 

We realized a rectangle in nature might be a twig. Upon closer inspection, the first "twig" was really a caterpillar. We had to look it up when we returned home. It was the maple span worm! 

 

The boys surprised me when they pointed out the maple leaf as a star shape--indeed! The shapes also made a good bracelet.

It was interesting to watch how my son took the shapes from "nature" to his body. He realized his face was oval and his eyes are round. They even started making shapes with their bodies!

 

We even found little heart shaped plants!

As we were right next to the parking lot, we started finding shapes in our human environment as well. The van had round headlights and lots of ovals in the Toyota logo. We started talking about logos and then found lots of cars with different logos, like Ford, the Honda H, GMC, and more. Even the 2-year-old was getting into it!

 

Next up, we had swim practice. Guess what? More waiting! This time only the 2-year-old and I needed to wait. We brought a few shapes and found triangle pennants and other shapes. Some pipe cleaners became a spider with 8 legs, just like the toy spider he had. Just as an FYI, we're always within 3 feet of a spider! It only creeps most people out. 

 

My son even found a triangle shape with the letter A! Of course, his spiders needed to explore a little as well! 

 I encourage you to take advantage of "wait" time. It's a great time to explore whatever nature you may find close by!

Creating a Nature Library

Creating a Nature Library

Dr. Seuss once said, “Fill your house with stacks of BOOKS, in all the crannies and all the nooks.” While we might not need to fill all the nooks and crannies, having access to great nature books enhances our nature study. Here are several ways to add to a home nature library.

Use the library to preview books. The library is a great place to check out books for the first time. Once I realize I check a book out many times, I usually buy the book to have as part of our nature library.

Join a book club. I organize a monthly nature book group at our local nature center. Each month I get a new book to read and add it to our nature library. If it’s not a “keeper”, I can sell it back or pass it along to someone else who might like it.

Find favorite authors. I love nature books for preschoolers by April Pulley-Sayre and Denise Fleming. I always check out new books by these authors. April’s most recent book, Woodpecker Wham! certainly delivered!

Black Raspberry Picking

Early July is one of my favorite times of the year! Mulberries are usually still going strong and black raspberries are usually ripening. We have a little patch of black raspberries on our property. It doesn't seem like we usually have enough to make anything with our raspberries, as four boys and their momma like to snack on them whenever they're out in the yard, eating them freshly picked from hand to mouth. They are delicious!