29Dec 2022 by catbird 2 Comments
What is a Hibernation Celebration?

What is a Hibernation Celebration?

Craft Project, Hibernation Celebration, Learning, Nature Art, Nature Collection, Play, Winter
Every winter we have a "Hibernation Celebration" both at school and at home. What is a Hibernation Celebration pray tell? It's a super fun way celebrate the winter holidays in a non-denominational nature focused way. It can be a full lesson block with academic content the way we do at school or it can just be a fun party. We usually celebrate at the end of December right before winter break (otherwise known as the perfect time to hibernate...) but this is a great topic for January or February-- or any snowy cold month really. If you want to skip to party ideas click here. For all of my Hibernation content click here. When we celebrate hibernation at school it isn't just a straightforward scientific discussion of bears in caves.…
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27Dec 2022 by catbird 1 Comment
First Day Hike!

First Day Hike!

Nature Collection, New Year's Eve, Play
One of the the New Year's traditions we never miss is a first day hike. The idea is that it sets the tone for your year- make getting outside and interacting with nature a priority! This was actually the brainchild of the State Parks in the United States and most parks offer official guided hikes, but we prefer to do our own thing. (Which also sets the tone for the year!) If you are looking for a good hike check out your state's First Day hike offerings! And if you aren't in the US or want to go somewhere else, just pick your favorite park and go for it. It doesn't have to be a fancy or super challenging hike, it just should make you feel good! Last year, on…
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20Dec 2022 by catbird 5 Comments
Yule Logs

Yule Logs

Craft Project, Nature Collection, Winter Solstice
I was super inspired by Acorn Moon Mercantile's instagram post last year about fire incense. She collects scraps and bits of pinecones, plants and shells and throws them on a smoldering fire. This ties nicely into my natural hoarding instincts, and also gives purpose to all of those random scraps of things I can't seem to part with. We decided to take it a step further and use fire incense to make our yule log! First we created our own fire incense scraps of birch and bayberry and fir and spruce and collected black walnuts shells and spruce resin and holly branches—- anything seasonal or nice smelling that spoke to us. Once we had our collection of incense we picked out our special Yule Log and got to work. The whole…
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01Dec 2022 by catbird No Comments
Chrysalis Sleeping Bags

Chrysalis Sleeping Bags

Craft Project, Hibernation Celebration, Learning, Nature Art, Nature Collection, Winter
I was so inspired by this artwork from photographer Levon Biss that I knew I needed to come up with a project about insect hibernation. My brain immediately went to chrysalis sleeping bags because a chrysalis is in a way a tiny sleeping bag, and the patterns on these are so beautiful I though they would be amazing inspiration. First things first, insects don't technically hibernate. Many are inactive during the winter and undergo a state in which their growth, development, and activities are suspended temporarily, with a metabolic rate that is high enough to keep them alive. This dormant condition is termed diapause. We made our sleeping bags on a small scale for stuffies, but this would a fantastic project for an older student (or grown up...) at full…
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03Nov 2022 by catbird No Comments
Snow or Mud Faces

Snow or Mud Faces

Craft Project, Nature Art, Nature Collection, Play, Winter, Winter Solstice
Here is an easy activity for a winter day-- make snow or mud faces on trees! Collect some natural materials: sticks, pinecones, berries, leaves etc, and find a tree to make a face on! Pack your mud or snow on first and then use your nature finds to embellish the face. Easy and fun! Wet snowball type snow will work best, and if there isn't any snow where you live live will do the job too! You can think about what the spirit of the tree might look like or just make a funny face,
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01Nov 2022 by catbird 3 Comments
Winter Nature Table

Winter Nature Table

Craft Project, Nature Art, Nature Collection, Nature Table, Play, Seasonal Nature Table, Winter, Winter Solstice
Nature tables are the perfect place to store and display all those nature finds that we "just had to bring home." Honestly I am almost as bad as the kids about this... Ours is on our porch so that things can be easily added and subtracted at will and we change it out for each season. (And it substantially reduces the stray sticks in the house..) In winter, we add obvious things like holly and evergreens, but also sticks covered in lichen, crystal-y rocks, found bits of nuts, pinecones and a prized deer antler. Log slices and old shelves and add some height and you can use vases to hold the greens. The kids are always tinkering with the arrangement and moving things around which is great. This is actually…
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19Apr 2022 by catbird 1 Comment
Vernal Pools & Spring Pond Dipping

Vernal Pools & Spring Pond Dipping

Hike Ideas, Nature Collection, Nature Journaling, Play, Spring Equinox, Spring Portfolio
One of the most exciting signs of spring in my house is the hunt for tadpoles and the woodland jewels known as vernal pools. Vernal pools are ephemeral woodland ponds that only appear in the spring. They are usually full in the early spring as snow and ice melt, and dry completely (or at least mostly) by late summer or early fall. These pools serve a critical role in the lives of wildlife- frogs and salamanders lay their eggs in vernal ponds because they are free of fish who would eat them. (Fish can’t live in a body of water that isn’t constant) Many organisms with an aquatic stage in their life cycle have evolved to require the temporary but fish-free water of vernal pools. In the Northeast United States…
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19Nov 2021 by catbird No Comments
Lichen Garden

Lichen Garden

Nature Collection, Winter Portfolio
Every year around this time we start collecting fallen bits and pieces of lichen and make a lichen garden in our favorite park. its one of my boys favorite things to do on a winter walk. If you'd like to give it a try, all you do is collect branches and arrange them all together. Lichen is always there, but suddenly becomes super visible in the late fall/ early winter when the trees shed their leaves and everything is grey and gloomy. Suddenly the bright green lichen shines in the forest.
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