kids nature celebration – Wineberry Wood Press

05May 2025 by catbird No Comments

“My Love for You is Like the Night Sky”

Full Moon, get outside, Hike Ideas, Picture Book Hikes, Play, STEAM

Picture Book Hikes are a fun and easy way to bring learning outside. Read a book (you can even read it outside!) and then enjoy the related hike, activity and snack suggestions! My Love for You is Like the Night Sky Written & illustrated by: by Laura Smetana My Love for You is Like the Night Sky is a lovely, lyrical story about how much a parent loves their kiddo. Gentle, spare text full of night sky and space metaphors, (glittering galaxies! full moons!) make this a fun book to introduce younger friends to moon phases, constellations, and the solar system. A perfect wind down/ bedtime book, Laura's beautiful illustrations could also be a jumping off point for a moon study. Thank you to Flying Cardinal Press for providing this book…

20Mar 2025 by catbird 1 Comment

“When We Gather (Ostadahlisiha): A Cherokee Tribal Feast”

Folklore, Foraging, Hike Ideas, Learning, Picture Book Hikes, Spring, Spring Equinox

Picture Book Hikes are a fun and easy way to bring learning outside. Read a book (you can even read it outside!) and then enjoy the related hike, activity and snack suggestions! When We Gather (Ostadahlisiha): A Cherokee Tribal Feast Written by: Andrea L. Rogers, Illustrated by: Madelyn Goodnight When We Gather (Ostadahlisiha): A Cherokee Tribal Feast is about a familiy foraging in the early spring for wild onions and then joining a feast at their local community center. I was excited to come across it because I am always looking for seasonal celebrations from different cultures and this is one I had not come across before. I also love wild onions in the spring, they are one of the first (if not the very first) edible plants to start growing, months…

12Mar 2025 by catbird No Comments

What is Spring Equinox?

Folklore, Learning, Spring, Spring Equinox

The Spring or Vernal Equinox is the midpoint between the Summer and Winter Solstices. Day and night are of equal length in nearly all parts of the world. The word equinox comes from the Latin words for “equal night”—aequus (equal) and nox (night). On the Spring Equinox the Earth’s tilt is at zero relative to the sun, meaning it is not tilting towards or away from the light, it is in balance. The Equinox is the astronomical first day of spring, traditionally starting the spring season. Sunlight increases, dawn is earlier, sunset is later and the earth begins again. This time of year has long been associated with spring and rebirth in cultures across the world. It was an important marker in the agricultural cycle, time to begin planting and…

23Jan 2025 by catbird No Comments

Carnivorous Plant Valentines

Free Printable, Valentine's Day

I love carnivorous plants. They look cool, they do cool stuff and eat bugs-- what's not to like?? And for some reason they don't seem to have been featured on valentines... huge oversight there world, but don't worry I have fixed that! You can give one to your sweetie, your galentine or your whole class! I like to keep the puns more focused on friendship and silliness than romantic love because it was always struck me as odd to have little kids give each cards about love, but I threw some double entendres in there for my grownups. It was also much harder to think of carnivorous plant valentine puns than I expected... if you have any good ones drop them in the comments! Happy Valentine's Day and happy plant-ing!…

29Dec 2024 by catbird No Comments

“Yours, Befana: A Letter from the Winter Witch”

Craft Project, Folklore, Picture Book Buds, Play, Recipes, Twelfth Night, Winter

Picture Book Buds are a fun and easy way to incorporate literacy into nature study. Read a book (you can even read it outside!) and then enjoy the related activity and snack suggestions! Yours, Befana: A Letter from the Winter Witch Written by: Barbara Cuoghi, Illustrated by: Elenia Beretta, Translated by: Genni Gunn Yours, Befana: A Letter from the Winter Witch is a picture book that has been translated from its original Italian which tells the story of Befana the Winter Witch. If you have read my blog before you may know that I am a huge fan of Befana (check out my Befana bread here) and always include her in our Twelfth Night festivities, I have even considered writing a picture book about her because all of the ones that…

26Dec 2024 by catbird No Comments

NYE Activity Tree & New Year’s Eve with Kids

Craft Project, New Year's Eve, Play

New Years Eve. To be honest I have never been that into this holiday, it just feels like a lot when every fiber of my being is telling me it’s time to rest. I actually enjoy it more now with kids than I ever did when I felt pressure to be out and about though. At first glance it brings to mind champagne and party dresses, but as we have established our routine over the years, its gone from being something I don't want to deal with to one of my favorite family celebrations. New Year’s Eve for us has evolved into a night of family games, nature and fun fortune telling activities. We started off years ago with one of those "do an activity every hour countdowns," that are…

26Dec 2024 by catbird No Comments

New Year’s Eve Chocolate Piñatas

New Year's Eve, Play, Recipes

By New Year's Eve I am pretty tapped out. Strangely though, it's become one of my favorite holidays to celebrate with my family. My kids love it and I do way less in preparation. We have what I lovingly call "tiny dinner" which is a bunch of store bought appetizers heated up throughout the night at pretty random intervals. My kids love this, probably more than any of the huge homemade meals I make for the other holidays. We have adapted that "do an activity every hour" pinterest stalwart to do a bunch of activities at completely random intervals until we get tired and go to sleep. We do a bunch of fortune telling games and activities for the new year. (You can read more about some of our traditions…

22Dec 2024 by catbird No Comments

Sun Pop Tarts

Recipes, Winter, Winter Portfolio

Looking for a special breakfast on the Winter Solstice? These sun poptarts are an easy and impressive way to welcome back the sun. And if I'm honest, also a good way to use up some of that yummy persimmon butter from the sun bread.. You can make the pie crust and the filling, or you can buy both. You can assemble the tarts and then stick them in the freezer to make ahead as well. They cook brilliantly from frozen so you don't even have to remember to defrost them. (I am all about making things adhead during the holiday season) Ingredients: pie dough (homemade, store bought, gluten free, vegan, whatever works for you) persimmon butter or any orange colored jam (recipe for persimmon butter here) egg wash sugar for…

11Dec 2024 by catbird No Comments

Tomten Scavenger Hunt

Craft Project, get outside, Scavenger Hunt, Scavenger Hunts, Winter, Winter Solstice

For a fun and easy "elf shelf" type of activity without the all the work and the weird surveillance. My kids have been loving it and I have been loving not moving an elf around every night. (Not that we ever did the popular version) I used Astrid Lindgren's classic book The Tomten as a jumping off point, but I don't think you necessarily need it. It did inspire some of my hiding places and I think it helped the kids figure out some of the clues. I made my little tomte from sticks-- if you have been thinking about learning to whittle this the easiet project to try. All you do it make a point of one end of a stick. There's no shaping or complicated cuts, just make…

11Dec 2024 by catbird No Comments

Sun Buns

Recipes, Winter, Winter Solstice

We loved the sun bread we made last year so much that I decided to make another variation this year-- sun buns!! (Also admittedly I just really like saying sun buns) Same idea, just smaller and easier to serve. Sun Bread, is of course a beloved book by by Elisa Kleven about baking a sun bread to coax the sun to come back- perfect for the Winter Solstice. In the book they bake a big bread to share, which is of course delightful too, but since I had already deviated from the recipe in the story, I decided to keep going. I use a gluten free brioche recipe from Cannelle et Vanille Bakes Simple (actually the babka recipe which makes a double batch) to make this sun bread gluten free. You…

Tag: kids nature celebration