Outdoor Playgroups
Photo Gallery
Fall
Wild birds
Bird feeder
Kari Svenneby
In fall and winter our bird friends can use some help through the winter. Start feeding birds and start watching them and collect data for who is coming back to your backyard. By a book and start identifying birds. One my favorite bird book for children is Backyard Birds by Robert Bateman.
When you start feeding birds in your backyard remember that you have to continue feeding them through the winter, birds become depended on your food and will come back to get it all winter.
A great way to start with bird watching is to start making bird food with your children. Making your own bird feeder is a fun craft you and your kids can do together. Sued (animal fat) and peanut butter (unsalted) and different seeds and nuts are common bird food.
Thanksgiving table
Wildcrafting
As always here at Activekidsclub.com, we use Mother Nature as the décor for our Holidays. With autumn being such a rich season, beautiful leaves and branches everywhere you have plenty of opportunities to make your table look beautiful and rich for Thanksgiving. Your kids are your best helpers; you can start early to collect nature’s beauty together. I promise, you will not only have a great table with almost no cost, you and your kids will get some cool nature experiences together.
Nature Play : Leaves
By Kari Svenneby
Three years ago, one of the reasons I started an outdoor playgroup for my daughter was because of nature play. In the beginning I had a hard time explaining what that was. Simply it is anything we find in nature to play with. And guess what? Children will find this without any help from adults. To be honest, children sometimes show me how to use their surroundings for play more than I show them. This is the simple beauty of nature play.
Conkers
Horse chestnuts art and game
By Kari Svenneby
Roasted chestnuts are a real treat and in season from October and to March. If you haven’t tried them be sure you buy some and try it out. Your best bet today is to get them in a store as most of the real chestnuts trees in Canada and the US are few and far between as they are endangered due to a blight that entered North America in the 50’s.
But, you probably have noticed the Horse Chestnut in parks or maybe even in your backyard. (Horse Chestnuts are not related to the sweet chestnut) The horse chestnut is very bitter and not edible to humans, but edible for deers and squirrel.
Dress code Fall
No bad weather, only bad clothing..
By Kari Svenneby
Dressing for the weather is the key to enjoying the outdoors in all kinds of weather. Fall can still be warm and mild, but then it can also be rainy and windy days. It can be a challenge to dress because it's not really cold and it is not really hot. The layering system works well for fall, just wear fewer layers. It's the best way to keep children warm and dry.
The purpose of the inner layer is to keep you warm and keep moisture away from your body so you don’t get cold and wet. It also transports water vapor away from the body.
Halloween ideas
By Debra Scott
All Hallows Eve (Halloween) is quickly approaching and there is much to do to get ready. There is so much to do in the next two months: outdoor field trips, crafts that use your creative juices and party planning to name a few. When I was a kid, the build up to Halloween was half the fun. With today’s pre-made costumes and everyone’s busy days it takes a little more planning ahead but if we start now with some ways to build up to Halloween, we can build some great memories.
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