Monday Meanderings - Nature

Last week we started touching on getting kids out in nature. This week I am including links to gardening with kids. We grow a variety of plants and my son loves it! I can also get him to try more vegetables, if he has a hand in growing them and picking them.

The Micro Gardener has a great story about a "Jack and the Beanstalk" themed garden. My son loved green beans, then he hated green beans and after eating some raw, straight from the garden, he is back to loving green beans. Give this a try!

What is that? You say that you have no space for a garden? Nonsense! Here is a great garden that Life on the Balcony made from a pallet! I love this, it takes up almost no space and is sitting on an apartment balcony.

Planet Pals has a great list of recyclable seedling containers. I love the eggshells! You could then plant the eggshells directly into the ground when the seedlings are ready to be transplanted. As I am putting the eggshells in the ground, I would probably crack the bottoms a little to give the roots a start on working their way out. While you are on their website, be sure to check out all the great recycling ideas.

I was on HGTV's website recently and saw this great pizza garden. This is a pretty large garden, but you could also do this in a big round oak barrel. It is rare for a child to not like pizza, so this is almost always a home run!

Teach your kids how to garden!

Children's Garden

Metal Fence with Cutouts from Children's Artwork

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Marcia Farris, Director of the Arboretum in Lexington, KY. If you live in the area then I am sure you have visited the Arboretum numerous times but I was interviewing Marcia for something very special. They have opened the new Kentucky Children's Garden. My family made a visit to the Arboretum the day of the grand opening and we were excited to see the diversity offered in the Children's Garden.

The Butterfly Garden

Marcia was kind enough to take some time out of her busy day to sit down and discuss exactly how this garden came about and what the plans are in the future.

In 2004, the Arboretum hired Herb Schaal of Fort Collins, Colorado to be the conceptual designer of the garden. Once they discussed all the options and were able to narrow down the choices, they began fundraising to make their dream a reality. As of 2011, they have raised $1.2 million of the needed funds and only have $80,000 more to go for completion.

Spider Labyrinth Garden

This dream came about as more and more families came to the Arboretum for walks, family time and classes. The Little Sprout classes offered at the Arboretum were filling up and the staff was being forced to turn away children that wanted to enroll in the classes. They knew that the interest in outdoor and environmental activities could be sustained and that the 25 square foot garden plot that was currently being used as a Children's Garden was inadequate for the volume of visitors.

Pond with Rock Path Bridge

The new Children's Garden is situated on 1.85 acre of the Arboretum and provides an environment for hands on usage, exploring and learning for kids aged 2 and up. There are areas to get in a creek, plant flowers, crawl through butterfly antennae, walk through a labyrinth and so much more.

Pathway with Fossil Imprints

They currently have installed a butterfly garden, a birthday garden, a creek and pond area, a spider web labyrinth, tall grass prairie, Native American area and a cave. Once more funds are raised they are also planning a few other things like a short grass prairie, Pioneer garden, transportation garden and fairy garden.

Native American Garden

As you go through the garden paths you will see animal tracks and leaves imprinted in the paths. These tracks are a history of our state and the animals that have been in our area. At every turn there is something to learn, whether parent or child. They have great raised beds that include a sensory area with soft plants and smelly plants; a barnyard garden with plants named after barnyard animals and an Alice in Wonderland Garden that contains the plants Alice encountered (minus the talking).

The Cave

If you have not visited the new Children's Garden I hope you will put it on the list of things to do this summer.

Tuesday Teachings - Summer Learning

Picture Source

Most schools are out or getting ready to let out here in the United States and kids can not wait for summer vacation. As a child, I remember the excitement and thrill I felt when it was time to finally put away the textbooks and pencils; it was time to run, play and be free! Kids need that time to just be kids but summer vacation is also no time to just forget everything they learned in the past school year.

You can give your child numerous opportunities to continue learning over summer vacation without them even realizing it.

Cook together - Let your child pick out a new recipe to try and then take them to the store to purchase all of the ingredients. This gives them opportunities to work on reading (recipes and food labels), writing (grocery list), math (measuring ingredients and timing meal) and is a great activity to do together. Research shows that when kids are involved in selecting and preparing food they take ownership of the meal and are more likely to not only try the food but to also enjoy the food.

Garden together - Go to a local garden center and give your child a set amount of money. They can then select several plants to grow in your yard or in pots. This works on math skills (spending money and spacing plants), nurturing skills (caring for the plants)and then recipes and cooking skills.

Scavenger Hunts - See our blog post of 6/4/10 for a great scavenger hunt in the grocery store and we are hoping to give another scavenger hunt sheet for the great outdoors in the next week or so. This is a great skill for kids to teach them to focus, pay attention, search and read.

Photo Source

Public Libraries - Our local library kicks off their summer reading program on 6/1/11. The theme this summer is One World, Many Stories. We have participated in the summer reading program every year. It is cheap, challenging entertainment that encourages literacy making it a win-win for everyone!

Art Camp - No need to pay expensive camp fees. Get together with some of your friends and organize a camp for the kids. Each day the kids can rotate the house they go to and each parent would be responsible for one day of camp. If you need some great art ideas check out Pink and Green Mama's blog for some great ideas and e-books on outdoor arts.

Make homemade art supplies - see our blog posts for Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments, play dough, Chalk Paint, and Surprise Soap.

In addition the the activities listed above, also remember that "Playing is Learning"! Have a great summer!

Tuesday Teaching - Fine Motor Skills

Making Seed Tapes!

Well, Spring is going strong around here and we have had so much rain that we have not even been able to plant seeds or flowers outside yet. Since I had some seeds sitting on the table and I wanted my son to help me plant them I thought it would be a great time to work on his fine motor skills.

You can sometimes buy pre-made seep tapes but often times they will also contain some weed seeds. It is a breeze and very inexpensive to make your own custom seed tapes though.

Supplies:
Flower, Vegetable or Herb seed packets of your choosing
Paper towels or newspaper, cut into strips about 1 inch wide
Flour - very small amount needed
Water - very small amount needed
Cotton swabs
Wax paper

Put a small amount of flour (about a spoonful) of flour into a small bowl. Add a small amount of water and stir to get the lumps out. You are looking for a glue like consistency. We did use our little whisk to get the lumps out. Once you have that ready, open up your first packet of seeds.

Lay a piece of wax paper over the surface that you will be working on to keep your seed tapes from sticking to the table surface. Read the seed packet to see how far apart your seeds should be planted. I show my son this distance but he gets excited and does not always stick to the recommendation but that is okay. Now use the cotton swab and dip it into the flour glue. Dab it onto the paper towel. You do not need a lot of flour glue for the seeds to stick, less is better. Once you have a glue spot, lay a seed on top. Repeat this for all of your seeds.

We used Red Cypress Vine, White Cypress Vine and Passionflower seeds with no big problems. The Poppy seeds however were TINY! What we did with those is I would just have my son push his finger down into the seeds and the ones that stuck to his finger would be put on each flour glue spot. As you can see, there are several on each flour glue spot but there was no other way for him to get the seeds on the seed tape.

Once you have done all of your seeds, label them somehow. I used a Sharpie and it was hard to write on my paper towel but it is good enough for me to remember for a day or two. Now let the seed tapes dry. Once they are dried, they can be rolled up and put into envelopes of you can not plant them soon. If you can plant them soon, just dig a hole as deep as recommended on the seed pack and lay your seed tape in the hole. For us, we will be planting the Cypress Vines in pots to set on the deck but the other seed tapes will be planted in the flower beds.

Have a great Spring! Get outside and enjoy some time with your kids and with nature.

A Science Experiment

When I picked up my son from daycare a few days ago I noticed that there were lots of pine cones that had fallen from the trees surrounding the parking lot. I decided to pick up a few of those pine cones for us to use in a little experiment. Notice how wide open the pine cones are in the picture above.

We put the pine cones in Ziploc bags with about 1/2 inch of water and sealed them up. We laid them on the counter overnight. We talked about what we thought would happen to the pine cones and the water. He first said they would take a nap and then he was hoping for lots of bugs, I was not.

The next morning we checked our pine cones to discover that they had completely closed up. We pulled them out of the bags and discussed what had caused that effect on the pine cone. Why did it close? Would it open back up? Why do plants need water? Do plants need light too?

I kept one pine cone out to use as a sample of how the pines cones looked when we started the experiment, it is on the left and the one that was in the water overnight is on the right.

The second half of the experiment was to place the pine cones on the deck in the sun. After a bit, the pine cones opened right back up.

He was impressed with this experiment as it was quite visual and he only had to focus in small bursts. It is best to keep your child's age and attention span in mind when picking out a science experiment to try. My son is only 3 three so this was perfect for him.

Check out some more great experiments on Science Sunday at Adventures of Mommydom.

Monday Meanderings - Fairy Gardens

As you look around the Internet, Fairy Gardens are still very big. Before I had my son, I worked part time at a local garden center so I could get a discount on my home landscaping and she made some beautiful Fairy Gardens. It is just enchanting to see these little gardens with everything done in a miniature form. They usually contain small plants and dollhouse sized furniture which is easy to come by.

I am going to include pictures of some of the beautiful Fairy Gardens I have come across but please only use these as starting points, this is a time to let the kid's creativity come alive. If your child is not really interested in fairies, you could always make it a Dragon Garden, Prehistoric Dinosaur Land or even a Commando Jungle with little army men.

Do you believe in fairies? has some great information on things needed to attract fairies to the garden. As we all know, fairies are particular about their environment.

Mystic Mountain Arts has some beautiful examples of fairy gardens. There are plenty of pictures and they range in size from planters to gardens.

Sugar Creek Gardens even shows that it is a good idea to decorate for the holidays for your fairies if you want to keep them around all the time.

Now that I have give you some visuals to look at I want to give you some ideas for supplies. When I worked at the garden center, we found supplies everywhere. The craft store is a good spot to find tiny terracotta pots, the stained glass shop is a great place to find scraps of glass that are suitable for ponds, creeks, etc. The fairy houses can be made of small sticks from your backyard stacked up log cabin style or you can cover a small milk carton with the sticks. If you have a large tree that you are planting the garden by, you can attach a dollhouse door to the tree to serve as your fairy door. Trust me, the fairies will use their magic to open the doors.

I hope you will take the time to bring a little magic and outdoor time into your life by planting a fairy garden.

Craft Time - Flower Impressions

On the family calendar for today (get your copy under June on the right side of the screen) it says to help your kids deliver an art/craft to a neighbor today. I have a great craft here for you.

All you will need is a variety of flowers, some blank stationary, a few paper towels, a hammer and just in case, some safety glasses. As you can see above, some flowers make better impressions than others.

I know the hammer sounds a little scary but with supervision a variety of ages should be able to do this craft. Choose your first flower and put it face down on the stationary. Keep in mind that the point of the stationary is to write letters so please keep your flowers to the edges of the paper. Once you have the flower face down, put a paper towel over the flower, put on the safety glasses and pick up the hammer. You are going to hit the back of the flower through the paper towel. This should leave a pretty impression on the stationary creating a one of a kind gift for a friend or neighbor. You can do this with paper and envelopes and then wrap them with some raffia as a beautiful handmade and inexpensive gift. This is one of the items you can give "just because it is Thursday".

Kicking it with the Council - An Interview

This Giveaway is now CLOSED.

Our first blog interview was with the lovely Karen Angelucci. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Karen, she is an author based out of Lexington, KY and she has written her first children’s book. The book is a great read on gardening for kids and the title of the book is Grimy, Grubby Gardening.

Child Care Council (CCC): What or who inspired you to start gardening?
Karen Angelucci (KA): I started gardening when I was five years old. I grew up in the country in Cynthiana, KY and my grandmother lived next door to us and she loved to garden. I have found that it is usually the grandparents that teach kids to garden, sometimes the parents are too busy so if you have a grandparent nearby that enjoys gardening lots of times the grandkids will enjoy it also.

CCC: What inspired you to write your first book, Secrets of a Kentucky Gardener?
KA: Well, I have a degree in X-ray and I was working when I got married and started having kids and decided to become a stay at home mom. Being a stay at home mom is challenging but I get bored easily and decided that since gardening is my passion, I would write a book about gardening. When I told my husband, he never dreamed I was serious. That book took ten years, lots of naps and Monday Night Football games were spent with me writing.

CCC: What was your next book?
KA: I got picked up by another publisher and then I wrote Secrets of a Tennessee Gardener. The books are very similar but the TN edition goes to zone 7 whereas KY is a zone 6.

CCC: How did you move from the Secrets books onto writing Grimy, Grubby Gardening for kids?
KA: It was natural for me to do a kid’s book. I have two children of my own and this seemed like the next progression. Gardening, like everything else starts with the kids. It is important for kids to get interested and find time outside and experience the natural world. Without these experiences, we will all be in trouble. I am all for the No Child Left Inside act. I am currently reading Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv and agree with his ideas.

CCC: Do you have any other books in the works right now?
KA: I am currently researching for a historical fiction book for adults but nothing is definite yet.

CCC: What are some of your favorite plants in the garden?
KA: Well, I am an Iris fanatic. I do not currently have a lot in my garden but I do love them. I grew up with lots of Iris growing in our garden. My first plant was an ugly yellow Iris and I still have a piece of that plant. I have moved it from house to house to house and plant it somewhere inconspicuous but it has great sentimental value to me. I really love the Japanese Iris. I am not 100% native but I am pro native. I have a mix of native and ornamental in my garden.

CCC: Do you enjoy growing plants from seed? And if so, what are some of your easiest ones?
KA: Larkspur, which is a cool weather annual and it self sows. You will have to pull lots of them out but it is worth it. Zinnias and sunflowers are easy to grow from seeds and those are actually what my kids and I grow together every year. I always buy my seeds locally because it is important to support local economies. It does not matter the store, many of the big box stores even use local growers and suppliers.

CCC: What are some of your favorite gardening projects with kids?
KA: I do school visits and presentations on writing and on gardening and my favorite thing is what I call my Nature Table. When I go to schools, they do not really have time to get dirty so my nature table fills the bill. The kids can see, smell, hear and feel everything on the table from seedpods to flowers and vegetables. That is always a lot of fun. Fortunately there are lots of school gardens popping up but unfortunately there is not always someone to take care of them. There is a big movement to plant more school gardens and I think that movement is going to make it. I am in the process of developing one at one of my daughter’s elementary schools right now. The biggest stumbling block to school gardens are getting adults that will take on the obligation of maintaining the gardens. The kids are easy, they love to get out there and get their hands in the soil, the adults are the ones you have to convince. The one I am working on now is being maintained by myself and the Early Start/Head Start teacher and class. We had to jump through some hoops to get this done since the playground is for the federally funded program but we persevered and the teacher and kids love the garden and are very dedicated to it. They sowed some seeds and planted perennials and a tree and later we will be putting in some vegetables. This teacher understands that the garden is a true outdoor classroom.

CCC: How do you find out if a new school you will be attending has a garden?
KA: There is a website where you can register any school gardens at the Kids Gardening Organization.

CCC: Is there assistance for people wanting to start a school garden?
KA: There are some grants you can get if you look hard enough for them but lots of it is just donations. You will also have to contact the school and get a list of approved plants and trees. You also can not spray any herbicides or pesticides that could endanger the children. You also have to plan it out well and be sure you have people to maintain it or if it get all overgrown the maintenance crew will have to mow it all down. It can be done, but it is no small task.

CCC: Why do you feel it is so important for kids to garden?
KA: It is one of the most important things in life. It is crucial for kids to be connected to nature, it improves their self esteem, their health and it reduces the crime rate and graffiti, being outside makes a person more appreciative.

CCC: What is your website?
KA: karenangelucci.com and Karen Angelucci Booksis on Facebook.

I hope you enjoyed the interview and were inspired to get outside with your kids. Karen was kind enough to donate a copy of Grimy, Grubby Gardening as a giveaway. You can register up to 6 separate times following the rules below.

1. Leave a comment on this blog posting telling us your favorite outdoor activity with kids.
2. Become a follower of our blog.
3. Become a fan of KIDS MATTER on Facebook.
4. Become a fan of Child Care Council of Kentucky on Facebook.
5. Follow us on Twitter.
6. Blog about the interview on your blog, linking back to us.

Thanks and the registration for the giveaway will end on Wednesday May 5th, 2010.

Tuesday Teachings - Botany Lessons

Today’s lesson plan will encourage the kids to experience the best parts of spring, the excitement of new growth. With this lesson we will encourage the skills for later science fairs.

Supplies Needed:
Clear plastic cups
Potting soil
Water
Grass seeds

It is best to use the clear plastic cups in order to allow the children to not only see the growth above ground but the root growth also. First you will dampen your soil and fill your cups about ¾ the way with soil. Sprinkle the grass seed on top and then sprinkle it lightly with additional soil. Put your cup in a bright spot and check the moisture level each day. In about 5-7 days you should see good growth. As the plants grow take the time to point out not only the top growth but the roots that are growing below the ground. Remind your child that all plants have roots that grow underground and that is how the plants get nourishment and grow, much like the veggies and fruits your child eats.

This project will be an excellent opportunity to teach your child all the different parts of a plant. You can go to the University of Minnesota’s website and see illustrations of the different parts of a grass plant. You can draw or print this and label it with your child and as you work on Botany for a bit you could even attach your drawings to a magnetic sheet and cut it out to allow your child to match it up on the refrigerator or if you want to contain the pieces you could use a cookie sheet for them to put the magnets on.

Other activities you can use to teach botany:
A nature walk to collect specimens
Growing flowers and learning the parts of flowers
Creating a collage with collected specimens
Color and label the parts of plants or animals

Quick to grow plants:

All of these plants will grow easily from seeds so you do not have to wait long to see something happen. When sowing directly in the spot the plants will grow at, scatter the seeds and keep the soil moist so they germinate.

Love-in-a-mist: Full sun, germinates in 2-3 weeks and is 12 inches tall.
Pot Marigold: Full sun, germinates in 1-2 weeks and is 5 inches tall.
Candy tuft: Full sun, germinates in 3 weeks and is 10 inches tall.
Cornflower: Full sun, germinates in 2 weeks and is 12-18 inches tall.
Nasturtium: Full sun, germinates in 2-3 weeks and height varies by species.
Shirley Poppy: Full sun, germinates in 1-2 weeks and is 24 inches tall.
Annual Mallow: Full sun, germinates in 2-3 weeks and is 20 inches tall.
Cosmos: Full sun, germinates in 2 weeks and is about 16-20 inches tall.
Sunflowers: Full sun, germinates in 1-2 weeks and height varies by species.
Zinnias: Full sun, germinates in 2-3 weeks and height varies by species.

Plants to grow from the grocery store:

Avocado: Remove the pit carefully from the Avocado. Push three toothpicks evenly spaced around the middle of the pit. With the pointed end of the pit facing upward, place the pit over a glass of water resting the toothpicks on the edge of the glass. The bottom of the pit should be submerged in the water. This should germinate in about 6 weeks and once it gets some growth it can be moved to a pot of soil.

Pineapple: Slice the leafy top off of a fresh pineapple, carefully remove all the fruit without damaging the core and strip away a few leaves at the bottom and allow to dry. Plant the bottom of the "plant" in a pot of soil and keep moist. Within 6 weeks the top will start to root but it will be a year or two before you get any fruits.

Carrot: Carrot tops will sprout and grow into bushy plants, but will not grow another carrot. Cut off the top about 2 inches from the crown. If there is any green on your carrot, cut it off. To sprout your carrot fill a shallow bowl with small pebbles or marbles. Push the carrot tops into the pebbles or marbles and fill the bowl with lukewarm water. Place the bowl near a sunny window and in a few days you will see the pretty fern-like sprouts of the carrot. Your carrot plant will last until it out grows it's container. It also makes a fun table decoration.

Garlic: You can plant garlic cloves, pointy side up directly in a pot of soil. Place your garlic plant on a sunny window sill and keep watered. Within a week you should have little green shoots emerging from the soil. You can actually use these shoots in your cooking as a garnish on soups or baked potatoes, or to give a garlicky taste to cooking.

Green Onions: Use green onions with healthy, white roots attached to the bulb. Snip off green tops for cooking with a scissors. Leave a little green top on the onion bulb. Plant the entire onion while leaving the short top above ground in a small pot filled with a loamy, organic potting soil. Make sure your container has drainage holes. Put in a sunny windowsill and water once a week or when soil feels dry to the touch. Harvest new green shoots with scissors to use for cooking or as a tasty garnish. Continue to leave the onion in the soil. With each new growth the onion will taste more potent. After each harvest of onion tops, dress the topsoil with organic compost.