Tag Archives: Outdoors

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The Truth About Nature: Book Review

TAN-screenshot-cover

How much do you know about nature? Fans of Stacy Tornio and Ken Keffer’s wonderful Kids’ Outdoor Adventure Book: 448 Great Things To Do In Nature Before You Grow Up, reviewed here last year, will be thrilled that the pair has returned with another charming and informative book that illuminates nature, The Truth About Nature: A Family’s Guide to 144 Common Myths about the Great Outdoors. Like their first book, this one also contains extremely charming illustrations by Rachel Riordan.

So, how much do you know about nature? This book will challenge your assumptions, as well as commonly held superstitions, in a fun way, using a “myth scale” that is easy to understand. Did you think that rabbits love carrots, tornadoes spin clockwise, only male animals grow antlers, and you lose most of your body heat through your head? Me, too! These are all myths, to varying degrees. Learning about these cleverly chosen myths is not only fascinating; some of Keffer and Tornio’s myth busting promotes health, such as the knowledge that you can indeed get a sunburn on a cloudy day, dogs’ mouths aren’t really cleaner than ours, and clear water isn’t always safe to drink.

The Truth About Nature also contains wonderful hands-on activities and experiments, like making slime or creating a cloud in a jar, so kids can experience some of nature’s wonders for themselves. Learning about myths, cleverly divided by season, one can’t help but become more engaged with and curious about nature. Like many of the best nature books, this one will have readers looking and listening a little more carefully outdoors, perhaps on a hunt for a mushroom fairy ring, a rare songless bird, a river that seems to flow upstream, or, yes, a female animal with antlers.

The authors are also running a cool contest:

Win a School Visit and free copies of The Truth About Nature. Enter a video or photo that features a common outdoor myth between September 22 and November 23, 2014.

Here’s that giveaway page. And be sure to check out the authors’ website, Destination Nature.

Got any nature myths or surprises you’d like to share? Let me know in the Comments.

Kids’ Outdoor Adventure Book Makes You Want to Go Out and Play

“Nature is a destination,” write Stacy Tornio and Ken Keffer, the authors of The Kids Outdoor Adventure Book: 448 Things to Do in Nature Before You Grow Up. “But you don’t have to travel anywhere to find it. Just open the door and step outside.” That idea of fun and adventure in “nearby nature” infuses their entire delightful new book. This is an especially important concept at a time when kids are spending much more time with electronics than they are in the natural world. The Kids Outdoor Adventure Book offers a perfect counter-balance to indoor time, with activities that are easy for even the busiest families to enjoy.

The book is wonderfully, and helpfully, arranged by seasons (each of which is declared “the best season”.) Each season features an array of fun outdoor activities, so that a reader might be inspired to tap a maple tree or find a turtle in spring, catch a firefly or find fossils in summer, go owling or conquer a corn maze in fall, or go ice fishing or whittle a branch in winter. In addition to all the activities, which are presented in a fun check-list fashion and have guidelines as to the “adventure scale” of each one, there are plenty of larger-scale projects, outdoor games, destinations, and foods to make, so that families and others can be kept very busy doing the book’s activities over many years.

The Kids Outdoor Adventure Book  is very rich. It features a range of activities, from those that are simple to do, but might have escaped notice, such as “Roll down a hill like a log” (something my daughter loved to do) to more exotic ideas like “Go spelunking” in a cave. Rachel Riordan’s extremely cute illustrations complement the breadth of ideas in this  jam-packed, fun-filled book. Tornio and Keffer, who are judges in the 3rd annual ClifKID Backyard Game of the Year Contest, have captured the joy of being alive and the rhythm of the seasons and the natural world. Readers of this book will surely be inspired to open the door to their own outdoor adventures.

Want to get your own autographed copy of the Kids’ Outdoor Adventure Book? Enter to win the CLIFKid ZBar and book giveaway.

Other Slow Family posts you might like:

Join Project Feeder Watch and Other Fun Citizen Science Activities
8 Fun Things to Do While It’s Still Summer
Have a Cloud Race
Keep a Moon Diary
American Academy of Pediatrics Advocates Recess for Kids

In GPS Era, Map Reading Skills a Lost Art

This article relates a tale that is no doubt being played out all over the developed world:

Two college students playing in an out-of-town hockey tournament went out to eat with their parents after a late game, but the restaurant they picked had just closed its kitchen.

“There’s another place just a few blocks away,” the hostess said helpfully. “Take a left out of the parking lot, go two blocks, turn right and go one block.”

The parents and the players retreated to their separate cars. When the players sat in the parking lot for a couple of minutes without moving, one of the parents walked over to see if there was a problem with the car.

“Not at all,” they said. “We’re just programming the directions into the GPS.’ ”

Is that where we’ve ended up, with a younger generation that can’t go three blocks without being told by a electronic voice where to turn?

Like the author, I found this story dismaying. I know GPS (Global Positioning System) and similar devices are helpful, but they can also be a crutch and, ultimately, a detriment.

According to the British Cartographic Society, high-tech maps get the user from Point A to Point B but leave off traditional features like geographic and built landmarks, and this could lead to a loss of cultural and geographic literacy.

I, too, find the GPS experience extremely limiting, especially when visual or voice commands tell me (sometimes incorrectly) where to turn just before the turn needs to be made. With a map, preferably one on paper, one can pull out to a bird’s eye view, get a complete picture, plot a route, and have true satisfaction and awareness about ones place within it.

Nothing wrong with having a GPS as a back-up, but I see far too many people who completely depend on them, to the degree that, like the boys in the restaurant parking lot, they’re afraid to travel anywhere, even a few blocks, without one.

One study, from the University of Tokyo, found that people on foot using a GPS device actually made more errors and more stops, and walked farther and more slowly than traditional map users. They also demonstrated a poorer knowledge of the terrain, topography and routes.

GPS, researchers say, encourages people to stare at a screen, rather than looking around at their environment. Also, most GPS screens makes it impossible for a user to take in both their location and their destination at the same time.

Ah, there’s that Big Picture again.

There are additional consequences to over-reliance on GPS devices. I wrote last year about Nature Disconnect in Britain. It seems that a lack of map skills is actually somewhat responsible for keeping a whole generation of children there, and surely elsewhere, homebound, fearful of exploring, playing, and being outside in the unknown. Children’s very sense of adventure is being terribly circumscribed.

Luckily, there are steps being taken to combat this. This list of ideas ranges from walking in ones neighborhood and making friends, to creating neighborhood green spaces and safe pedestrian and bike routes, to educating parents about unfounded fears. And, of course, one can and should learn basic map reading skills.

Interestingly, technology is helping with the latter, as geocaching (group scavenger hunts which use GPS devices) as well as old-school scavenger hunts continue to gain popularity. In addition, the Boy Scouts have responded to the crisis in map reading by upping their universal requirements for using a compass and map. (Girl Scouts also offer geocaching and orienteering badges and programs.)

Debi at Go Explore Nature offers some tips for getting out and geocaching.

Where is the paper map in all this? Some say it’s going the way of the phone booth and the milkman. I’m sure many of you remember family car trips, during which the map was unfolded, dutifully followed with index finger on highway line, and then folded up, yet never in quite the same neat way it had come. (We still honor this practice in our family and begin many adventures with a trip to the California Automobile Association, which stopped producing paper maps a few years ago.) Indeed, maps are on their way to becoming collectors items.

Here’s hoping that you get to enjoy the tactile pleasure of an old-school map, the inner satisfaction of locating your place, the fun of an outdoor scavenger hunt or other adventure, and the gift of knowing which way is up.

Images: Hands on Museum, Built St. Louis, Route 66 Guidebooks, Ferrell Digital

Mushroom Hunting in Norway

I love this video, which Kari Svenneby of Toronto, Canada’s Active Kids Club posted on the Children & Nature Network forum. Kari is an enthusiastic mushroom forager, harvester and cook, in addition to pioneering a very active outdoor play group and web resource for others. Her and her family’s joy in nature is evident in this beautiful video. Thanks for sharing, Kari!

Catch a Kid-Friendly Outdoor Screening of World Cup Soccer

With the 2010 FIFA World Cup Soccer finals upon us from South Africa, World Cup fever is sky-high around the globe. One great upshot of this is that the World Cup is providing some opportunities for good camaraderie and fun, as many communities are opting to erect giant outdoor screens, so people can enjoy the games for free, often in kid-friendly settings.

In San Francisco, World Cup Soccer will be displayed outdoors at Civic Center Plaza. The city first screened World Cup Soccer outdoors in Dolores Park in 2006, and is offering 10 dates for viewings this year, from June 11-July 11. In addition to the soccer games screening live from South Africa, the event will feature food, games and children’s activities. Read more about San Francisco World Cup screenings.

In Seattle, games will be broadcast on a big screen in Nord Alley, near Pioneer Square, over a whopping 25 dates. Seattle’s International Sustainability Institute is sponsoring the free screenings, at which food will be sold. Nord Alley already has a history of soccer madness — Seattle Sounders fans gather there to celebrate before and after matches. Read more about Seattle World Cup screenings.

Portland, OR’s, Director Park, near Pioneer Courthouse Square, will be the site of two World Cup outdoor screenings, June 12 and July 11. Portland has also had successful outdoor soccer viewing events in the past. Read more about Portland World Cup screenings.

Houston is hosting outdoor viewings, courtesy of the Houston Dynamo team, for all USA and Mexico World Cup matches, as well as for the semifinals on July 6 & 7 and the final on July 11. Events will take at Discovery Green, downtown, and will feature lots of kid-friendly activities and entertainment. Read more about Houston World Cup screenings.

Chicago is hosting a festival and viewing June 12, sponsored by that city’s South African Consulate. Read more about Chicago World Cup screenings.

In New York City, head to Brooklyn for World Cup screenings June 12, 20 and 27, on Vanderbilt Avenue, between Dean Street and Park Place, as part of the second annual Summer Streets on Vanderbilt event. The street will be closed to traffic. In addition to World Cup soccer, people can take in musical entertainment, children’s games, contests, food, and fashion shows. Read more about New York World Cup screenings.

London will be host to multiple viewing events, throughout the month, including the Afro Cup Festival, which celebrates African music, art, culture and more, along with soccer/football viewing. Read more about London World Cup screenings.

Oslo puts most of the rest of the soccer-viewing world to shame: Every single World Cup match — more than 50 of them — will be screened outdoors at Kontraskjæret by Akershus Fortress. The arena opens two hours before the first match of the day, and entry is free. Read more about Oslo World Cup screenings.

Perth is also home to its share of screenings, which will take place new Northbridge Piazza, a great new public space in Northbridge, Perth’s entertainment district. 22 games are scheduled through the finals. Read more about Perth World Cup screenings.

If anyone has any tips on other outdoor screenings, let me know. Happy viewing!

Photo: Fans celebrating the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Audrey & Patrick Scales

Go Out and Play: It’s National Get Outdoors Day

As if we needed a reason to get outside on a late-spring Saturday (here’s hoping the weather is nice where you are), along comes National Get Outdoors Day, June 12, a day devoted to healthy outdoor fun. There are lots of specific Get Outdoors Day events planned.

There are, of course, lots of places where you can just get outside and enjoy your day — whether hiking, biking, swimming, walking, picnicking, beachcombing, gardening, exploring, or playing. Discover the Forest and Nature Rocks both offer U.S. maps for finding outdoor adventure spots near you. Nature Worldwide is a great resource about natural places, animals and conservation efforts around the world.

I hope you get outside and have fun!


Photo by Susan Sachs Lipman

New British Study about Nature Disconnect

A new study from Great Britain bodes poorly for children and their outdoor lives. According to researchers at Hertfordshire University, while most children are open to outdoor play, their parents are not, and a lack of confidence is often the reason.

Parents are overly fearful, the survey said. They fear cars, injury, abduction, ending up on private property, children running away, and .. dirt. From the study:

There seems to be an obsession about cleanliness. Perhaps because children are in expensive clothes, mud seems to be abhorrent.

What happened to play clothes? Are children showpieces? It makes sense to use inexpensive or used clothing precisely for play, to be dirtied and stained. Play is the job of children! Dress them appropriately and let them explore.

Another issue? Lack of map-reading skills. Said senior lecturer Debbie Pearlman Hogue:

None of the mothers I spoke to could read a map.

This is downright pitiful. As a result of skewed priorities and an extreme lack of skills, a whole generation is being deprived of outdoor play and experiences which, in turn, is going to render each successive generation increasingly bereft of experiences and abilities until we all just stay huddled inside our homes.

Poul Christensen, chairman of Natural England, says:

Children are being denied the fundamental sense of independence and freedom in nature that their parents enjoyed.

Children now want more opportunities to play outdoors. Whether through pond dipping or tree climbing, nature-based activities can play an important role in the educational and social development of children.

England’s Royal Society for the Arts points to a “risk averse” culture in which “youngsters were being deprived of the freedom to develop, to manage and take risks – and, ultimately, to grow up.” Of course, this phenomenon is not unique to England – It’s prevalent in the U.S. and in much of the industrialized world.

How can we reverse this unhealthy trend? A few ideas:

Make outdoor play a public priority by designing parks and safe, green play spaces.

Make outdoor play a personal priority by getting outdoors as a family or joining a nature club.

Educate parents about legitimate and unfounded fears.

Learn to enjoy wild spaces and trails as much as mediated, organized playgrounds and parks.

Dress kids appropriately for play and weather.

Walk instead of driving when possible.

Make friends with your neighbors.

Learn to read a map and kindle a sense of adventure about going somewhere new.

This site explains map reading and also offers some exercises and games for beginning map readers.

As an aside, I’ve always loved maps and atlases. I appreciate knowing the “lay of the land”, getting the big picture. For that reason, I don’t rely on GPS devices in cars. They remind me of driving through a tunnel, being told only what I need to know. I’d rather be armed with information and perspective. I fear that devices like GPS, while helpful, also tend to do the work for you, and that their prominence will only render people less capable of navigating their own, not to mention other, neighborhoods.

If kids and adults merely go out their doors and explore, and engage in simple map use and games, like treasure hunts, they’ll find themselves empowered to use maps and they’ll have a lot of fun. Look for treasure hunt tips in a future post.

Kings Norton Park in Birmingham, England: benkid77, Map of Twickenham, England: Creative Commons

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