My Little Robins

Loving and Learning in the Nest

Easter Basket Gifts for Nature-Loving Kids

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When my daughter was a toddler, I used to go around the house the night before Easter searching for little toys that she had forgotten about. On Easter morning, she woke up to a basket full of cute Little People toys, board books from Chic-Fil-A, and a fruit snack or two that I threw in there for her. It was an easy way to avoid extra clutter in our home, and she loved it! I'm not recommending that in this post, ha! But, as my children got older, I still don't want Easter basket gifts to end up as clutter in our Charlotte Mason home, and using their own toys isn't an option anymore. 

Beyond clutter, I struggle with the commercialization of Easter, too. Retailers would love for it to be the next Christmas, but our family wants to keep the focus on Christ's resurrection. My husband and I decided that nature-based outdoor gifts would be a good fit- something to celebrate spring and new life, without too much focus on toys and materialism. If this is your plan, too, this round-up is for you!

(I've used affiliate links to share these gifts with you. See my policies for more info about these.) 

Related: The Complete Charlotte Mason Preschool Guide


Easter Basket Gifts

1. Umbrellas

 Last year's Easter gift was a pair of umbrellas, and you would never have thought that there could be a better gift on earth thanks to my kids' reaction to them. These umbrellas come out mostly on sunny days, but amazingly, because I went with a good brand, they have stood up very well to all this play. 

2. Camp chairs

Camp chairs are usually a hit with the nature-loving set. We take them to events sometimes, but mostly set them up in the backyard. Miss H got her animal critter chair when she was four, but she has outgrown it now (at almost 7.) 


3. Butterfly Garden

Raise butterflies with this kit, and use it again next year by buying new butterfly larvae from the company. This is a great learning experience on top of being so much fun! 

4. Fairy Garden

When Miss H got this fairy garden for her birthday a couple of years ago, we bough a terrarium for her little brother for Easter. They both had so much fun planting their gardens and caring for them. When the weather turned warmer, the fairy garden did great outside. We used it for several seasons. 

5. Gardening set 

We have gotten several of these over the years, and they are always a hit! It's best when the tools are metal and they actually work 🙂 

6. Outdoor wagon

This wagon is rugged and tough. We've had it for several years as an outdoor toy, and it has held up great. 


7. Kids Wheelbarrow

We have  a vintage wheelbarrow similar to this, and it's great for heavy work, moving loads of rocks around, and building small cities in the backyard 🙂 

8. Butterfly Net

Butterfly nets are great for temporarily catching insects to observe in the spring, or for capturing your little brother by the head 🙂 Our kids have great fun with theirs, but according to the reviews, this net might be a little more durable than those with telescopic handles. 

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9. Bug House

If your kids are going to be catching bugs, then they might want a temporary place to store them! For awhile, my son kept ladybugs in his bug house, and called them his pets. 

10. Window bird feeder

What a fun way to observe nature from your home! This bird feeder attaches to the window, so you can see birds clearly as they eat. 

Related: Nature Study Tools for Little Explorers

Books

1. Ocean Anatomy

At the time of this post, this book is currently only available through preorder, but if you have Julia's Rothman's Nature Anatomy and other similar books, you're going to want your children to have this one! (Note; the book will be released on April 28, 2020. 

2. Calendar of Firsts

This specific journal has a five year calendar to write in the changes you and your child see in nature. This would be great for older children, or for a family gift. 

​Related: Books about the Garden 

3. Indescribable

This is a great devotional to go through with young nature and science lovers. Each devotion relates science to God's creation and power. We don't have the follow up devotional, How Great is Our God, yet. 

4. We are the Gardeners

If you're planning on planting a garden this spring, this book is so sweet to share with your children. The story is one of perseverance, even when the original plans don't work out. 

Other Easter Basket Ideas

1. Natural pencils

These pencils are not very practical for handwriting practice, but they're fun for little hands to play with. 

2. Bird Bingo

This game is so much fun that it made it on my back to school gifts round-up, too 🙂 There is also Ocean Bingo, which would make a great addition to the book I mentioned above! 

How Not to Fail the 1000 Hours Outside Challenge

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"I don't see how you're going to do it," my husband said to me, eyeing our 1000 Hours Outside tracking sheet. Not even the top row of hours was filled in, meaning that we had more than 950 hours to go for the year. 

My husband is a realist. He wasn't trying to discourage me, what he was saying was that I needed a plan. If I just tried to shoot from the hip and hope for the best, like I've been known to do before, I'd fail this challenge. 

So, I thought about it, and going forward, this is our approach so that we don't fail the 1000 Hours Outside Challenge. 

(If you haven't heard of the 1000 Hours Outside Challenge, it's just a way to encourage families to get outside more often! It is free to join- all you have to do is download a 1000 hours tracking sheet and get outside.  You can check out the website here!

How Not to Fail the 1000 Hours Outside Challenge

1. Aim for at least 1 hour outside a day in January, February, and December. 

If you live in a warm climate, then this isn't an issue. But for us, getting outside in the winter months is a huge struggle. By committing to averaging 7 hours a week in the winter months, I'll have less catch up to do in the summer months.  

Notice that my goal here is average. There are some days that are just too cold, too windy to get outside. If we stick to this average, we'll have 60 hours by the end of February, and can tack on another 31 hours in December. 

Related: Idea Nest Outdoor Play Inspired by The Big Snow

2. Spend lots of time outside every day in nicer weather. 

If I reach my winter goals, that means I have 274 other days of the year to get my kids outside for 909 hours. That means we will need to spend 3.3 hours outside each day. That sounds like a lot. Before we started formal lessons, it was easy to get my kids outside for four hours a day. Now it's more of  a struggle. But again, I'm going for an average, and we tend to have summer days where we spend 8 hours outside, playing in the sprinklers after church, and then having our Sunday dinners al fresco. Which leads me to my next action step. 

Related: Making the Most Of Outdoor Play During the Early Years

3. Have meals outside.

Eating outside is an easy way to up those outdoor hours. My kids love having picnics, and it honestly helps keep our kitchen clean, too. If I pack lunches and then clean up before heading out for the day, I love coming back to a clean kitchen. 

We'll strive for lunches and dinners outside on every nice day. 

4. Figure out how to count it if all my kids aren't outside.

I struggled with this for a bit. What if only two of my kids go outside? Or what if my daughter goes to her homeschool playdate and spends three hours outside, but her brothers are inside the whole time? For the love of LL Bean, how am I supposed to count those hours? 

I decided to stop overthinking it. If two of my kids are outside, then most of them are getting that good, brain-building time. I'll count it all. If one of my kids is outside, I'll count it as half. I imagine some people might want to fill out a sheet for each child, but not this mama. The simpler, the better. 

Related: The Indoorsy Mom's Guide to Getting Outside

5. Plan a camping trip.

In the summer, if we're lagging behind in our outdoor hours, I'll plan a camping trip. I don't think it matters if it's in our own backyard or the mountains, the point is extended hours outside. Does tent camping "count" as outdoor time? If being bundled up in winter counts, then yes, tent camping does! A whole weekend of camping would give us close to 48 hours of outdoor time!

6. Keep tabs on screen time.

The creators of the 1000 hours outside challenge said that most kids have at least 1200 hours of screen time each year. Whoa! I don't think that my kids come close to that, but we were sick almost all of December and half of January, so we watched lots of Daniel Tiger and Mr. Rogers. I decided to print off an extra 1000 hours sheet to track our screen time. I just wrote "screen time" on the top in a very official way, and now I keep track of those hours, too. 


6. Focus on the principles behind it, not the tally sheet.

Of course, as is like anything else, it's easy to get caught up in tallying hours and forgetting why we're committing to something like this. It's not about the 1000 hours. It's about making outdoor time a priority, committing to getting our children outside when the rest of society is committed to getting their children to yoga class. 

I don't want to get too obsessed with racking up those hours, and then forget that this time is not a tally on a sheet, but a sweet childhood passed out of doors. 

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DIY Simple Hand Kites to Explore the Wind

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In March's Idea Nest, we'll explore the wind. Wind is something that is so magical for children, yet we often forget that we can study it because it's invisible. When Miss H was not quite four, we made paper kites and took them outside to fly them on a windy day. For Spring Tinkergarten two years ago, we made hand kites to explore the wind. It doesn't take anything elaborate to get your child enjoying and exploring a windy day! In this post, I'll explain how to make a simple hand kite out of ribbon and a mason jar ring. 

Using a mason jar ring makes these less expensive than using a thick wooden ring that you can buy at a craft store. I think it would cost less than $10 to make several of these (as opposed to $15 each online!)  I also like the upcycling component, which I look for in a lot of the handicrafts that we make! 

I've used affiliate links to share supplies with you. You can read about these in my policies.

​Related: THiNK OUTSiDE Boxes

Make A Simple Hand Kite

You will need: 

  • ribbon (in whatever colors you'd like- I used rainbow colors) 
  • the outer ring of a Mason jar

Directions:

1. Cut the ribbon into about 18 inch long strips. I used six different colors and a total of six ribbons.  Make sure to cut the ribbon at a diagonal with sharp scissors to reduce fraying. 

2. Tie the ribbon around the mason jar ring in a double knot. Do this with all of the ribbons that you'll use. 

3. Arrange all of the ribbons so that they are next to each other. All done! (See? So simple!) 

Related: Outdoor Play Inspired by The Big Snow

Related: Making the Most Out of Outdoor Play in the Early Years

Exploring the Wind With Hand Kites

This is an open-ended toy with so many possibilities, but taking these hand kites outside on a windy day is by far our favorite way to play with them.  We like to see the direction from which the wind comes by watching the different colored ribbons float away. 

We also like to run with these hand kites, to see how quickly we can get the ribbons to fly out horizontally behind us. 

Hand kites also make fun decorations, or quiet wind chimes, when hung up vertically. 

The Idea Nest is a monthly resource that's free in 2020! You can sign up to get it through the sign-up box below!

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Nature Worth Observing: Charlotte Mason Nature Curriculum

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When we get outside everyday, I can rest in the fact that all of my children are getting what they need at the same time. So often, I feel like I'm neglecting one child's needs to tend to another's, but the moment their feet hit the earth, I know that all of our needs are being met, even mine. 

For that reason, I love sharing nature study with my little tribe. It's an area that young children can enjoy too- observing, listening,  and just being outside. I was excited to have the opportunity to review Nature Worth Observing: A Year Long Living Science Nature Study Curriculum by the Holistic Homeschooler because I'm always interested in finding ways to simplify this area so that I can enjoy the process of nature study, too. I received this product in exchange for a review, but I always strive to share my honest opinion. 

What it is

This curriculum combines the methods of Charlotte Mason and Anna Comstock into a series of seasonal nature study lesson plans. Those who follow Charlotte Mason as closely as possible will love that her recommended activities are included. The curriculum contains: 

  • Nature study lessons for each season, focusing on specific trees, plants, insects, and animals. 
  • Picture painting activities: Charlotte Mason recommended this mental activity to help children really take in the their surroundings. In this curriculum, each season has a picture painting activity. 
  • Tree study: Charlotte Mason encouraged us to adopt a tree throughout the year. Each season of Nature Worth Observing includes activities for tree study, including detailed questions to help you direct your child's attention to important features. 
  • Book lists for each object studied. The book lists are leveled by age, so both younger and older children can participate. 
  • Printable nature journal pages for each object studied.
  • A poetry packet to deepen the connection to nature. 
Nature Worth Observing: A Charlotte Mason Living Science Nature Study Curriculum by the Holistic Homeschooler.

Using Nature Worth Observing with Little Ones

We started using Nature Worth Observing just as the snow gave way to little budding flowers. It is very thorough and detailed, doing a nice job of guiding the mother in what to focus on. (It's easy to feel unsure about what to teach and how to teach it when it comes to nature study!) The direct questions, taken from Anna Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study (affiliate link), were so helpful to me. They call to the attention things that I wouldn't have thought of mentioning on my own. 

This curriculum follows the same trees throughout the year, which I really appreciate. Several times, when we've started observing a specific tree, we often forget after several weeks, and our plans fall to the wayside. Sometimes I need to be held accountable, and this does exactly that.

A poetry packet is also included in this curriculum, offering another way to focus on the lovely. Classic poems describing nature are a wonderful way to integrate several areas in your homeschool.  

After our first lesson, studying the budding trees in our front yard, Miss H went to make an entry in her nature journal. Without guidance from me, she painted a beautiful branch. This was a far cry from the paintings that formerly occupied her nature journal. I knew what was different this time: this time, she really saw what she was painting.

To buy Nature Worth Observing, you can use the code natureworthobserving for 10% off until April 7.

"An observant child..." Charlotte Mason

Froebel’s Alphabet Sticks: ABC’s Outdoors

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Ever since writing my post about Charlotte Mason and kindergarten, I’ve been trying to get more familiar with Froebel’s ideas. Friedrich Froebel lived in the late 18th century and early 19th century, and his principles on early education deemed him the affectionate title “the father of the Kindergarten.” Unfortunately, Froebel did not have an outstanding way with words, as pointed out in an introduction to his collection of letters explaining his Kindergarten principles, Froebel’s Letters. His works are a little cumbersome to read. There are a lot of ideas that Charlotte Mason accepted as valuable for young children, and some of them that she dismissed with sharp allusions in her her volumes. In another pamphlet Froebel wrote, called “How Lina Learned to Write and Read,” my shoulders, which were slightly slumping after poring through his bulky letters, perked up a bit. He recommended building the alphabet with sticks outside, which to me, sounded like a fun, Charlotte Mason style way to learn the ABC’s outdoors.

Froebel’s Alphabet Sticks

In “How Lina Learned to Write and Write,” Froebel described a reading instruction method that is pretty different than what Charlotte Mason described. Lina, at the age of six, showed an interest in reading a letter that her father had received. So, her mother took her outside and taught her how to make letters with sticks. Mother taught her each sound in her name at first, and then she made the letter with thin, small sticks. The rest of the process is somewhat similar: she learned an interesting word, like “father” or “mother”, by learning each sound and its symbol, and then writing it with sticks.

While Charlotte Mason thought that reading and writing were a bit more separate than this, I think the process of writing letters with sticks is engaging, low-maintenance (which I always look for!) and can be done nearly anywhere.

Suggestions

Froebel recommended using thin sticks for this process. We have a pretty silver maple tree, and the smaller branches are perfect for this. We’ve also collected willow boughs before, and their flexible branches would work well for alphabet sticks, too.

Letters with straight lines (like H and T) are the obvious choices when building letters with sticks, but Froebel recommended using a thumbnail to pierce a thin stick to make it bend easily to build letters with curved lines, like R and P. You could even get creative and add in little pebbles or the flexible stems of ubiquitous dandelions. Instead of introducing an entire word and its letters all at once as Froebel recommended, choose a letter that represents the beginning of a familiar word, and introduce it. Teaching an entire word’s worth of letters is a little more ambitious than Charlotte Mason’s approach!

Miss H and I built some letters on the ground, as Froebel mentioned, but we also tied some of the letters together with twine. She had fun playing with the letters for a few days!

When to Start

You can introduce this activity when your child shows interest in letters, although it is probably best with children at least three years and older. Your littlest children can join in too, like mine did! He loved rearranging the sticks for me 🙂

 

Why I Love This

I’m always on the search for ideas that fit with Charlotte Mason’s methods. This stood out to me for a few reasons. 1) H and I have done something very similar to this before. She had a ton of fun with it, and it was a natural, by the way learning experience. 2) It’s outside! Anything that we can do outside always has the added benefit of appealing to all the senses.

Other Ideas for Learning the ABC’s Outdoors

  • Shadow letters: Why not get creative, and make letters with stick shadows? See if your little ones can experiment with holding up multiple sticks to make shadow letters.
  • Mud drawing: When it’s muddy outside, use sticks to write letters in the mud.
  • Stick hunt: Sometimes sticks just naturally look like letters. What kind of stick shapes can you find? (We’ve found Y, L, etc.)
  • Twine sticks: Wrap your alphabet sticks in twine so they keep their shape. Connect the two sticks by wrapping the twine around them several times, and then tying a knot.

Froebel's Alphabet Sticks: Outdoor ABC's ideas for preschoolers.

 

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