Posts filed under ‘No child left inside’
Researchers find time in wild boosts creativity, insight and problem solving
It’s nice to see research that validates what I’ve known for years: that being outside is as good for the mind as it is for the body and soul.
Click the link for full story from Learn from Nature.
Researchers find time in wild boosts creativity, insight and problem solving.
Owls and the Homeless: When nature and reality meet
Look, there’s an owl nest.
Hey, check out the trout lilies.
And just ahead, there’s a homeless man sleeping.
So it goes at Turville Point Conservancy on a Saturday morning hike.
What goes down must come up: Life lessons learned while skiing
What goes down...
Learning to ski is a humbling experience.
Fall, get up. Fall, get up.
Poles and skis slip and slide and get tangled up in the weirdest of ways.
That’s pretty much how it goes for first-timers,
especially as they learn to maneuver hills.
I can’t think of a better metaphor for life.
If kids can get past the initial frustrations, they learn so much. That’s why we ask kids to make an 8-week commitment to ski club. That way, they have to work through their frustration. The end result is always a joyful celebration on the last day.
In the mean time, there’s more agony of defeat than the thrill of victory, but the victory is so very sweet.
Check out these photos from this week’s lesson at Black Hawk Ski Club. They really do say it all.
There ought to be a law: Wisconsin Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights
This may seem like a no brainer, but in today’s world of competing interests and childhood obesity we can no longer assume that kids are getting outside.
Come to a public hearing on January 5th from 10 am to 2 pm at the State Capitol to promote the Wisconsin Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights.
Meet the bill’s sponsors, Assemblywoman Taylor and Senator Larson; witness the official announcement of the bill; hand deliver children’s artwork and information packets to other legislators; and celebrate with kid-friendly snacks at a Children’s Bill of Rights social. Read the language and co-sponsors here.
Bring your children, students, scout group, afterschool club or church group!
Help demonstrate to legislators just how many children, families, schools, and businesses find this topic critical!
Tentative schedule:
10am – Meet with Representatives Taylor and Larson
10:30am – Official press conference and speakers (children to display artwork)
11:15am – Children and other attendees hand deliver artwork and information packets to other legislators
12pm – Social and treats for attending children
Admission: Free and open to the public – but please register.
Parking fee: Call for information on downtown parking
Location:
State Capitol Building
115 East State Capitol Bldg.
Madison, WI United States 53702
Pacific Loon on Lake Monona
Pacific Loon on Lake Monona.
You never know what you’ll see while biking.
On Monday, bike club went to Monona Terrace Convention Center and spotted two Pacific Loons feeding in the waters near the bike path. The kids thought they were ducks, but the pointy beak and diving behavior suggested otherwise.
I didn’t get the best photo, but that didn’t diminish the experience. Pacific loons do not nest in Wisconsin, so it’s always a thrill to see an uncommon bird.
I’ll try to head back there today to see if they’re still there. For more information go to:
http://www.birdweb.org/birdweb/bird/pacific_loon#
Carrot Juice vs Chips: Bike for Life explores the options
Surprise: Kids like carrot juice.
Carrot juice or chips?
Raw peanut butter anyone?
What do you think kids will eat?
Turns out they’ll eat all three, but not necessarily in that order.
I didn’t think they’d like carrot juice, but they did.
They watched intently as the Willy Street Coop juice bar man turned carrots into juice with the flip of a switch. The rich, orange juice flowed out and the kids eagerly drank it up. They also loved watching peanuts turn into peanut butter in the grinder. They liked that it looked kinda gross coming out of the machine, which always helps with kids.
After they tried the juice and peanut butter, I took out chips and chocolate to talk about portion size and choices in food. They squealed with delight. Sugar, salt and fat make for tough competition. No squeals for carrot juice and unsweetened/unsalted peanut butter, but then again, they had never tried them before. On the other hand, junk food, is readily available and a primary cause of obesity in kids.
Can you just 12 chips?
Of course, the real challenge with junk food is how much kids eat.
Did you know that there are about 12 chips and 250 calories in one serving? Have you ever tried eating just 12 chips in a sitting? That’s the challenge. I offered single serving bags of chips to make the point.
The next time you sit down to eat chips, challenge yourself and your kids to eat just one serving. And, before you eat, read the ingredient label. Turns out that the nacho cheese flavored chips are loaded with preservatives, whereas simple potato chips contain just potatoes, oil and salt. Even in the chip world, there are choices.
As for the chocolate, the package said a serving was half the bar. This seemed like a lot so we talked about that. Can you eat just a few squares of chocolate and put the rest away for another day? I know I can’t, which is why I don’t eat chips or eat sugar. I shared this with the kids so they know that there’s a choice. They don’t get it, but then again, they don’t have to, just yet.
Kids are smart and while most of their food choices are made by others, I believe that this information will make a difference to them.
Perhaps not now, but in the future.
What do you think?
Bike for Life is an obesity prevention program created and run by Diane Schwartz out of the Goodman Community Center. It’s funded by the Endres Foundation and the Rosenlund Family Foundation. The group is enjoying the great fall weather by biking around Madison. Next week, we’ll head up to the Capitol.
Lots of Bubbles at Wisconsin PBS Kids Open House
They came; they made bubbles; they left.
I just went through 12 gallons of bubble juice at Wisconsin Public Television’s Open House at Vilas Hall in Madison, WI.
That’s a lot of bubbles.
That’s a lot of kids.
That’s a lot of fun.
About 1000 kids and parent showed up to make bubbles, see Mr. Steve and enjoy their favorite PBS Kids characters.
If you want me to come to your special event, just send me an email at getkidsoutside@gmail.com.
Bubbles are fun and even the smallest children can enjoy them.
Boys build things and play in the water
I let five boys play in “the pond” during after school on Friday. They got a little wet and dirty and they loved it. Imagine that.
“The pond” is a rain garden sandwiched between our parking lot and a cell phone tower. It’s a little bit of wild in an urban setting. It’s a place where chorus frogs sing, a pair of mallards nest and native plants grow.
It was fun to watch the boys create their own fun in this little spot of nature.
Arden, the thinker of the group, talked to the ducks and wondered what they were saying. Joe and John immediately started building a bridge across the pond with boards that were lying around. The other boys chipped in and added to the structure. They all enjoyed walking on the tipsy structure they built, trying hard not to fall in.
Joe was the ring leader and sloshed through the water – about one foot deep – to complete the bridge. A free spirit, he begged me to let him take his pants off. I smiled and said No! That didn’t keep him from asking again. It was fun to watch Joe plop the boards into place with a splash…with his pants on.
Kids don’t get many opportunities for this kind of play anymore. When I was a kid, we tramped around in the woods all the time. There was more freedom and open space available then and parents weren’t as concerned about their kids. Today, you can’t just go out and build a fort in the local woods anymore without getting into trouble.
That’s why it’s important to let kids play in unstructured environments as much as possible. They need permission to do this whenever and wherever possible. As summer approaches, I’ll be thinking of ways to build in time for unstructured play.
What are you doing to offer kids time to create in the outdoors.
You can find Diane Schwartz sloshing around with kids at the Goodman Community Center. Her next trip is April 16th to the UW-Arboretum where the kids will be picking garlic mustard and having a picnic. Thanks for reading. Be sure to “like it” and share it with your friends.
No recess equals wild and crazy kids
I dare anyone to say that kids don’t need recess to learn. There is no better way to prove this than an old-fashioned rainy day.
Today was such a day.
By 3:00 pm (when we pick up kids from school for afterschool), they were jumping out of their skin. The noise level on the bus was loud and a few kids were standing up on their seats and acting crazy. I addressed the noise and behavior by using the “clap once if you can hear me” strategy. When I had their attention, I acknowledged their day and the lack of outside time.
Think about it. They had been in school for 7 hours without recess. When they got on the bus, all that energy exploded. It had to.
When we got to the Center, the noise and activity continued and it took
a while for the kids to calm down. Snack helped.
Meanwhile, the rain kept coming down with no sign of stopping.
We made it through the day, but hopefully, the sun will come out tomorrow.
The kids need their outside time and so do the teachers.
Pent up energy causes behavior problems and shorter attention spans.
Rainy days can be fun sometimes, but let’s hear it for recess.
Share your stories about recess and why it’s important. Have you ever had an outside recess on a rainy day?
Diane Schwartz is an Outdoor Education Teacher at Goodman Community Center in Madison. Today, she subbed in the after school and stayed inside with 19 K-1 students. Subscribe to this blog now and receive a free 11-page bubble activity guide. Thanks for reading.
Why kids don’t walk and what we can do about it
I hated walking as a kid and would beg my mom to drive me places.
“You can walk,” she’d say and then explain how when SHE was a girl she had to WALK 100 miles just to get to the bus stop…”
Okay, I exaggerate a little, but I truly hated walking. Other kids got rides. Why do I have to walk?
Now, I’m grateful.
Truth is, kids don’t walk unless they have to and it seems like kids walk less and less with each generation. There are several reasons for this:
1) Kids live further away from school.
2) Residential neighborhoods are isolated from grocery stores and services.
3) Madison streets are busier than the streets I grew up on.
4) We love our cars.
5) Parents are afraid their kids will get abducted, lost, or hurt. This is the most troubling trend and probably the most restricting.
For the most part, Madison remains a safe place for kids. However, while many of our families live close enough to the center to walk, very few do. For many it’s a necessity to drive, but for some it isn’t. What’s especially troubling is when parents cancel their kids participation in outdoor activities because they cannot pick their kids up.
To address this I ask? Why not let older kids walk or take the bus home?
What a gift it would be for these kids to get home on their own.
Therefore, I’m going to start making this outrageous suggestion. This will likely raise other issues. For example, will kids need to be taught how to walk on their own? Probably. At the very least it will get parents and kids thinking about alternatives.
Will kids protest? Absolutely. But I can’t wait to respond with my own “When I was a kid I walked 100 miles story.”
Do you have any stories about walking with kids? How do you motivate kids to walk? Do you let them walk to the store, to school or elsewhere?
You can find Diane working on a grant proposal to start a biking program at the Goodman Community Center. You can also find her slopping through the mud at Schumacher Farm County Park looking for signs of spring. As always, register for this blog now and receive an 11-page Bubble Activity Guide.
