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Camping With Kids: A Springboard for Learning
- Gabrielle Fischer Posted On Mar 16, 2017 | Social-Emotional Learning
Being outdoors changes the brain
Time outside camping gives us a boost of natural Vitamin D from sunlight. It also maximizes learning potential. In a 2012 study called “Creativity in the Wild”, researchers found that creativity and problem-solving increased in over half of the participants after just four days immersed in nature. Other studies have also found that spending time outdoors stimulates learning ability and improves psychological health.Quality screen-free time
Camping with kids maximizes family time and reduces screen time. With no tempting gadgets or electronics nearby, there is expansive time for kids to engage in creative, imaginative play. Unplugging from the digital world and from the scheduled life at home encourages rest, relaxation, fun and learning.A natural educator
Camping, by nature, allows families and kids to live closer to the land. This is an amazing opportunity for kids to encounter the basic stuff of life and science: dirt, insects, animals, the stars...The opportunities for discovery are endless. Kids will love identifying bugs, studying animal tracks, gathering flowers and plants, and learning about the Milky Way by looking up at the night sky. Time spent outdoors also helps kids develop a sense of respect for nature and a keener interest in taking care of it. Just beware of poison ivy.Gaining Crucial Life Skills
Camping offers the opportunity to teach kids basic survival skills in a fun and exciting way–like starting and putting out fires, setting up a tent, and helping make food outdoors. In trying out and mastering these new activities, children gain a boost of confidence while learning the importance of risk, responsibility and safe boundaries.
Ideas to expand the camping experience
While camping on its own is adventure enough, here are a few activities to enhance any outdoor experience:- Geocaching (https://www.geocaching.com/play): In a nutshell, it’s an outdoor, global treasure hunt. People have hidden ‘geocaches’ (small boxes, containers, etc.) in locations all over the world and have registered their GPS coordinates. Participants use a GPS-enabled device–an iOS or Android phone will do–to navigate their way to the hidden geocache. Numerous geocaching apps are available with user-friendly maps to explore what treasures might be hidden nearby. Sadly, no pirates will be found near the hidden treasure.
- Scavenger hunts: Send kids out on a quest to find a list of items around camp. Feathers, pinecones, rocks, beetles, leaves, shells and sticks are just a few examples. The list can be as long or as short as you want it to be and children will love the thrill of the hunt.
Summertime Tie-Dye Beach Towels!
Let's bid farewell to Summer in style by creating tie-dye beach towels with the help of the color wheel, rainbow order, mixing, and pigment strength. Set up the activity in the comfort of your backyard, and don't forget to grab some gloves and plastic coverings if you aren't on grass.
What you'll need
- Spray Tie Dye Kit
- Duct Tape
- Beach or Bath Towels
- Warm Water
- Twisty Droppers
- Color Wheel
Tie-Dye Beach Towel Materials
This activity works best with the widely available spray tie-dye kits. They dry faster, making the application easier for even the youngest beach-goers.
Grab white beach or bath towels (the fluffier, the more color-absorbent), lots of duct tape, hot water for mixing the tie-dye, and the spray kit.
Lay your towel out on a flat surface, smoothing it out. Spell out your child’s name across the towel using the tape and moving slowly.
Make it a Learning Experience
Keep the color wheel handy as a guide. It is a great visual tool for classifying spectral wavelengths from red to violet.
Depending on the options available in the tie-dye set you’ve purchased, look at your color wheel and separate your bottles into primary, secondary, and tertiary categories.
Next, put on your gloves on a covered surface or grass and mix the tie-dye with the warm water. What colors are made from primary colors? Working from the color wheel, which colors will look best near each other on the towel?
Let the Fun Begin
With those gloves on, let the spraying begin! Be glad you have on gloves! The bottles can get messy fast. If you prefer the traditional route of tie-dying, try using Twisty Droppers! Pigment strength was brought up: how do we intensify the color?
It’s perfectly fine to get spray on the tape. Once the towel is pretty dry, flip it over to spray the backside! Flip back over and allow to dry completely. Wash the towels separately twice, alone in the wash.
The Benefits
- Creativity: Tie-dyeing allows children to express creativity through color and pattern choices. They can experiment with combinations and see how they turn out, encouraging them to think outside the box and develop their artistic skills.
- Fine Motor Skills: This activity involves handling small objects, such as bottles and droppers, which can help children develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
- Science Exploration: Tie-dyeing also teaches children about science concepts like color mixing and pigment strength. They can observe how primary colors combine to create secondary and tertiary colors and experiment with different dye ratios to water to create varying degrees of color intensity.
- Sense of Achievement: Completing a project, such as tie-dyeing a beach towel, can give children a sense of accomplishment and pride in their work. They can use their monogrammed towels as a tangible reminder of their creativity and hard work.
- Bonding Experience: This activity can also be an excellent opportunity for parents and children to bond over a shared creative project, working together to create a unique and personalized item that they can enjoy using for years to come.
Voilà! Monogrammed beach towels created by your color-wheel-savvy children. Enjoy the summer!
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Nuts About Acorns!
Besides the sound of crunching leaves, the pitter-patter of acorns falling onto the sidewalk is another iconic autumn rhythm. We see squirrels run off with them, but what else do we know about this “fruit of the oak tree”? With a bit of help from Learning Resources’ Alphabet Acorns Activity Set, let’s explore the acorn and its many layers.
What is an acorn?
The acorn is indeed a nut and is the fruit of the oak tree. Only oak trees produce acorns. One acorn contains a single seed enclosed in a tough, almost leathery shell. Depending on the species of the oak tree, it can take six to 24 months to mature and drop. There are 90 species of oaks in North America alone.
Why does it fall from the tree?
Oak trees have “boom” and “bust” years in their acorn drop. In a bust year, oak trees produce just enough acorns for wildlife to eat, but it doesn’t allow for any new baby trees. Boom years are called masting, which can happen every three, five, or six years. This is when the oak trees drop a lot more nuts – more than the animals can eat – hoping to make more trees.
Who eats acorns?
Acorns: not just for squirrels. Acorns are some of the most important sustenance for wildlife out there. Deer, chipmunks, wild turkeys, crows, rabbits, opossums, blue jays, quail, raccoons, and wood ducks are all acorn eaters. Can you believe more than 100 vertebrate species feast on that nutty treat?
But keep acorns away from horses – they have been proven toxic!
Can you eat an acorn?
Acorns are high in fats and carbohydrates. They are very bitter and taste woody and earthy. They contain lots of tannins, which can make your insides go haywire or even turn toxic. In a nutshell, it's probably not a great idea to eat acorns all around. But as an interesting side note, there is no scientific evidence that those with a tree nut allergy can react to an acorn by simply holding it!
Fun fall acorn activity
Gather a few acorns as you are out strolling. What color is the outside? Green? Brown? Gently tap a hammer (adults only) to crack one open. What do you see inside? What does it smell like? After exploring a real acorn, it was time to break open Learning Resources’ Alphabet Acorn Activity Set!
Awesome! First, we spill out the little objects and identify what they are. Mission number one is to match the things with the letter sound on the outside of the acorn. Surprise! The acorns themselves open, and you can pop the objects inside. The colors correspond with the letters. Great color and letter recognition activity! Also, on the top of each acorn is the letter in lowercase, which this little one immediately noticed. The next hour was spent opening and closing the Alphabet Acorns, quizzing Mom, and even creating some words.
Happy fall and happy acorn hunting!
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Move & Learn: Alphabet Hopscotch!
Spring is here, which means plenty of chances to move and learn outside! As you stay safe and smart with your at-home learning plans, we've got a few ideas for incorporating outside exercise and play into your routines. Today's activity: Alphabet Hopscotch!
- On your driveway or patio, draw a hopscotch course with 26 squares using sidewalk chalk. The exact layout is up to you - get creative!
- Have your kids fill in each square of the hopscotch course with the different letters of the alphabet. For some extra fun, have them draw a picture of an object that starts with that letter, too!
- Once the hopscotch course is complete, begin by calling out letters and having your kids hop to the corresponding squares. Have them hop in order as you sing the Alphabet Song, then call out letters at random!
- For more advanced fun, have your kids spell out simple words by hopping from letter to letter on the hopscotch course. Start with three-letter words, then gradually work your way up. For a challenge, have your kids try to spell the longest words they know!
At Learning Resources, we're here to help you make the best of this challenging time. Stay safe and healthy, and check back with our blog for more tips and learning ideas as the situation unfolds.
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