My kids were thrilled when I announced school would be canceled for the remainder of the year.  The fact they would have to log in to multiple online learning platforms, maintain more accounts and passwords than I ever had in my adult working life, and keep track of a multitude of assignments and deadlines would slowly diminish their enthusiasm for the online aspect of school but they still remained thrilled for the relaxed bedtimes, slow mornings, and well-stocked constantly accessible refrigerator.  I found it increasingly challenging to keep the kids engaged and working somewhat independently so I could also get my own work done.  Now, two and a half months into online schooling and social distancing we have looked to nature for educational, engaging and entertaining activities that have kept us happy, healthy and sane.  Here is our NW Nature Shop family guide to nature activities close to home:

Gardening

Our typical pre-Covid19 schedule didn’t allow for much time spent at home. We always had a vegetable garden but we maintained it with a minimum of effort that was squeezed in after work and sports practices or early on weekend mornings before we’d rush off to camp or hike.   Over the past two months we’ve spent entire days digging and sowing. We’ve gotten muddy and tired, sunburnt and sore.  We’ve screamed exhilarated from the sight of sprouting beans, carrots and tomatoes. We’ve lamented the death of a trio of pepper plants and had late night searches for snails making slimy tunnels through our ripening strawberries.  We’ve proudly eaten our first harvest of the season, crisp flavorful lettuce.   A common sound now mid-morning while I’m working inside on the computer is “Mom! Mom! The eggplant has a flower! I found a worm!  Mom! Look at how tall the tomato plants have gotten!”   These are memories of lockdown I will hold dearly and valuable life lessons for my kids.

Backyard Birdfeeding

A bird feeder gives you the opportunity to observe a variety of birds up close.  With my aging eyes, and our often loud and rowdy crew, it is often difficult to identify birds when out hiking.  On the other hand, I find our backyard birdfeeder the perfect opportunity to see a variety of species unhurried and close up. Our bird feeders attract species, from hummingbirds and tanagers to bush tits, titmice, goldfinches, black-capped chickadees, dark-eyed juncos, scrub-jays, and woodpeckers.  These past couple months while the sound of traffic has been significantly decreased, the joyful songs of birds have filled our backyard.  Armed with binoculars, the Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America, a checklist, and time and curiosity we have sat comfortably in our dining room and enjoyed Anna’s hummingbird darting in for a quick drink or the Lesser goldfinches gorging themselves on thistle.   As the kids have become comfortable identifying our backyard birds I’ve noticed when we are out on hikes or even just a walk to the grocery store, they pay attention to the birds we see and can easily point out the Steller’s jay or red-breasted nuthatch as they fly by.

Art in Nature

Researchers found that 45 minutes of creative activity significantly lessens stress in the body.  With the mounting online assignments and the lack of social interactions,  our family has been in need of some stress reduction so we put those research results to the test and pulled up a chair, sat outside in our garden with a notebook and watercolors and joyfully, if not skillfully, painted our surroundings.   We all felt better and have turned to drawing and painting in the garden frequently in these long days of lockdown.

More Art in Nature Ideas:

1. Make sunprints
2. Use a flower press to make beautiful cards and pictures with dried flowers and leaves.
3. Decorate garden rocks
4. Build a Fairy House

Science Experiments.

We needed to spice up the science assignments and these experiments were fun, easy and used things we had at home already.

Make bottle rockets out of recycled plastic bottles.  https://youtu.be/VEOB64o04qU

Make a baking soda volcano  https://youtu.be/9b_gltKtERY

For more ideas, these books are excellent inspiration: The Book of Potentially Catastrophic Science 50 Experiments for Daring Young Scientists, The Book of Ingeniously Daring Chemistry 24 Experiments for Young Scientists and Mason Jar Science.

Plant identification

You don’t have to use formal scientific names when getting to know the diversity of plant life right outside your door.  Designate a notebook to record what you see. Writing things down will help kids start to notice similarities and differences on their own. We find a good field guide for our area to be helpful. Wildflowers of Southern Oregon and the Native Plant Society leaflets for Mt. Ashland, Grizzly Peak and Pilot Rock are excellent guides for our area.

Mushroom Hunting

We love a good Easter egg hunt and we often compare mushroom hunting to a huge Easter egg hunt in the forest.  I recommend to not start with wild edible mushrooms, rather talk about the abundance of fungi and the crucial roles fungi play in the environment, including breaking down dead wood and other substances as well as incredible new discoveries that fungi can break down toxic chemicals! Most importantly though, is to teach kids that you should never pick, cook or eat wild mushrooms unless you have an expert foraging with you. Once you start looking for fungi, you’ll see it everywhere!  Our recommended mushroom guides are Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest and All that the Rain Promises and More.