KidFit Online

Plant a Tree

Materials

• Tree seedling

Directions

Plant a tree in your yard, watch it grow and change, sit by it and talk about your problems, nurture and love it! Here’s how you do it.

1. Dig a hole bigger than the seedlings roots.
2. Pour water into the hole to give your tree an extra drink on its first day.
3. Set the tree in the hole and cover its roots with soil, filling the hole and packing the dirt around it as you go.
4. Put wood chips, bark, and leaves around the base of the tree, but not right next to the trunk. The leaves and bark will break down and provide food for the tree. This is called mulching.
5. Water the tree regularly the first few weeks.

Nature Hunt

Materials

• One paper bag per player
• One list of natural objects to collect per player

Directions

1. Give each player a paper bag and a list of natural objects (a bird’s feather, a leaf, a smooth rock, a pine cone, a wildflower, and so on) to collect.
2. You can give the same list to all the players or have each player look for a different group of objects.
3. Challenge the players to find all the objects on their lists. Set a time limit: perhaps twenty minutes to find ten objects.
4. The first player to find all the items on his list is the winner.
5. A child may play this game alone or with others. For a group of children, pair up nonreaders with readers.

Breakfast in the Park

Our family often has picnic lunches and dinners at the beach, but I hadn’t thought of having breakfast in the park until a friend suggested it. What a great idea for early risers-and you’ll definitely beat the crowds!

Materials

• Breakfast foods
• Blanket or tablecloth
• Sweatshirts
• Hot cocoa

Directions

1. The night before your outing, pack up everything you’ll need.
2. Your meal may be as simple as cereal, milk, and juice or may include pancakes or bacon and eggs.
3. Bring a plastic tablecloth if you plan to sit at a picnic table or a blanket if you’ll be sitting on the ground.
4. Mornings are often cool, so don’t forget to bring sweatshirts and hot cocoa, too.

Read more on FamilyEducation

Cook Time: 15 min | Level: Easy | Yield: 18 mini corn dogs

Ingredients:

• 1 cup reduced-fat milk
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing
• 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup fine yellow cornmeal
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting and kneading
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or paprika
• 9 reduced-fat hot dogs, halved crosswise
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon black sesame seeds (optional)

Directions:

Why Kids Need Nature

Whether you grew up in a suburb, on a farm, or in a big city, you probably spent a lot of time playing outside, getting dirty, and coming home happy. Maybe you watched ants making anthills in your backyard, climbed trees in the park, or simply lay in the grass contemplating the drifting clouds. Unfortunately, young children today do not have as many direct experiences with nature, and it’s taking a toll.

Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, maintains that this disconnect from the natural world is producing ill effects in both mind and body. But, he’s optimistic that well-meaning, forward-thinking parents and educators can close the kid-nature gap. “We should not think of a child’s experience in nature as an extracurricular activity,” says Louv. “It should be thought of as vital to children’s health and development.” The editors of Scholastic’s Parent & Child talked with Louv about his book.

Parent & Child: Why do children need a meaningful relationship with nature?
Richard Louv: Research suggests that a connection to nature is biologically innate; as humans, we have an affinity for the natural world. When children spend most of their time indoors, they miss out. Problems associated with alienation from nature include familiar maladies: depression, obesity, and attention deficit disorder. Kids who have direct access to nature are better learners. Exposure to nature has been shown to reduce stress and increase attention spans.
 
When a child is out in nature, all the senses get activated. He or she is immersed in something bigger than himself, rather than focusing narrowly on one thing, such as a computer screen. He or she is seeing, hearing, touching, even tasting. Out in nature, a child’s brain has the chance to rejuvenate, so the next time he has to focus and pay attention, perhaps in school, he’ll do better.
 
Parent & Child: What can parents do to help their children get the safe outdoor experiences they need?
Louv: You would think it would be ideal to let kids run loose and come back dirty and happy at end of the day, but in reality this is not likely to happen anymore. We have to come up with new ways for kids to have direct contact with nature. This probably means parents have to get out there with their kids, and explore with them. Schools, too, including preschools, can incorporate natural surroundings.

 A lot of parents are already doing the right thing, almost instinctively. Perhaps they remember how they used to play, and strive to provide the same thing for their kids. While they may not let their kids roam free in the neighborhood, they do take their children hiking or let them run around in the local park.
 
P&C: What are some easy ways to experience nature with preschool-age children?
Louv: The best thing you can do is to be enthusiastic about nature yourself. Go out in your backyard. Instead of a manicured lawn or garden, leave some spots untamed so kids can dig in the dirt and find rocks or interesting weeds. If you have a vegetable garden, have your child help you plant seeds or pick tomatoes. Even walking to your local park can be a nature walk to a preschooler — he or she can collect leaves, you can point out trees and bushes and show him the bugs crawling along the curb. Let your kids get down in the dirt so they can see at eye level the whole universe there. Nature is good for everyone’s mental health. Nature isn’t the problem; it’s the solution.

Read more about the benefits of nature here.