<![CDATA[Grist - Comment Feed for One mother’s tips for managing summer eco-dilemmas]]> Grist Comment Feed en Comment #1 by PermieWriter http://www.grist.org/article/summer_parenting1/ Mon, 09 Jun 2008 03:58:31 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/summer_parenting1/1 Don't forget the garden

A patch of dirt to do as they see fit in is the best plaything ever. Working out gardening from first principles is some of the best education ever.

]]> Don't forget the garden

A patch of dirt to do as they see fit in is the best plaything ever. Working out gardening from first principles is some of the best education ever.

]]> Comment #2 by Erik Hoffner http://www.grist.org/article/summer_parenting1/ Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:03:12 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/summer_parenting1/2 directions

I'd like to receive directions to Camp Malthus, please. Sounds like a barrel o fun!

Erik

]]> directions

I'd like to receive directions to Camp Malthus, please. Sounds like a barrel o fun!

Erik

]]> Comment #3 by kidsgardener http://www.grist.org/article/summer_parenting1/ Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:05:50 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/summer_parenting1/3 Share your Love of Nature and Gardening

I thought other readers would enjoy an activity I saw at a demonstration at the National Science Teachers Association Conference.
Have you or your children "Ever Seen a Plant Move When You Tickle It?"

If you want to share your love for nature with your children, here is an activity I have done with mine. This may change the way you and the kids react to plants for ever. Imagine giving your children some seeds. Having them watch them sprout and grow. Then shortly after the second leaves appear they tickle the plant and it moves its branches down and closes its leaves! Give them more than a gift; give them a learning experience they will never forget. I found information and my growing kits at http://www.TickleMePlant.com  No batteries...just a Tickle!


]]> Share your Love of Nature and Gardening

I thought other readers would enjoy an activity I saw at a demonstration at the National Science Teachers Association Conference.
Have you or your children "Ever Seen a Plant Move When You Tickle It?"

If you want to share your love for nature with your children, here is an activity I have done with mine. This may change the way you and the kids react to plants for ever. Imagine giving your children some seeds. Having them watch them sprout and grow. Then shortly after the second leaves appear they tickle the plant and it moves its branches down and closes its leaves! Give them more than a gift; give them a learning experience they will never forget. I found information and my growing kits at http://www.TickleMePlant.com  No batteries...just a Tickle!


]]> Comment #4 by Green Hour http://www.grist.org/article/summer_parenting1/ Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:05:19 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/summer_parenting1/4 Give your kids a Green Hour

This is a fabulous article! It addresses so many of the fears and concerns that parents face when summer beckons the family outdoors.

The National Wildlife Federation -- in its ongoing effort to re-connect America's youth with the great outdoors -- has created a website for parents, www.greenhour.org, which provides lots of ideas for outdoor fun and exploration, which can be adapted for different ages, experience levels, and learning styles.

NWF recommends that parents give their kids a "Green Hour" every day, a time for unstructured play and interaction with the natural world. This can take place in a garden, a backyard, the park down the street, or any place that provides safe and accessible green spaces where children can learn and play.

If an hour is impossible to schedule into your day, even fifteen minutes of outdoor play, for a child who otherwise would have had none at all, is a good start.

Check out the website and spread the word: America is getting its "green hour" on this summer!

]]> Give your kids a Green Hour

This is a fabulous article! It addresses so many of the fears and concerns that parents face when summer beckons the family outdoors.

The National Wildlife Federation -- in its ongoing effort to re-connect America's youth with the great outdoors -- has created a website for parents, www.greenhour.org, which provides lots of ideas for outdoor fun and exploration, which can be adapted for different ages, experience levels, and learning styles.

NWF recommends that parents give their kids a "Green Hour" every day, a time for unstructured play and interaction with the natural world. This can take place in a garden, a backyard, the park down the street, or any place that provides safe and accessible green spaces where children can learn and play.

If an hour is impossible to schedule into your day, even fifteen minutes of outdoor play, for a child who otherwise would have had none at all, is a good start.

Check out the website and spread the word: America is getting its "green hour" on this summer!

]]> Comment #5 by redambrosia99 http://www.grist.org/article/summer_parenting1/ Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:49:02 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/summer_parenting1/5 awesome!

Love this article.  Minus the ice cream making (I gotta get me one of those...) that's pretty much how I spent my summers as a kid: outside, playing or gardening.  It was pretty awesome.

/sniff... nostalgia...

]]> awesome!

Love this article.  Minus the ice cream making (I gotta get me one of those...) that's pretty much how I spent my summers as a kid: outside, playing or gardening.  It was pretty awesome.

/sniff... nostalgia...

]]> Comment #6 by racinette http://www.grist.org/article/summer_parenting1/ Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:13:45 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/summer_parenting1/6 maybe heretical, but cheaper ice cream makers

Regarding the making of ice cream

This can be an excellent activity for the LAST peak hour before you can let the kiddos out again.  Sugar high kids trapped inside are not as excellent!

One needn't purchase an expensive contraption.  Several options are available if you search "home made ice cream".  Basically, you will need two nesting, non leaking, containers.

ex: small + large lunch containers,
    re-used ziplock bags,
    cans taped shut (this is obviously less desirable from an environmental standpoint, but an easy way to go to "test", before purchasing tools, whether this is something you will use)

Put food in one, salt & ice in the other, make all ingredients move.

(depending on shape & strength of chosen containers: roll across the floor, play catch, stir a "witch's cauldron, magic trick or science experiment".)

If you use two metal bowls and place them on a wooden chair, the ice & salt melting will freeze your ice-cream quickly, and with enough extra humidity, freeze your bowl to the chair.

Salt water created in this process can be used for foot soak, but I haven't figured out any other way of reclaiming it.

]]> maybe heretical, but cheaper ice cream makers

Regarding the making of ice cream

This can be an excellent activity for the LAST peak hour before you can let the kiddos out again.  Sugar high kids trapped inside are not as excellent!

One needn't purchase an expensive contraption.  Several options are available if you search "home made ice cream".  Basically, you will need two nesting, non leaking, containers.

ex: small + large lunch containers,
    re-used ziplock bags,
    cans taped shut (this is obviously less desirable from an environmental standpoint, but an easy way to go to "test", before purchasing tools, whether this is something you will use)

Put food in one, salt & ice in the other, make all ingredients move.

(depending on shape & strength of chosen containers: roll across the floor, play catch, stir a "witch's cauldron, magic trick or science experiment".)

If you use two metal bowls and place them on a wooden chair, the ice & salt melting will freeze your ice-cream quickly, and with enough extra humidity, freeze your bowl to the chair.

Salt water created in this process can be used for foot soak, but I haven't figured out any other way of reclaiming it.

]]> Comment #7 by ruth117 http://www.grist.org/article/summer_parenting1/ Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:10:22 -0700 http://www.grist.org/article/summer_parenting1/7 Ice cream and gardening!!!

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2004/12/campers_dream_i.p ...
Here is another product that isn't too expensive (about $25) and you can get some exercise out of it too!!!

Other than that I still love gardening years after my dear parents made me spend hours planting, weeding, digging and harvesting. It may sound like child labour but I just called it fun! My favorite was "sneaking" in to the garden and digging out carrots and eating them with the dirt still on them (built an awesome immune system) and "stealing" pea pods for an afternoon snack. My mom pretended to get mad but I think she was secretly pleased!


]]> Ice cream and gardening!!!

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2004/12/campers_dream_i.p ...
Here is another product that isn't too expensive (about $25) and you can get some exercise out of it too!!!

Other than that I still love gardening years after my dear parents made me spend hours planting, weeding, digging and harvesting. It may sound like child labour but I just called it fun! My favorite was "sneaking" in to the garden and digging out carrots and eating them with the dirt still on them (built an awesome immune system) and "stealing" pea pods for an afternoon snack. My mom pretended to get mad but I think she was secretly pleased!


]]>