Tag Archives: boys

Winter Nature Study Ideas

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Winter in south-eastern Virginia is a toss-up. Sometimes we get snow. Sometimes we just get ice all winter. And sometimes we get, well, not much of anything. This year has been pretty mild, which has been nice since we got so much outdoors-y stuff for the family this year. The kids have been loving our backpacking “practice hikes” around our fields–which is just our normal walks, but with our new gear on. (Well, Mr. Fix-It just puts his pack on to be a good sport with the family–but the rest of us can use the exercise!)

And now that hunting season is over around here, we’ll be able to get off our regular loop and out into the woods even more.

winter nature study 7And since we love nature study so much, you know I just couldn’t let all those moments out in God’s great creation slip by! Here’s some fun nature study opportunities that winter brings along…

  • What’s up in the trees? With the leaves gone, you can see mistletoe; hanging nests for squirrels and bees; bird nests; seed pods (especially with sweet gum and tulip poplars!); vines and ivy; and other things that are harder to spot with full growth. This is also a great time to see things like trees that are growing into each other; which trees are straight and which are crooked; where trees have been damaged and healed; compare big trees and little trees; and compare bark–because all these things are much more visible.

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  • What’s blooming now? What grasses and shrubs are still around? What trees still have leaves (oaks are usually one of the last to lose their leaves!)? How do you tell dead growth from live growth that’s just brown for the winter? What happens to seeds, flowers, and leaves as they freeze or decompose over the winter months?

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  •  Tracks! Winter clears a lot of ground and either mud or snow are great for finding tracks! We see turkey and deer tracks the most, but all bird tracks are pretty easy to spot. More urban areas would probably also still have squirrel, possum, and rabbit tracks. (Here’s a great, outdoor-hardy, field guide for beginning trackers that we use!)
  • Scat! Yeah, that’s a more “scientific” word for…um…droppings. {smile} Winter really opens up the ground with the underbrush dying off and grass dying back. This is another great way to teach your kiddos how to read animal signs and find animal travel trails. (And here’s another great book to help beginners–including mom’s that are new to this like I used to be!)

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  • Nest! And what makes tracks and scat so interesting anyway? Because it can lead to other cool stuff–like finding bedding-down nests from deer. You follow their regular travel paths, then carefully go off the path and scope out nearby thickets for ground nests–which are really just mashed down spots in the grass in a protected spot where the animal rest. We found two the other day, less than 20 feet off of those tracks above.
  • Rubs/Scrapings! Ok, I’m not sure what the scientific word for this is (I probably need to skim one of our books for myself again!) but these are places on trees where deer have rubbed the bark off scraping their antlers. In other areas you might also find claw scratchings (bears!) or other signs on the trees. We almost never see these in the summer because the undergrowth is so thick!

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  • Hair/Fur! This can be a little trickier, but since all the leaves are gone it’s much easier to spot any hair or fur that get’s caught on stiff winter branches and brambles. I also find that the kiddos are not as distracted by all the fall colors, and once the leaves all turn brown they really concentrate on seeing something different, so they spot things quick. (We found a big tuft of deer hair the other day!)
  • Feathers! Again, a lot of times feather are easier to spot in the winter because you’re not as distracted by all the greenery and colors.

winter nature study 3Some other interesting winter lessons we’ve had while out walking around include how and where to shelter in cold and bad weather; how to find food in bad weather and winter time; how winter changes animal travel habits; how cold affects your need for food and water; what materials insulate, and what materials draw heat out; and just general weather and climate conversations.

What I think I love most about nature study as a family is the way it can cross all age groups and snag a broad spectrum of interest for deeper study. The Ladybug is big into clouds and weather vocabulary right now because she’s studying it in school. The Cowboy is interested in finding (and following!) tracks. And Speedracer is big on things he can pick up and touch, like leaves, rocks, fur, feathers, etc. Plus, you can find all these elements to some degree or another in any neighborhood or setting.

Do you get out for nature study much in the winter?

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Family Backpacking

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This Christmas we really focused on gifts that encourage family time. In addition to their archery sets, Mr. Fix-It and I decided that the kids are old enough (and we’ve found enough courage!) for us to take up hiking and backpacking again. So we gave the crew backpacking gear for Christmas. (Well, a start for gear, anyway.)

Of course, this is going to be a completely different undertaking than when the two of us would go when we were dating and first married–as we discovered when we hauled our stuff out of the attic and looked it over after nearly 8 years! Super-light backpacking tent for 2? Not gonna to work.

kids backpacking 1So we added a new tent and camp stove to the pile Christmas morning. And we got the boys new sleeping bags. They needed them, but we went ahead and got  them quality, 3 season bags that should last half of forever and be light enough that they can at least carry those for themselves.

I’m on the fence about taking Penny. We took my dog, Kenzie, with us before and we have her old dog backpack (the older model of this one) that Penny could use to carry her own food and some water. But I’m not sure I’m up to having one. more. body. to keep track of. We’ll have to see how our day hikes go.

kids backpacking 2We also had some extensive conversations with the folks at a couple of our local outfitter stores, since camping with kids is completely new to us. I think we got lots of good advice–which is one reason why we also sprang for new packs for us! Our old packs were smaller and lower quality and the simple fact is that we’re going to need gear for 5 now, and we’ll be carrying most of it!

A couple quick tips that we picked up (and will be working on between now and camping season!):

  • Ounces matter. Pack light–especially the kids! Our boys will probably start only carrying their own sleeping bags and water bottles. Only. The Cowboy is already doing well in our “test run” family walks, so he might carry his own change of clothes too. The Ladybug will probably carry her sleeping bag, water, a change of clothes, and her little camera. Right now we’re expecting that everything else will be on us!

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  • Test Runs. We’re working on getting everyone in better shape and use to their packs with family walks, and day hikes between now and when we want to actually go overnight. We’ll also be doing a couple of trial backyard and back-40 overnighters to ensure we’ve got everything and are comfortable with our equipment. Especially for the kids, because they’ve never been camping (away from home, anyway) at all.
  • Good Food. We want the kids to enjoy it. Several articles I read said be careful about skimping on the food–hungry kids will not enjoy it! Trial runs of “camping food” is another thing we’ll be working on over the next couple months at home.
  • Safety First. Trail safety with kids is different from two adults. We need to pack a slightly different first aid kit, get safety whistles, and teach the kids about getting lost. This is all new to us.

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  • Lower Expectations! Especially starting out, you need to keep the expectations real! Focus on the total experience, not on the trail itself. Let the kids take breaks, get distracted, stop early, double back, and explore. Don’t be focused on the trail end point.

If you have any tips or thoughts or a great post on this topic–please share! I’ve started a Camping/Backpacking Pinterest board for all the articles I’ve been looking up and there’s definitely some great stuff out there. I’m most worry about food, actually. I’ve got a picky eater–who also happens to be the smallest and youngest, and least work-oriented of the group. (i.e. most likely to poop-out early and start whining, or AKA: Speedracer!) But we’ll see how the next couple months go!

Do you have any family plans you’re working on right now?

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Resolve to Be a Family

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A friend and I were talking the other day about New Year’s Resolutions–and how neither of us really bothers with them, formally speaking. We both seem to sort of doing our goal-setting on a rolling, as needed, basis. But then again, when I wrote about buying gifts for other children, I mentioned that we had made the decision this year to invest in gifts for the kiddos this year that would require a lot of our time. And I think that’s sort of a Resolution in itself. This year we resolve to invest our time in our family.

Part of me thinks it’s crazy that we need to commit to more time with our kids.  Believe me, after work and school our family is always together. But I think there’s something to be said for being intentional with that time.

achery 1And one thing I think we’ve been seeing around here is that we don’t always get a chance to focus on each individual person around here like we’d like to. We’re doing a great job developing as a “team.” But we could do a little better in the area of developing individual skills and interests–and addressing individual weaknesses even more.

The Ladybug, especially, is starting to push for more freedom. Not so much because she wants to do other things, but because she wants to do them on her own, out-of-sight, and not under constant supervision. We want to make sure we’re providing the right outlets for her independence.

archery 2I think soccer season this fall was the start of these questions for us. How can we let everyone express themselves, while retaining our family identity and bonds. How can we let everyone be an individual, without letting the individuals take over the family? Where’s the balance? And we still think it’s found mostly in family time–but that maybe that time needs to include more recreating together!

So this year we invested in archery sets. The boys’ sets are simple 1st Shots by Bear Archery. Ruby’s set is the Bear Youth Crusader. (I’m quite impressed, by the way! Ruby’s set is perfect beginner set for 7 yr and up–all the way to me! The Sales Associate told us it’s the set he uses with his Church’s Youth Group.) It’s something that we all do together right now (lots of supervision needed here!) but everyone still gets lots of one-on-one time.

archery 3This is also something that they’ll be able to simply enjoy for a small investment now, or pursue with a greater investment later–whatever their interest ends up being. It’s something fun and wholesome that they can do with friends and visitors at the farm, and it’s much quieter than other shooting sports! {grin}

It’s something that doesn’t take a lot of set up or clean up. Mr. Fix-It put an old hay bale up at the end of the yard as a target for them. If the weather is clear, they can grab their bows and arrows and we hit the backyard for an hour of shooting. Then they just carry them back in the house and store them in the closet until next time. Nothing to it. And it’s quite fun–I’ve been posting our afternoon arrow-hunting adventures over on our Facebook page.

archery 4It’s also an easy way to start giving some freedoms and responsibilities. I think the Ladybug is already at the point where she could go out in the yard by herself or with a friend for target practice and be trusted to follow simple safety rules. (The boys will definitely have to earn the right to be out of my reach right now!)

Letting them go out-of-sight of the house and set up a different target would be another freedom.

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Another activity I’ll be talking about soon is backpacking. We’re going to be taking up backpacking again–with the crew. And when you’re backpack-camping, if you don’t bring it, you don’t have it. And if you do bring it, you have to carry it! A different level of consequences, but definitely immediate and significant.

archery 8Did you make a New Year’s Resolution this year? Do you have family goals?

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To My Father…

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Dear Dad,

Ya know how you taught me that I should be a leader, not a follower? And not to care what other people think and just do what I thought was right? And just be myself, regardless of what other people said?

Meet your grandson. We call him Cowboy.

The child who spends 30 minutes going over 3 racks of brown, gray, green, camo, stripes, John Deere, and even blaze orange hats…to pick out the day-glow, tennis-ball-yellow one that sized for an elephant’s head.

And won’t be swayed by his Momma’s gentle suggestions.

And wears it with pride to do his chores.

With a flashlight tucked up underneath by his ear.

You know, in case the glow from his head doesn’t shed enough light on the situation.

He is his own man, in every sense of the words. Even at 5–going on 6 in two weeks!.

You’d be so proud.

CHRISTMAS ALERT! {Would you like one? It’s called LIME and you can find over here at the Carhartt store. The Ladybug picked the same one in GRAPE, I have it in white, and Mr. Fix-It has it in navy. They’re only $8.00 and make great stocking-stuffers! Speedracer, of course, went for something completely different, with a camo fleece hat. Clearly he doesn’t worry about his hair!}

Carhartt Tough

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We’ve been watching and listening to all the politicking going on before the election and all the talk about jobs and unemployment and the middle class crunch, and Mr. Fix-It looked at me the other day and said–”We could hire people tomorrow–nobody wants to work.” He doesn’t mean nobody wants a job, he means there’s a lack of work ethic out there and people don’t want to get sweaty and dirty any more. Nobody wants “Dirty Jobs.”

To add my own two cents, I also think we’re not doing a good job raising and training workers. Mr. Fix-It thinks everything he does is “just common sense.” It’s not. There’s a whole group of natural aptitudes that go begging for discovery and refinement within our current public education system. Mr. Fix-It struggled with academics and had a poor school record–they weren’t teaching to any of his strengths!

He’s a left-brained, visual learner with a natural mechanical aptitude. Which means he learns by seeing and doing–not reading and listening. {I’ve been reading up on learning styles a lot lately with the Ladybug’s academic challenges. I’m quite the jargon expert right now.}

My Dad use to tell me to go to college so I wouldn’t end up having to “work for a living like I do.” Like blue-collar jobs are what you do when you can’t do something better. But that’s not true! And the trades themselves are struggling because they don’t need second-hand people–they need skilled people. Able people. Hard working people. It’s not that somebody has to do it–we need people who are good at it to do it!  And to find people who are good at it, we (as parents and educators!) need to identify our children with these natural abilities and teach to their strengths and let them excel!

Which is why I’m SO excited to be sharing a new partnership with you! Walking in High Cotton and The Lowe Farm LLC will be partnering with Carhartt, a MADE IN THE USA company that understands what people who work need in clothes.

I’ve been wearing Carhartt clothes for about 14 years now, Mr. Fix-It longer than that. We sometimes call our kiddos the Carhartt Crew because they’ve been wearing it for farm work as long as they’ve been toddling around the place. (You can see them in their bibs and coats here, here, or here, to start with.) We bought the Ladybug her first pair of bibs in a size 18 months–and then the Cowboy wore them, and then Speedracer wore them, and then we handed them down to a friend at church. The only thing worn out on them was the color {grin}. The stuff just never quits!

Working with them now, Mr. Fix-It was able to try a pair of their new line of Twill Work Pants, with the double knees for a few weeks on the job. (He’s a plumber, by the way. It’s definitely a “dirty job”.) He said that he loves the double knee and they definitely fit better than his standard uniform pants. (I’ll second that one! The fit and cut are a vast improvement over those saggy, baggy standard uniform pants–at least from here!)

He did say that they’re a little heavy-which is good from a durability perspective, but can be a negative when soaked, which he is a lot! {smile} And they’re lighter than his regular Carhartt dungarees that he wears for farm work. I’ve found that they hold up well to washing, and just like their coats and bibs, don’t wrinkle much. (And if they do wrinkle, you can usually smooth it out by hand!)

I asked him about the deep pockets, because I sure do get tired of reaching waaay down in there to dig out screws and plastic packaging and copper scraps and sand (oh, the sand) from under other people’s houses. But he said he likes them deep so he can fit stuff in them without it falling out every time he turns around. And so far these seem stronger than jean pocket material–which always gets holes in it.

He still prefers his plain ole Washed Duck Dungarees (which I can tell by how many times a week I’m washing them!) but the Twill Work Wear is really priced well–about the price of a pair of jeans–are definitely going to last a lot longer!

Like I said, we’ve been Carhartt customers for years. Their work clothes are top quality and their company is top-notch. I got my first Carhartt coat (which was this one, back before they had a women’s line and I got a pink one) as a Christmas present from my parents when I was in college…come to think of it, Christmas is right around the corner, isn’t it? {smile}

What’s your favorite work-in-the-muck clothes?

{Note: This post contains affiliate links and is sponsored by Carhartt. We received products from Carhartt to review before posting today. And we are very excited to move forward working in partnership with a company that we've respected and used for years now. Please visit Disclosure for more information.}