Hiking with Kids

Discovery Trail circles the campground with kid-friendly kiosks and steel insect sculptures.

We recently went camping at Diamond Campground in Utah with my sister and the kids. Despite the borrowed 10-man tent that took us an hour and a half to put up, storms constantly threatening, and raindrops that had us convinced someone was pacing around our tent all night--it was a great trip!

The trail around the campground led us to a tee pee, beaver's work, and a river just right for playing in.

Our host was very friendly to his only campers that night and in less than 24 hours he swung by our site on his little golf-cart, roller bladed past listening to Hotel California, yellow-bicycled by, and later under pretense of walking his dog.The next morning we packed up everything, leaving our tent to dry in the sun and made our way to a picnic spot, where our host incidentally, drove by honking his horn and waving...

En route to the trail head we took a wrong turn and encountered  a hairy marmot (a first!) and two trucks full of kenneled hounds about to go bear hunting (hopefully a last).

Fortunately, the trail is largely shaded, if not a bit precarious in spots.

In preparation for the first long hike our family had done in awhile forever, I visited Just Jeff's Hiking Page, a wealth of helpful information not typically found on hiking with kids. The hike was 4 miles round trip and I wanted our 10, 7, 4, and 2y/o to have a nice time and reach our destination--for once!

I secretly brought along some chocolate covered raisins, and at one of our breaks (we stopped about every 20-30 min) I threw them in a pile near the trail and, per Just Jeff's instructions, tried my best to casually point them out.

"Look at that scat! You know, you can tell a lot about an animal by the way its scat looks, its size, and...how it tastes."

But before I could amaze them all by eating it--Bowery Bird (10) with arms crossed 6 feet away looked down her nose at me and said, "I saw you touch it, it looks like chocolate covered raisins."
 I was crushed.
So perhaps our Nature Study has gone a little too well for fun and games of that sort...but while Mockingbird (7) scarfed it down, Kingfisher (5) still wouldn't touch it. "No. way."

A wall of one of the hot spring pools--complete with algae.

Eventually, after an hour and a half packing a 2 1/2 year old, we reached the end; hot springs! We stayed to splash in the lower springs that had been contained in several walled-off, surprisingly deep pools. There were several adults nearer the falls who were clothed (for now), but I didn't want to risk anything. My sister, who was looking forward to seeing me "explain that one" was sorely disappointed, I'm sure. The wind picked up and more rain seemed soon inevitable, so we prepared to leave sooner than expected.Then we looked up, and our host was waving hello as he hiked past...(still clothed).
"Wow, that's service." my sister joked, waiting for him to tell us our tent was dry.

 The return trip is when I took another cue from Just Jeff, I pulled out a scavenger hunt to do. The deal was, a prize would come out once every one's was finished. The older girls and Auntie worked together on questions like:

• Find every color of the rainbow (lots of flowers out made that possible--whew!)

• Name 3 stages of the water cycle around you.




• Find something becoming food for something else. (This one proved a challenge, but not for long. Mocking bird pulled out some animal crackers and we all watched as she theatrically consumed.)

Although the beautifully eaten guard rails would have sufficed.

 

• Something in the wild you can eat.
• Something living in it's habitat.
• A baby, a teenager, an adult organism.
• Find something poisonous.



Poison Ivy-past experience gives me the shivers just looking at it



The younger scavenger hunt I helped Kingfisher with had us find:

• A dark place and a sunshiny place. What lives there?
• Something camouflaged. (Spider) Why do you think it is camouflage.
• Something shiny.(The sun.)
• Something that reminds you of something else (A rock like a bird head & driftwood like a Pirate Ship.)
• A baby something--where might its parent be? (we saw robin eggs in a nest earlier)
• Something that was once alive, what happened to it? (a brown leaf and we talked about the seasons)
• Water in 3 places (Rain, waterfall, stream)
• Something camouflaged, why is it hiding? (spider--to get eaten)
• An insect, what is it doing? (ant--looking for food)

This started out as merely a way to kill time. But it was such a great conversation starter, it helped us open our eyes to things that might have gone overlooked, and was an effective way to gage what they really understood about the natural world and how it works. It was a fun common goal that we helped each other with.  The reward? More chocolate covered raisins  scat.

And as if we needed consolation for having to quickly leave the hot springs--or maybe just to prepare us for a doubly drenched tent in our absence, a double rainbow came into view as we pulled back into our campsite.

Wasatch Mountains in the background.

* I was honestly surprised at how little "extra" things we needed to entertain us or keep us motivated. I had forgotten how stimulating and gorgeous and rich a simple hike, in the right location (read: with a cool destination) can be.

Park Life can cover many subjects

 

 

Spring is not to be missed- we've been to the park twice this week to enjoy the weather.

 

GEOGRAPHY:

Bowery Bird and I made drew a huge USA map with sidewalk chalk. To work on the Webelos Forestry badge she marked the forest regions ( you can see a bit in Utah & Arkansas.)

She did great on the western half, I got a little sloppy on all the little eastern states- but they're so far away they don't matter anyway- jk!

 

 

NATURE STUDY:

Kingfisher found perfect deer tracks all over the sand.

 

 



 HISTORY:
Mocking Bird made sandcastles "Medieval ones so it still counts as school"

.

MORE NATURE STUDY & SCIENCE:

We saw the local muskrat-a busy and brave big guy.

And the slow bullfrog he disturbed.

 

HANDICRAFTS:

Made some bark boats with Maple leaf sails that were led by thread (see above).

 

 

POETRY:

I think that I shall never see,

a poem as lovely as a tree.

-Joyce Kilmer

 

 

And stared at ourselves in the water, working out the questions of the universe, why pigtails are so cute, and trying to gage whether or not we could beat the melt down bubbling up from the 7 kids I had in tow today...(we did.) Made it home in time to peacefully watch Disney's Mathemagic and the Composer's Series Rosissini.

Night Heron of the Morning

9am
Local Park
Spring has Sprung!

Such a noticeable difference in the sounds of the place now. Bird calls everywhere, getting worms, mating, building nests. No tropical jungle, but for here, a big difference. Just a week after the trees have blossomed.

So we go the wetland boardwalk, and at the beginning I see this white reflection. We creep up on this never before seen bird and watch it fly from the water to a tree and sit to watch us.

Mockingbird decided to name it a Blue Fisher even though we later learned it was a Black-capped Night Heron. I love that name, I must think of someone I can name that...it sounds so tidy yet mysterious.

Last time we went we saw the pond's muskrat for the first time swim the entire length of the pond.
It's just thrilling to me that a place you frequent weekly for three years can still hold so much to be discovered.

Charlotte Mason is like that for me. Layers and layers of knowledge and connections to be discovered. I think that is what I love most about her approach- letting the student discover it and make it their own. Not something introduced to you to the point that all mystery and personal investment is obliterated.

I am a Paleontolgist, That's What I Am

BYU Museum of Paleontology

This song by They Might Be Giants kept filtering in and out of conversation during our visit to the BYU Museum of Paleontology. I had forgotten about this little fossil of a jewel museum on campus until one rainy day when we had some time on our hands.
For not being very big space-wise (but far better than their original home under the football stadium), the collection is amazing. The museum houses mineral specimens, full size replicas, petrified plants (petrified wood seen right, against wall), and many child-friendly "touch-tables."

Ammonite touch-table

In this museum, more than any other like it, the sheer size of ancient life hits me, and I think it's because the rooms are small and displays don't leave a lot of space between you and them. Any one under 3 years old usually ends up being held most of the visit for this same reason...

This isn't a great picture, but shows a replica and the viewing window into the lab where they process the specimens collected from the field. If you look at the workers non-threateningly, one of the volunteers may come out and give you a tour. Luckily, that's just what happened to us.
I love behind-the-scene tours, especially of workshops so this was a real treat.

We saw lizard-like dinosaur bones being removed from sandstone, rare because there were 3 together in their natural arrangement and in an easily removable rock. We saw gar fish scales still shining in the stone, and vertebrate the size of a mini refrigerators lined up to be processed. Then our guide took us back to peek in the warehouse where fossilized bones dusted with a release agent were awaiting the dunk into vats of liquid silicon to become molds.

 

Life Story, by Virginia Lee Burton, is one of those books that leaves you feeling different about not only your place on the planet, but in time itself. Presented as a play, it starts with the scientific creation of our earth, takes the reader through each phase of ancient life, and eventually culminates with spreads of generation, year, day, hour, and your next few minutes.

I didn't really plan it this way, but we are studying the life cycle this week. So after seeing what happens when the life cycle stops, we went full circle and visited the pet store where they had two-month old puppies and baby tarantulas. Awwww...

Microcosmos

We recently went to watch Microcosmos (not high, despite many who claim it as the only way  to experience this movie) on the big screen at the BYU International Cinema. It's an award-winning french film entirely of insects in their element-up close and incredible.

Initially our whole family was watching it, but Canary (just learning to talk) kept narrating for everyone, "Bu-fly"  "Wa-er" "Big!" She loved it, but afraid others wouldn't, Mr. Owl chivalrously walked campus for the duration of the film. At home Kingfisher was adamant about not wanting to go watch it, but it took 4 taps and a jerk to wake him from his cinematic trance and leave too.

It was gorgeous. To the point where I was totally entranced by an ethereal fairy emerging from her mystic lagoon, only to later realize it was a mosquito! Ugh! I hate mosquitoes. But it wasn't emotional manipulation--so I had no one to blame but my eyes and nature's own beauty.

In fact, what sets this film apart from most, and what I loved about it, was the absence of a sentimental storyline voice-over by some celebrity. It also lacked anthropomorphizing and editing to aid the stupid viewer in grasping some straw of connection with the natural world. This film expects more of its audience and doesn't tamper with perfection. No talking, minimal music, and no obvious fancy editing.
Just magnified clips of life happening; relentless fighting (stag beetles of course), meticulous working (ants), endless eating (caterpillars), and some unabashed loving (snails, yes...snails). The film is rated G, despite the revolting love scene between two snails set to opera music. I'm sure the filmmakers got just the response they wanted from our audience's snickers and head shaking. Opera music. Snails. I'll never see them the same again...

Nature Journal Notes

Inside my nature notebook I like to--

Transcribe conversations:

July 20, 2011

Between a 3y/o Kingfisher and his 5y/o Mockingbird as we are working in our journals-him in a coloring book.

 

 "His face is blue cuz he ate a lollipop" as he colors.

"Was it a lollipop-or was it ice cream?" his sister projects.

"Both...It was both. He ate so much it dripped all over his coat," as coloring book person is covered in light blue pencil.

"I just love [my brother] --even if he did eat all my makeup." (matter-of-factly)

"Yeah. I was a baby then and didn't know any better....And it got all over his eyes!" --more blue.

"What's your favorite thing about my picture, mom?...What's your favorite thing about my picture mom?...Mom! What's your favorite thing about my picture!" as I finish recording their interchange and eventually look up.

Hermetically seal botanical specimens in Scotch tape:

(because it's easier than drawing, right? If it all fits, it's all good.)

Sketch environments and obliterate them with arrows of memories:

Note things We've Learned:

"April 2012
common dandelion  dent de lion-french for "lion's teeth" referring to teeth on the leaves; orig. from Europe."

Somehow makes more sense than the "Dandy-Lion" I'd always explained it to myself as...when I was 5, I mean. I don't. talk to myself. anymore.

Illustrate creatures that will stay still long enough:

only to later spend 2 hours tearing the house apart when they decide they are still feral-no matter how docile and cute the earlier act was. (much panting----and I sit down.)

Document events:

Like just when the cherries along the path, plums around the chapel, and apricots at the park are ripe for gleaning (lucky for us 1. this neighborhood used to be one huge orchard and 2. apparently no one looks at trees anymore).

and Take note of the seasons:

May 2, 2011 
My husband and children "went to the abandoned 'flower house' at the end of the path & brought these [Grape Hyacinth & Wild Rose] back and a bouquet of tulips (early Mother's Day Request!)"

- isn't the 'flower house' so much more picturesque than its other name- 'the crack house'? sigh.

Outdoor Time is Unpredictable Time

Unexpected Turns while Outside

You just never know what you'll walk into.

A beautiful morning at the "Wilderness Park" with an icy pond we threw rocks in, river we threw Pooh sticks in, and gazebo we found food wrappers and a crumpled old sleeping bag in. I quickly tried to shoo my children away from the homeless homestead, wondering who else was lurking around the "Wilderness" edges. But my 5y/o was trying to make sense of it all.
 "Oh! I know what happened! Someone had a sleepover then their mom called them for breakfast and they had to hurry before making their bed."
I didn't argue, knowing that my explanation would come up in mixed company at some inopportune time in the near future and perhaps put the kibosh on Nature Time without an escort.
"That's right dear--Oh look the swings are free and it's only 9am!"

Or the time we went to a nearby canyon trail to enjoy some peace and be at one with nature and all the rest. So we start to get out of the van and I hear this yelling from a house down and across the street.
Dropping the expletives I was able to make out that some poor thing was madly in love with "him" and some evil mother apparently didn't get "her". I thought it would blow over, but no, it continued and probably echoed off the canyon walls for even the rock climbers to hear.
Fortunately my kids were too young to really notice anything but "these sticky little yellow flowers". Still, I think we left early.Now  we visit a nearby park where a frequenting dog with no leash has taught us to close our

My Favorite Nature Journals



Variations on a Nest in Watercolor

 

 

The Canson 5x7" spiral bound hardback is my all-time favorite field sketchbook for  Nature Journals.

 

Yes, it is a little small-but when we go out I can snap a big rubber band around all 3 (now 4) and throw them in our Nature Backpack, so they travel well. The paper is only 65 lb and warps when we paint on it, but the price is right for children who like to tape inside full-on dandelion heads and Elmer's glue in fairy dresses of layered fall leaves...whatever floats their boat. The spiral binding allows for expansion for all that. When they are older a book with alternating watercolor and sketch paper would be a dream come true. 

 

These are some other Nature Journals for inspiration:

Sketching in Nature

and in case you have some wheat paste lying around a

 19th Century Naturalist Notebook and specimens

Want to see something that will blow your mind!? Take a peek at

 John Muir's Journals.

 

These books come highly recommended:

 Keeping a Nature Journal

How to Keep a Naturalist's Notebook

 

 

 

 

 

Things I love about Nature Study

• Learning about the seasons of life

Two winters ago, when walking by the pond a mother with us pointed out to her boys "see the little tadpoles in the water!" to which then 7 y/o Abigail matter-of-factly corrected "those are minnows, there are no tadpoles till spring".  (Isn't that the sole purpose of blogs, to establish an unparalleled platform for parental bragging? no?)

• Learning proper names of things

When Bowery Bird was 2 and at church, a friend related how the teacher showed a picture of a bird and was talking about how "We are thankful for birds". Little Bowery Bird said "That's not a bird, that's a Robin".

• Getting to know of the world around us

Sitting with my 3 children among the trees and watching 2 robins harass a squirrel near their nest for 20 min or more--poor squirrel not knowing which way to go!

• Discovering the awe of things on their own

Observing Kingfisher and Mockingbird reverently sneak up on a White-faced Ibis (that was actually brown), and begging me to come see.

• Getting our vegetables in

(I can tell you it doesn't happen at dinner...).Seeing Bowery Bird forage for food and enjoy the wild whatever-she-is-eating (she usually knows-I don't).