When I need an escape from the insanity of my day-to-day life, I make a break for my family’s cabin in Yosemite National Park. It gives me some much-needed down time and helps me reconnect with what’s important in my life.
Now that my oldest son has started kindergarten, I’m feeling the stress: Too much homework, not enough time to play. So this past weekend I couldn’t resist playing hooky and enjoying the brisk fall air in one of my favorite nature playgrounds. Here’s how we filled our days and evenings:
We took nature walks in the woods. It’s amazing how much you can discover on a stroll with a child. We didn’t have to go far, either. We climbed small boulders, searched for animal hiding places, felt tree bark, looked for different shaped leaves and hunted for rocks. We took walks first thing in the morning, in the afternoon and after dinner. My kids never got bored.
We looked for signs of fall. We usually go to Yosemite during the summer, so this fall visit gave us a different perspective on things. We discovered moss, looked for different colored leaves and observed the impact of recent rains on creek water levels. We laid down in the meadow, looked up and talked about what we saw and heard.
We visited the local library. Wawona’s library hosted a dinosaur talk just for kids. We met a real-life geologist who talked about fossils. The kids colored, played and devoured snacks alongside books about dinosaurs.
We got creative. We made leaf rubbings with crayons. And we adopted “Yosemite Bear” as our little ambassador of outdoor fun. (You can anticipate that there will be more adventures for Bear in our future!)
How about you – how do you help your kids connect with nature when life gets busy? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so add a comment!
We like to garden. I have two half whiskey barrels in the backyard that currently have nothing in them, so the boys like to just go out there, grab my tools, and dig in the dirt. Sometimes we plant, too– Rowan and I just planted strawberries. It's really gotten them thinking about nature and food in a different way. They always want to plant the pits they get out of their stone fruit now!
What fun! I wish we had a cabin to sneak off too!
sounds like you had a great weekend. we always go outside when life gets busy because it seems to really calm my boys down – luckily we have a large block of land so it's easy to get back to nature.