Fun Friday activities are quick-and-simple ways to explore nature in your own backyard. If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you know that I’m not very crafty. But when I saw this idea for a Father’s Day gift that combined two things we love – paint and trees – I thought it might be worth a try.I managed to come up a with a decent-enough looking tree that even … [Read more...]
Meet the Man Behind Nature Kids
Kenny & daughter Lavender Last week I was fortunate enough to be interviewed by documentary filmmaker Kenny Ballentine. He’s the creative force behind the upcoming film Nature Kids, which is all about getting America’s kids back into nature. Kenny wanted me to talk about why I think getting kids outside in nature is so important – and what’s at stake if we don’t. … [Read more...]
8 Ways to Connect With Nature in the Car
Like many families this Thanksgiving holiday, we’ll be hitting the road. Our mini road trip will take us first to Yosemite, then on to visit family in Northern California for Thanksgiving. And guess what? We won’t be bringing along any digital support. That’s right, no portable DVD players, handheld video games or the like are found on our road trips. Instead, we rely on … [Read more...]
Fun Friday: Cardboard Box Fort
Fun Friday activities are quick-and-simple ways to explore nature in your own backyard. I haven’t seen too much of the explorers this week. They’ve been too busy playing in their cardboard box fort. (Yay – our first fort!) It all started when our new backyard furniture set arrived earlier this week in an enormous box. It was too irresistible for the kids to ignore. They … [Read more...]
The Magical Children’s Gardens at San Diego Botanic Garden
Toni's Tree House is dreamy, no?If you visit a botanic garden with kids, chances are you make a pit stop at the children’s garden (if they’ve got one). You can usually count on these spaces to offer magical, interactive opportunities for little visitors. So imagine our delight when we visited San Diego Botanic Garden, which has not one, but two separate children’s gardens – … [Read more...]