Rain or Shine Mamma

There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes

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Learning from Nature: Make a Stick Alphabet

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September 30, 2013 By Linda McGurk

I’m always looking for opportunities to use nature as a learning tool and since the Little Naturalist is working on her ABCs, I thought I would look for ways to incorporate the alphabet in our outdoor play. Making letters out of sticks is a super easy activity that doesn’t require much advance planning, yet gives your child an opportunity to work on his or her problem-solving skills and supports what she or he is learning in preschool.

Activity: Make letters (or the whole alphabet, or words) out of sticks

The alphabet made out of tree branches.

Playing with tree branches is a fun way to learn your ABCs.

Best age range: 2-5

Location: A wooded area

Materials:

  • Dead tree branches

Start by going for a walk in the woods and collect tree branches of varying lengths and shapes. Then, ask your child how many letters she can make from just one stick. Two? Three? And so forth. Are some letters harder than others? Which letter shapes occur naturally in the woods? Can you find a stick that resembles a Y? Or a T?

The great thing about this activity is that it can easily be customized depending on the child’s age. For a toddler walking in the woods, picking sticks and then playing with them can be an adventure in itself, though the Little Naturalist quickly took a cue from her older sister and created the letter X by crossing two sticks. An older child can try to spell out the whole alphabet or words using tree branches.

Collecting dead tree branches.

Collecting dead tree branches.

Making the letter X out of two tree branches.

Making the letter X out of two tree branches.

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Linda Åkeson McGurk
I’m not going to lie - there are times when my c I’m not going to lie - there are times when my children’s dawdling drives me nuts. Like when they take 45 minutes to finish breakfast even though we’re running late . But I also envy their ability to be completely unhurried and present in the moment, and I realize that it’s a quality that I need to protect🐌

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_____________________________
#theresnosuchthingasbadweather #rainorshinemamma #1000hoursoutside #quote
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My melatonin levels weren't top of mind when @jeanetteosterman and I started our challenge to sleep outside at least once a month for a year. But I must say, I rarely sleep as soundly and feel as energetic as I do when I sleep under the skies.

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“I’m not thrilled about looking older. But wha “I’m not thrilled about looking older. But what unsettles me the most about the 40s is the implication that I’m now a grown-up myself.”
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@pameladruck
This is exactly how I feel when I spend time in na This is exactly how I feel when I spend time in nature and why I find it so relaxing. When I’m outside with my kids I’m really present in the moment and there’s no place I’d rather be❤️ Hope you feel the same🌿

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This giveaway is now CLOSED. Congratulations @conn This giveaway is now CLOSED. Congratulations @connectedmothering, you are our winner!🙌🏻🎉🎊

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What are your thoughts on exploring more locally?
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When I became a parent, one of the first books I r When I became a parent, one of the first books I read was Free-Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy and I felt like I’d finally found somebody who “got it.”🙌🏻 Somebody who stood up and said enough is enough with the helicopter parenting trend, questioned the need for baby knee pads and reminded everyone that it’s okay for kids to be bored, drink out of the garden hose, climb trees and play without intervention by adults who are trying to make the activity more “educational.” Somebody who understood that free play is learning. And for that, we thank her🙏🏻🙌🏻
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@lskenazy
A follower recently asked me when she could start A follower recently asked me when she could start hiking with her kids, to which I responded that I’ve always hiked with mine, ever since they were babies👶🏻 I kept going after they graduated from the carrier, but obviously “hiking” with a toddler is a lot different than hiking by yourself and I think it’s important to be prepared for and accepting of that, or nobody is going to have a good time.

If you’d like to know more about hiking with toddlers, I share some tips in this post: https://rainorshinemamma.com/hiking-with-toddlers/. 

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One of the reasons why I love hiking and backpacking is that even though it’s about “living simply”, it also involves a great deal of problem-solving. I actually like it when things don’t go exactly according to plan, because you learn more that way. Not just practical things, like figuring out your location and getting on the right track, but also about yourself and your reaction to challenges🙌🏻

In this case, the wrong turn was just a minor misstep that we were able to correct by backtracking, but it was a good way to test our reasoning skills and resilience at a point when we were both starting to get a little tired.

This was our fourth time of sleeping outside at least once a month for a year, a challenge I jumped on thanks to my friend @jeanetteosterman. I’m not normally one to do challenges but this has been a fantastic way to push my boundaries and learn new skills. Who knows, maybe sleeping under the open skies once a month will become my new normal?😜🤩
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I think it’s safe to say that if more of us trie I think it’s safe to say that if more of us tried to see the world through a child’s eye, this Earth would be a much more loving and compassionate place❤️

Thanks @awilderchild for your amazing nature poetry🙏🏻
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