Archive for the ‘Nature Activity’ Category

Newhoma Music Festival Merchandise Available

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Get your Newhoma merchandise today!

Shipping and tax included in the cost.  Email terryhayden at thenatureplace dot net to place your order.

Please make your checks payable to “COEC” and mail to:

Newhoma Merchandise

PO Box 167

Florissant, CO  80816

All orders will receive a copy of the Newhoma Music Sampler produced in part by Peoples Bank.  We would like to thank People’s Bank, Colorado Outdoor Education Center, Sanborn Western Camps and all of our other tremendous sponsors for their financial support of this festival.

Newhoma T-Shirt: $15 Black or Blue, please specify M or W and Size

Newhoma Truckers Hat: $15 One Size Fits Most

Newhoma Visor: $12 Specify color: Slate or Natural

Newhoma Poster: $15

Newhoma Stickers: $2 each or 3 for $3

A Newhoma Music Sampler: Free with any Newhoma Merchandise Purchase

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Posted in Fun Activities, Nature Activity, Newhoma Music Festival, Our Friendly Camp Vendors, alum event | 3 Comments »

Adventures with the Five Senses

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

As part of the national Children and Nature Awareness Month, we wanted to share some extra special outdoor activities that you can do with your friends and family to get you outside and enjoying the spring weather in your neighborhood.  A great thing to create, and to bring with you to camp, is a nature journal or sketchbook.  If you start collecting all of your experiences (and a feather, cool leaf, and pressed flower or two) in a journal, then you will have a great record of seasonal changes, observations, and all of the outdoor fun you experienced in 2010.

Keep a Nature Journal on all of your adventures

Using our five senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell) is a great way to interact with the natural world and to learn and experience things you have never noticed before.  And, in spring, the natural world is coming alive again…so you should get out and enjoy it!

Think of every walk outside as a Five Senses Hike.  Be mindful of not only what you see, but what you can hear, smell, feel — even (with caution) taste!

Here are a few activities that will help you use your senses while you are outside this spring:

How Far?  How Close?  Get Some Perspective!
 (adapted from Today Is Fun and 101 Nature Activities)

Materials needed:

  • Nature Journal or Sketchbook
  • 100 inch piece of string
  • A day pack with everything you need for a fun afternoon outside (just like at camp!): water bottle, sunscreen, warm layer/rain layer, and wear sturdy shoes!

Hike up to the top of a hill, or anywhere you can find a view and see how far you can see.  Can you see a distant mountain range, a far-away hill, a tall building downtown, a really tall tree?  How many miles away is that particular place/object?  Bring a nature journal to jot down ideas about distance, and to sketch an image of what you are seeing.  When you get home, look up that place/object using Google Earth, or pull out a map with the features/intersections you could see.  Did you underestimate or overestimate the distance?

Before you head home, though, pull out your 100 inch piece of string and find an interesting natural area.  Place the string on the ground and explore the area along the string very carefully.  Look for signs of animals, birds, or insects; distinctive characteristics of any plant along the trail; texture of soil or sand; different colors, etc..  Record your findings in your nature journal.

By closely examining a very small area, one can discover wonders which otherwise might be overlooked.  Shrinking our field of perception often adds to our awareness.  Now think about how far you could see when you were up high, and how much you saw when you were down low.  How much more of the natural world would we appreciate if we just took time to see near, far, and everywhere in between?

Do You Smell What I Smell?

Materials needed:

  • An imaginative, descriptive mind
  • Your nose

Take a walk focusing your sense of smell on the nature around you.  What does the bark of the trees in your neighborhood smell like?  (We think Ponderosa Pine tree bark—which grow at camp—smells like vanilla or butterscotch)  What do different plants, flowering trees/bushes, or grass smell like?  Why do different things have different smells?

Once you have descriptions for the smells around you—have a smell scavenger hunt with your friends and family—see if they can find a “plant that smells like a skunk” or “a flower that smells like peaches.”  Creating the descriptions will be almost as fun as finding the correct natural object!

Sound Tapestry

Materials needed:

  • Nature journal/sketchbook
  • Colored pencils
  • Attentive ears

Take a walk to a park or local open space—find a comfortable, special spot in the outdoors (if possible, have some of your friends sit in an open meadow, others down in the trees and bushes, and others still near a stream or water).  Sit quietly and listen for birds, grasses, and other sounds in nature for 10 minutes.  As you listen to each distinct sound, think about what that sound “looks” like.  What color is it?  Is it a smooth, wavy, or rough sound? Is it loud or soft?  Once you have an idea what the sound looks like, use your colored pencils to draw a picture of each of the different sounds you hear.  After your ten minutes of listening and drawing, create a “key” for the sounds you heard at the bottom of your sketch.

Bag of Rocks

Materials needed:

  • Rocks of different sizes, shapes, textures collected from the outdoors
  • A cloth bag big enough to reach into
  • A heightened sense of touch

A blindfolded hike makes you use other senses

Head outdoors and find a collection of different rocks.  Have each person in your family, or each of your friends, chose a rock and “get to know it”.  How does it feel?  How many sides does it have?  What color is it?  Does it have any marks on it?  Is it heavy or light?  Then have everyone put their rock into a bag.  Mix up all of the rocks.  Each person must reach into the bag and attempt to find their rock WITHOUT using their sense of sight.  How easy is itto find a particular rock?  How is one rock different from another rock?  How does your sense of touch compare to your other senses?

Oh The Wonderful Things Mr. Brown Can Taste

Materials needed:

  • Edible plants field guide
  • Adventurous adult
  • A sophisticated palate

Remember the “5 Second Rule”? or the phrase, “God made dirt, so dirt won’t hurt?”  Though we do not recommend eating plant material or other items found in the natural world…there are certain things you can taste—and see ifthey taste like they smell!  (To make sure you aren’t tasting anything that could make you sick—check out a book on edible plants in your area—and never, ever, ever bite or taste a mushroom.)

Things you can bite, taste, lick in the outdoors:

  • Honeysuckle flowers and nectar inside
  • Pine tree sap
  • Juniper berries
  • Wild onions
  • Tree bark
  • Herbs like sage or rosemary
  • Grass (chew on the base and the leaf parts)
  • And, if you are brave enough, you can lick an ant…it tastes like lemon!

After using all of your senses in the outdoors, you can share your love of the natural world with your friends and family by creating a Nature Table to display your sketches, collections, natural treasures at home. (from nwf.org)

Make a Nature Table
There are many ways you can display natural treasures in your home:

  • Nature Table or Shelf: Designate a flat surface for shells, acorns, etc. Use colored fabric to protect the surface (and to add a decorative note). For a little extra fun, make it a mini-museum, using folded index cards as name plates for each item.
  • Vase: A clear vase can store a lot of less delicate items — rocks, shells, nuts, etc — in a relatively small space.
  • Shoe Holder: Place objects in a hanging shoe organizer with clear pockets, found at many dollar stores or other discount retailers.
  • Box It Up: The many different compartments in a tackle, sewing or tool box are great organizers.

What are your favorite sensory awareness games or activities to do in the natural world?  Do you have a nature space at home?

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Posted in Children and Nature, Education, Fun Activities, Nature Activity, Outdoor Education, Parenting, Uncategorized, summer camp in Colorado | 20 Comments »

A Great Resource for Reconnecting Kids with the Outdoors

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

CHILDREN & NATURE NETWORK: BUILDING A MOVEMENT TO RECONNECT CHILDREN AND NATURE

The vision and mission of the Children & Nature Network is to give every child in every community a wide range of opportunities to experience nature directly, reconnecting our children with nature’s joys and lessons, its profound physical and mental bounty.

The Children & Nature Network (C&NN) was created to encourage and support the people and organizations working nationally and internationally to reconnect children with nature. The network provides a critical link between researchers and individuals, educators and organizations dedicated to children’s health and well-being. C&NN also promotes fundamental institutional change and provides resources for sharing information, strategic initiatives and success stories.

The C&NN news service and portal, childrenandnature.org, offers parents, youth, civic leaders, educators and health-care providers access to the latest news and research in this field as well as practical advice, including ways to apply new-found knowledge at home, at school, in work environments, and in the community. The network also engages a diverse community of institutes, organizations and industries by providing a forum for publishing and presenting research, reports and case studies on children’s health and nature, and related program-development strategies and support.

–Jessie Tierney

Posted in Children and Nature, Fun Activities, Nature Activity, Outdoor Education, Parenting | 5 Comments »

Benefits of Outdoor Time

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Last week we participated in the Outdoor Blogger Summit Challenge, which was to post stories and ideas about the outdoors and how to get more people to play outside. OBS has posted the results, and it is pretty interesting to read other people’s ideas.

The OBS is all about getting people outside and supporting other blogs (such as Sanborn Western Camps) in their efforts to spread the word about benefits to being outside and in nature. It is always nice for us to hear about other people who encourage time outside.

There are so many people affected by snow right now – roads closed, airports closed, schools closed, work closed, have to shovel, stores closed. Instead of looking at the negatives, think about all the fun that you can have in the snow. We just posted these ideas about Snow Storm Fun.

What are your favorite outdoor snow activities?

Playing in the snow with your children is beneficial to you and them. You all get fresh air, time to use your imagination, spend time together when everyone is usually so busy, fun exercise, nature awareness. What is better than an excuse to play in the snow with children?!

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Posted in Children and Nature, Fun Activities, Nature Activity, Parenting | 7 Comments »

We All Need Nature

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

This is a fun story I wanted to share:

Last Saturday in a MBA class at the University of Denver the professor had students close their eyes and then asked them to think of the place where they experience complete happiness. It could be any place in the world where the students’ level of happiness was out of this world. He then asked the students to raise their hand if their place was inside.

Of 20 students, only 1 hand was raised. (This man’s wife just had a baby.)

The happiness we have from being outside is much more far reaching than many of us realize. When you sit back and think of that one place that makes you really happy, what do you think?

Is your happy place inside or outside?

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Posted in Nature Activity | 2 Comments »

Teaching Aspen

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

In the HTOEC School Weeks program, each kid who comes through is exposed to a talk on aspen groves. While every staff member, like myself, gives his or her own spin on it, we cover the same general facts:

Aspen have an interconnected root system, through which they are able to share nutrients and resources–an entire grove is really one single organism.

Aspen bark has a similar quality to aspirin. Deer that have just given birth chew it for pain relief.

Aspen produce powder on their bark which can be used as sunscreen.

Aspen are efficient energy savers–they “self prune,” by dropping lower branches as they grow toward the sky, devoting resources to new growth.

Aspen are an important source of protein in winter months for elk and deer.

An entire grove will change in the fall from green to yellow, or erupt with catkins in springtime, simultaneously. This is an easy way to tell which trees are a part of the same organism.

Similarly, all the trees in an aspen stand are generally the same height. They can grow up to 70 feet tall.

While these facts are interesting and promote rather profound discussions with the kids about what in their lives is like an aspen grove (the classroom, a family, living in a cabin at High Trails, eating meals together at the HT Lodge) and why (sharing resources, helping each other, growing together, being individuals within a group, interconnectedness), what I find most important to get across is the magic of an aspen grove.

By magic, I mean the transformative and healing potential one finds by spending quiet time within a stand of aspen. Words are often insufficient. Scientific facts just don’t cut it. That’s why physical time in the outdoors is so essential.

Throughout summer camp and with each group I have during School Weeks, I make a point to hike the kids into an aspen grove, where we all lay on the ground and silently look up into the branches of a stand of aspen trees. During this time, I guide them through a simple awareness exercise (Listen to the trees … Listen to your breath … feel your heartbeat in your chest … Notice the colors, the light, the shadows …), then I let them be, to silently absorb for about ten minutes, sometimes longer.

Here, their busy minds slow down. They notice more shades of green than they knew existed, as they watch the heart-shaped leaves quiver in the breeze and see how the Quaking Aspen gets its name. Their thoughts drift like the clouds–the backdrop to their view of these trees. Time slows, and free from the usual goal-oriented, regimented, compartmentalized experience of the day, these kids’ imaginations soar.

A tangible shift occurs as the entire group’s focus quiets and moves within to find that inner connection to the natural world. Most of them, when it is time to go, get up from their places reluctantly, as though they’d discovered something they don’t want to leave behind.

Quietly, I ask them if there is a place back home where they might go to for solitude like this. Some have a tree in the front yard; some have a park in their neighborhood, and others may have an aunt or grandparents who live where there is an open space. It makes me sad, remembering my youth of building tree houses and forts, growing up in a neighborhood where there was a forest at the end of the block and a vast church lot behind our house where we watched pheasants being chased by foxes at dusk: most of these kids don’t have that today.

It is my sincere hope that some of these children, when they leave Sanborn, are empowered by their experience in the aspen trees, and inspired to find their own special place–even if it is beneath a manicured tree in the center of a cul-de-sac–and that they realize the significance and cultivate the inclusion of the natural world in their lives.

Taking my own advice, I went outside on Friday to find a patch of earth not covered with snow, and I sat in an aspen grove. I stared up through bare treetops at a blazing royal blue sky. Behind me, the sun appeared between wavering clouds. That familiar sense of calm that can’t be replicated anywhere enveloped me, almost immediately. How had I gone so long without doing this? My breathing slowed. Ravens cawed. I forgot the cold and listened to the wind blowing thickly through the surrounding forest. Gratefully I re-realized, firsthand, how profound an impact this simple exercise has, and how essential it is for the youth of today.

–Jessie Tierney

For some fun and interesting sites where you can learn more about aspen and its uses, visit The Quaking Aspen and Biogeography of Quaking Aspen.

Posted in Benefits of Summer Camp, Children and Nature, Education, Nature Activity, Outdoor Education | 13 Comments »

Snow Storm Fun

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

With the abundance of snow this weekend, we thought we would share some good activities to get the kids or the whole family outside to enjoy the fun and beauty of the wintry natural world. Enjoy!

(Excerpted from 101 Nature Activities—a Sanborn Western Camps guide of great activities to get kids playing in the outdoors.)

62. Snowflake Capture: You can make “snowflake impressions” by catching snowflakes on cold glass sprayed with cold hair spray, and then view the results under a magnifying glass.

63. Winter Scavenger Hunt:
•seven different colors
•something that is red
•something that is brown
•something that is very old
•a track? Who do you think made it
•a hole dug by an animal? Why do you think it dug the hole?
•a tunnel in the snow
•a snowflake
•an icicle
•brown leaves still hanging from a tree
•signs of insects (rolled leaves, galls, leaf mines)
•an abandoned birds nest
•a squirrels nest of leaves?
•a hole in a tree where an animal might shelter from bad weather?
•five different kinds of leaves? (Don’t forget evergreens)
•three tree buds waiting for spring
•holes in tree Who made them woodpeckers, insects, someone else?

64. Sugar Snow: A tradition that dates back over 200 years this is a fun way to create a winter treat. For detailed directions go to www.massmaple.org.

65. Winter Nature Sketchbook/Journal : Buy an inexpensive artist’s sketch pad or book and begin a winter nature diary. Each time you take a walk, observe something up close in nature. Draw the item, then write down descriptive details and date the entry. Continue observations and entries throughout theyear as seasons and locations change. This is especially fun if you visit the same area year after year you can compare your observations over time.

66. Icicle Hunt: Take a hike to look for icicles. How many can you find? Where are they located? Look at them up close. Why are some longer than others?

67. Winter Time Zoo: Take a hike through the snow to look for tracks. Then have children make snow sculptures of the animals whose tracks they saw.

68. Snow Tag: Just like any tag game snow tag can have lots of variations. (Especially this weekend…your backyard snow Superbowl might be the game of the season!)

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Posted in Children and Nature, Fun Activities, Nature Activity, Parenting | 8 Comments »

A Fun Day Outside

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
I was reading the Outdoor Bloggers Summit a couple of weeks ago and saw an OBS challenge was starting February 1. The challenge sounded easy enough: The Challenge will be called “How to Get Everyone to Play Outdoors”. To participate in the challenge, all you have to do is write a post about how to get people to play outdoors. And it was very much inline with what we try to accomplish with the Sanborn blog.
Here we are now at the week of February 1. Where to start with this topic? We have posted 9 times about nature activities, 4 about camp activities, 5 children activities, 15 children and nature, 8 outdoor education, 3 outdoor play movement, and the list goes on. Reading our archives is a good place to start, but it is much more fun
We are devoting this week to the OBS challenge. Check back each day for personal stories about being outdoors, activities to do with your children outside, and the benefits of being outside.
Just a quick story to kick off the week:
I went riding with a friend this weekend on a mission – check for fence to repair and look for a couple of hiding horses. I wasn’t looking forward to fixing fence on a Saturday; however, it was a beautiful day and I always love to ride. It turned out to be one of my best weekend days in a few weeks.
I can’t even count the number of times I have taken that trail, but it was different this time. The snow was still new enough that we saw quite a few tracks – rabbit, jackrabbit, coyote, bird, mouse, and a porcupine. It is quite entertaining making up stories about where the tracks are coming from and going. I found animals in the few scattered clouds. The sun was bright and just made us happy. While we both typically have a lot to say, we were very happy riding in the peace of the outdoors, enjoying the beauty that is Colorado.
The work was easy, the company great, and most importantly it helped me appreciate the wonderful place we live.
What have you done outside recently?

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Posted in Nature Activity, Nature Stories, Outdoor Education | 4 Comments »

Raven Raindrops

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

This morning, I was feeling extra cabin-feverish, but didn’t have the time to go on a full on hike before heading off to work.  Instead of shrugging my shoulders and pushing the urge out of my mind, I decided that rather than starting the car and heading back inside until it warmed up, I would take a short walk down the road in front of my cabin.

I headed toward Pike’s Peak, crunching through the snow.  Enormous black ravens circled over my head ominously.  They squawked, “CAAW! CAAW!” an ugly sound, I thought, from an ugly bird.  So much for my peaceful three-minute hike.  I reached a patch of sunlight and stood facing it, absorbing the warmth.  “CAAW!  CAAW!”  I tried to block the sounds out of my mind.  But then, I heard another sound.  It was familiar, yet not quite something I’d heard before.  It came from above me, like a raindrop, the dripping sound of water into a small pool, but amplified.  I scanned the trees.  It was the raven.

Amazed, I listened.  There it was again.  “Ker-PLOP!”  It was incredible.

I have since searched the National Geographic and Audubon Society websites and the only scientific proof I can find regarding the capability for a Raven to produce this sound is that ravens can vocalize “a sharp, metallic tock.”  Ravens, I learned, are able to learn sounds–even the human voice.  I suspect that this particular vocalist must have had an affinity for the sound of raindrops.

My point is that a short, three minute hike truly fed me.  I was inspired by this species of bird I’d so erroneously dismissed before.  I was in a better mood on my drive to work.  And it only took three minutes.

It’s something that any of us could do, really, with the kids before loading them into the car or on our own down the street in front of the house (there’s plenty of nature to be found in a subdivision, too!).  Too often we get into the mentality of all-or-nothing: if we were to commit to hiking once a week, it’d have to be a substantial distance to a substantial vista in order to be worth the trouble.  Not true.  Creating a small habit that only last for three minutes, one morning per week is absolutely better than not doing it at all.  The secret is approaching it with an attitude of openness, of wonder.  This attitude is something we can practice every day, in any climate, even in the mundane moments of driving the kids to school or walking outside instead of sitting in the break room for lunch.

So I would pose a challenge to all of us: Take three minutes out of one weekday to engage with the outdoors in some small way.  Give it the opportunity to become a habit.  Who knows what wonders you’ll find singing just outside your window!

–Jessie Tierney

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Posted in Children and Nature, Fun Activities, Nature Activity, Nature Stories, Parenting | No Comments »

Once In A Blue Moon

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

We first published this January 8.

A blue moon occurs when a calendar month has two full moons with in it. This will happen about once every two-and-a half years.

I had the opportunity this New Years Eve to ski under the light of the blue moon with friends. As it cast shadows onto the snow, making it glisten and glitter you couldn’t help but slow down look around in awe trying to capture the scenic landscape with a mental snapshot. It was a rather cold night, like the ones many of us are experiencing this winter, and the light danced through the ice crystals that were hanging in the air. The trees were heavy with snow and it truly looked like a winter wonderland.

Prior to driving up the pass and strapping on our skis we almost talked ourselves out of it because of the cold, but no one wanted to be the person to make that call so we went ahead and headed up. It was an amazing way to remind myself to take advantage of the season and to enjoy the stark beauty of winter.

Camp is amazingly beautiful this time of year. No matter where you are don’t be afraid to bundle up and get outside.

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Posted in Fun Activities, Nature Activity, Nature Stories | No Comments »