Book Club: Nature's Playground

This is one of Henry's favorite books. It's a book designed for parents, but the pictures are exceptionally beautiful. Henry will sit by himself, flipping through the pages, muttering to himself about the "nail" (snail), trees, butterflies and (gasp) kids in their boots.

Written by Fiona Danks and Jo Schofield, they share a great love of the outdoors with their children and, through their helpful hints and clever activities, inspire other parents to do the same with their own children. Organized by the seasons, you can find a variety of craft projects and
practical ideas to help you explore the great outdoors.

With crafts like corn dollies, twig sculptures, forest mobiles, activities like natural painting, scavenger hunts, stop and listen games, and woody bug hunts, I really believe this book is a great addition to any family's library.

If you're interested, you can purchase it at our Amazon E-Store.

Book Club: Last Child in the Woods

Most of us have heard someone mention Richard Louv's book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, at some time or another. It's an important text that outlines the crucial role that nature plays in the lives of children.  Mr. Louv coined the term "nature-deficit disorder"to describe the consequence of children losing regular contact with nature (which helps to promote physical and emotional health for that matter). He sees this as a disorder of society and our modern technologies as contributing to the decline of our contact with nature.

But we don't have to take big steps to introduce nature in our children's lives, we just need to get outside-regularly. A park, a patch of dirt, some local countryside. It's about engaging our children with what matters for their health and well-being and dis-connecting (even if for 30 minutes a day) to the internet and mobile.

And it's not just good for our children, it's good for us adults as well.

book club: my green day

I picked up 'My Green Day: 10 green things that I can do today' at our local bookstore for Henry's Easter basket. By Melanie Walsh, it's an adorable book full of little green tips for the kiddies. Henry has other eco- books about animals and plants, but this our first very practical guide for kids to learn to create a greener world. (As a result of this information, he learned to say compost this weekend. :) What we didn't consider was that he would then become obsessed with the compost bin. Oops. I guess it's good he is so inquisitive?!)


The book follows a day from morning to night; kids learn why it is best to use free range eggs and compost the shells, hang clothes to dry, make crafts from old things, play in the park, etc. The message is a great one - although much too sophisticated for my 18 month old. (Yes, the book is aimed at 3+ years.) Henry LOVES the illustrations though - they are gorgeous and completely worth the book until he gets old enough for the actual content.


The book is made from 100% recycled materials. Would have been cool to see it printed with soy ink, but don't know how that would last or look. At £10.99, it's not the cheapest book, but a great investment for your child's library.


Highly recommend it - it is inspiring enough to try to for a (very) green day myself. :)