Category: Field Trips

Three Car Games for Carsick Kids

posted by Gina

As a kid, my family drove to Tahoe every summer. That’s a long drive from Southern California, and we stopped roughly three times each way for me to throw up. Oh, the magic that is carsickness. Family car trips were rough on me, since everything that might entertain me – books, crayons, notebooks – was out of the question.  Especially in the backseat.

My friend Aliza and I just drove from North Carolina to New York, closing out a delightful mountain vacation. The drive is both lovely and long, and since we both have the carsick issue, there was very little reading, facebooking, texting, or any kind of looking anywhere but straight ahead.

So, for those of you with kids that suffer similarly, I present to you: The Car Games Aliza and I Played While Driving to New York That Were Actually Kind of Fun.

photo
Gina and Aliza leave North Carolina, counting cows.

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Finding Your Way: Maps, Compasses, and Treasure – Oh My!

posted by Gina

When I was a kid, there was no internet and there were no smartphones. The same is true for when I was a high school and a college student. The practical upshot of this meant that I was lost a lot of the time.

Turn right, then left. Second street over.

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Get Outside!

The grip of winter has left New York.

Mostly. It was kind of chilly yesterday.

BUT! The flowers are blooming, the cats are sneezing, and I can leave the apartment without 20 layers of clothing. Bliss!

Which gets me thinking about spring time, and the start of summer, and how those of us living in the cities can get that desperate craving to reconnect with something green. As I was scouting about these internets, continuing to put off the massive, massive research paper I have due next week, I found this nifty website. And you should scope them out.

To get you started, here’s a page I particularly liked, especially in light of needing to commune with trees again. Have you ever hugged a tree? For real? I did it in a college science class, and I will tell you, it was actually kind of amazing. Go hug one. And then adopt it. Then do some of this other stuff.

Happy Spring!

ENVIRO KIDS Games & Activities

Kids living in urban centers, or even suburbs, are often disconnected from the nature. Here are some activities you can do with kids with nature and our environment:

Outdoor activities for kids and parents

Adopt a Tree

While taking a walk or hiking, have your child to pick out a favorite tree in a  park or forest and “adopt” it. Essentially, your child will take on the role of being   the tree’s caretaker. Do bark rubbings with crayons and paper; leaf collection and pressing in the fall; and look for flowers and fruit in the summer. Each year, take pictures of your child standing beside the tree. You can even bring   along measuring tape to track the tree’s growth. Kids can also research the tree on the internet: where the tree is commonly found, usual life span, height, etc.

Clean Up the Earth

A good way to teach our children about taking care of our…

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Maybe the Best Book Ever

posted by Gina

You guys. Seriously. This is the most amazing, fabulous, wonderful, crazy-pants-happy-making thing I have ever read. Or read recently. How has no one told me about this book? How did it take me almost ten months to find out about it??

Fear not, those of you who have also been in the dark, I bring you the joy, the wonder, the THIS-IS-SO-AMAZINGNG-NESS of …

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library

lemon

Continue reading “Maybe the Best Book Ever”

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