Happy November! We’re winding down our last session of this year – the Senses – and we’ve had a lot of fun smelling, touching, seeing, and hearing the world around us. As I was telling one Mom at the last class, it’s a nice reminder for us grown-ups as well to use all our senses when we go on a walk! Sometimes we get wrapped up in our own thinking that we forget to enjoy the world around us. 

A couple people forwarded me an interesting article this month that I would like to share: SF Gate article. The article is about the importance of outdoor education and many of the ideas cited in the article is what prompted me to start Nature Tots in the first place.

In this month of giving thanks I’d like to give special thanks to everyone who has been so supportive and helpful in this first year that I have started this venture. We went from 0 to over 70 people on our mailing list within a couple months and growing every day! If you know someone who you think would be interested in getting on the mailing list and receiving the newsletter on a monthly basis, feel free to forward it on or pass on their email and I will add them to the list (with their permission). Hope you have a happy Thanksgiving and hope to see you outdoors!

Stephanie Derammelaere

Make a pinecone turkey! Find a squat pinecone and twist yellow pipe cleaners through the cones and bend them into legs and feet. Glue tiny circles of felt for eyes (you can first glue googly eyes on the felt if you wish), and snip pieces of red felt for the wattles.

You could also trace your child’s hand on a piece of paper so the thumb looks like the head of a turkey and the other four fingers look like the feathers. But instead of stopping there, take a large pinecone apart and use the individual pieces to glue on to make the turkey’s feathers.

Pinecones and acorns can also be put together in all kinds of configurations to make cute woodland people and critters. Add pipe cleaners for arms, pom poms for noses, real feathers to make little birds, googly eyes, and the tops of acorns make great little hats!

By now most people know that the best answer to “paper or plastic?” is “Neither – I brought my own.” Simply bringing your own bags to the store is a great example for your kids. You could go one step further by explaining to your children WHY you are carting those bags around with you and get them involved by designating one bag just for them. Let them pick one of the bags to be responsible for which they can help fill and carry, if not too heavy. Young children always like to be involved with what you’re doing.

Also, don’t stop at the grocery store. Keep a bag or two handy in the car so you’re prepared if you run into the drugstore, convenience store, toy store, office supply store, etc.