Happy Autumn! We are currently in the middle of “Our Feathered Friends” class and are having a lot of fun learning about and looking for birds! It’s a great time of year to learn about birds as we start seeing some birds migrate south.

Our last class of 2009 will be “Green Giants” at Spring Lake, starting 10/21 and running through 11/11. This class is full but if you are interested in getting on the waiting list (I do get cancellations sometimes), please contact me at 707-333-1331 or stephanie@naturetots.com. This month I am also already thinking about what classes I will schedule next Spring, so if you have any requests for certain days of the week, topics, or locations, please contact me!

Last but definitely not least, I am very excited to introduce a new person to Nature Tots who is currently volunteering and may possibly teach some classes herself in the Spring! Her name is Samantha Jagoda, and she is a recent graduate from Sonoma State University, with a major in Environmental Studies, Outdoor Leadership, and a minor in Geology. Among other things, Samantha is certified in wilderness first aide and as a first responder, she recently was involved in the Earth Explore organization in Wyoming, worked for the Outdoor Resource Center in Rohnert Park, worked with children as a Teacher’s Aide for Cross and Crown Lutheran School in Rohnert Park, and acted as a camp counselor, leading young students on hikes in the outdoors at Westminster Woods in Occidental. Welcome Samantha!

Thanks, and hope to see you outdoors!

Stephanie Derammelaere

This idea comes from September’s issue of Family Fun magazine and I think it’s a perfect way to celebrate Autumn with your toddler or preschooler. The craft is called a “printed-palm tree” (palm as in hand, not a tropical palm tree). First have your child paint his or her palm and wrist with brown tempera, then press them on a piece of paper to make a print. For easier cleanup, add one tablespoon of dish soap for each 1/3 cup of paint. While the tree is drying, your child can add red fingerprint apples. Have him or her squeeze white glue over the branches and under the tree, then sprinkle on torn-up, colorful leaves and blades of grass gathered from a nature walk. Allow the collage to dry completely before hanging.

I also did a few other related crafts with my children recently that would be great Autumn crafts…

In teaching my daughter the letter L, she colored in a large letter L I drew on a piece of construction paper, and then she glued on dried leaves that we had found (to remind her that the L makes the sound as in leaf). I then cut the L out and we glued it onto another piece of construction paper.

Also, my son had gathered a whole bag full of acacia tree seed pods that I wasn’t quite sure what to do with. So, I had him color a picture of a tree and we glued the seed pods onto the tree. It turned out to be a fun craft!

A lot of children today are familiar with the slogan “reduce, reuse, recycle” – I’ve heard it many times in children’s songs and programs like Bob the Builder. Besides just knowing the phrase however, it is more important for children to really understand what this means and how to implement the idea.

One idea I loved involving the “reduce” part of the equation comes from my friend Sally Baldwin, who came up with a creative idea for party favors for her 4-year old daughter’s birthday party. You have to admit, some party favors are full  of items that kids either don’t really use, or that they play with for 5 minutes before they’re discarded. For her daughter’s friends, Sally burned “party mix” CD’s with favorite children’s songs that her daughter helped pick out. Then she made her own play dough (which her daughter helped with) making it extra fun by adding sparkles to the dough! She put clumps of the play dough in individual-sized baggies for each child. Both of these items can be used over and over again and brought continual enjoyment to my children. Not only did she avoid buying a bunch of stuff destined for landfill, but her daughter also got to participate in making thoughtful gifts for her friends.