I recently read an article in the current issue of Brainchild Magazine entitled, "Guilt Trip Into the Woods," which questions the current slew of literature against technology and for more time spent in nature for children. In the article Martha Nichols makes a claim for technology, and discounts the idea that kids are withering away indoors as a result of it. And, for the most part, I agree.

Our kids hardly watch any television, maybe a half an hour a day, if that. When the weather is warm we spend a lot of time outdoors, playing, exploring, walking. But if we find a pine cone and start talking about deciduous plants I might come across an answer I don't know. And do you know what we do then? We head inside and check Wiki. Today Erika asked me, out of the blue, about the very first person on Earth. This lead to a discussion of Evolution, and straight to the computer where she could read about it, look at pictures to help her visualize, and discover more questions. And the next time we head to the library you can be sure she will check out a book about Evolution, or how the Earth was formed, and read them under a tree while her sister plays in the sandbox.

I cannot ignore the role that technology will play in my children's future, that isn't helpful to them. Erika is showing a lot of interest in the internet and computers in general, so I am going to nurture that interest. Audrey is much more interested in physical activity and I nurture that too. There shouldn't be so much guilt associated with technology- if used right, it can be a great aide to parents. Should you sit your kids in front of the television and computer games for hours on end? I would have to say no. But have you checked out Wikipedia lately? There's so much to learn out there!

Fun Brain has tons of learning games. Even the seemingly silly games were teaching Erika about gravity and angles.

I found Knee Bouncers on Ohdeedoh a while ago and sometimes Audrey likes to participate in computer time.

Erika also loves, loves, loves to fly around on Google Earth. It was very popular when she was obsessed with Hawaii and learning about how volcanoes formed the islands.

What are your kid's favorite non nature activities? Where do they learn online?

Fairy Houses, by Tracy Kane, has been our latest inspiration. This book is about a little girl who makes a fantastic fairy house in the woods and finds herself immersed in nature in the process. Last year we made a small fairy house using a large pot turned on it's side and buried under the dirt a little. We filled it with little trinkets and rocks and flowers. This book sets some rules for building a proper fairy house:

1. Fairy Houses should look so natural they are almost hidden. A location close to the ground is best.

2. You should use only natural materials. Dry grasses, leaves, sticks, pebbles and pinecones are just a few examples of materials to choose.

3. Be careful not to use or disturb any of nature's materials that are still living, especially flowers, ferns, mosses and lichen. Fairies do not like to disturb or destroy anything that is growing in nature.

Erika studied this book many times and we discussed what the rules meant at length. Then we went an a walk around the neighborhood and collected materials to build with. I ended up doing a lot of the work on this house because Erika's fingers, however small, were not quite steady enough for this line of work. She directed, collected, revised, and decorated, and I built the little house much as one plays the final rounds of Jenga. I can see already that this will be a work in progress from tomorrow until snow falls again. As you can see from the pictures, it's already been through a few remodels.



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"Of you desire happiness, you should seek the causes that give rise to it, and if you don't desire suffering, then what you should do is to ensure that the causes and conditions that would give rise to it no longer arise."
-The Dalai Llama



The subtitle to this book, "A Handbook for Living", intrigued me, so I checked it out. What I love about the wisdom of the Dalai Lama is that it is so simple. It almost seems too simple. The first few chapters are devoted to the idea that the ultimate goal in any life is, or should be, happiness. Simple, right? Who doesn't want to be happy? And yet when I began to examine my life, there were so many things standing in the way of pure happiness, and they could all be changed by my attitude, actions, words. And so began the cleansing of this home.

I don't know where I got this need to collect stuff and hold on to things that are useless and unsentimental. I have this fear of wastefulness that would better fit a war survivor or someone who had gone through the Great Depression. I hate waste. But when the kids were at their grandparents for the night I went through and cleared out closets, toys baskets, rooms. I believe in the Montessori approach to learning and play: simple is better, less is more. But you would never know it to look at my home. I felt stressed because the house always seemed messy, stressed because my ideals weren't in line with my reality, stressed because there was just too much stuff. And now that stress is slowly lifting. What in your life is standing in the way of your happiness? And what can you do to change it?

I had a chance to go the Library alone this week! I found a ton of good reading for myself, but also a few things that Erika was pretty interested it. First, I got The Illustrated Book of Myths, retold by Neil Philip, which is full of Myths from all over the world. This book is not written for four year olds, so a lot of it went over Erika's head, but she really loved how fantastic all the stories were. People were being born of animals and of mud. Man was made again and again in so many ways with so much drama. It was right up her alley.



I also checked out Greek Gods and Goddesses by Gereldine McCaughrean. In the introduction McCaughrean writes, "the Gods... were marvelous. They ate magic food, covered astounding distances, wielded wonderful weapons, heard and answered whispered prayers, worked amazing magic." What four year old wouldn't love that?!



To balance out the heavy reading, I also checked out A Birthday Present for Mama by Nicole Lorian and Eloise and the Snowman by Lisa McLatchy. Erika really likes the Eloise books at the moment and spent a long time reading and re-reading that one. Then she ran off to find Audrey so she could pretend to be her nanny.

Erika found a few things from this book that she wanted to make today and what started out as one project turned into three. The first is a very loose interpretation of Huichol Yarn Art. The Huichols of Northwest Mexico make yarn bowls that tell stories by pressing yarn into warmed beeswax. The book suggested gluing yarn on the inside and outside of a paper bowl. We didn't have a paper bowl, so we used a cardboard coffee canister that we cut to the size we wanted. It was too hard for Erika to get the yard to twirl around in the outside, so we only did the outside. It was a mess while we worked on it, but the glue dried totally invisible. I'm on the lookout for some beeswax though....



Next we made a worry doll from Central America. Erika was really interested in the idea behind these dolls: You tell your worry to the doll and put her under your pillow. The worry doll takes your worries away. I'm curious what worries the doll heard tonight. We used a clothes pin and some of the fabric that we got from Art and Scraps last week. Erika chose the fabric, helped cut it, applied glue, and drew the face. This would have been hard for her to do on her own, but she loved the result.





The final project was a pouch, which she desperately wanted, but I had to do most of the work. This is a good project to prepare ahead of time. We cut and folded some felt and I poked holes in it with a screwdriver (know of a better way?) Erika sewed it with me guiding the way. She chose the beads and sewed them on, but I had to tie everything off. She kept her worry doll in this all day and wore it around her neck. The inspiration was a Lakota-Sioux medicine bag, which are made of animal skin.



The great thing about these projects was learning and talking about the people and cultures that inspired our work.

This book, by Eileen Spinelli, is perfect for this time of year. "Will spring ever come?" asks the little mouse in the story, and his mother reassures him that spring will in fact come. But, she also reminds him of all the great things about winter. Things that are easy to forget when it's March and there is still a foot of snow outside.

Erika liked it, but I loved it. Sometimes "children's books" can offer a lot to adults, too. "Now is the blessing. Now is the time to love. Now is the time to be," says wise Mama Mouse at the end. A well needed reminder to live in the moment instead of in the moments to come.