July 2010 Archives - 2/0 - The Grass Stain Guru | The Grass Stain Guru

Monthly Archives: July 2010

Geocaching in Nature

July 19, 2010

Alfred, geocaching master

TGSG Note: I am tickled to have Alfred stop by TGSG to sing the praises of geocaching! See ya outside ~ The Grass Stain Guru

Hi, my name is Alfred and I want to tell you about geocaching. Geocaching is like a scavenger hunt. You use the geocaching website to find out the nearest geocaches to you. The website gives you a map, directions to the geocache, a description of the geocache – like if it is a container or a special place, what is in it or what to look for, and a few extra hints.

Then you have to find where it is hidden by using a special map that tells you how close you are to the geocache. If you have an iPhone, you can get something that tells you where you can go geocaching. We also use a GPS to go geocaching. But be careful you may not be able to go straight to the geocache! The other day when we were camping we were looking for an earthcache, but if we had walked straight like the GPS told us to, we would have fallen off a cliff!!! We had to be careful and walk slowly on the path around the lake to find a big white wall. It was a special kind of geocache called an earthcache. That means that there was no container, but the white wall was huge and made up of chalk called dimeatshes [diatomaceous] earth. Dimeatshes earth is made up of skeletons of little bugs.

That same day we went to discover another earthcache called Burney Falls waterfall. The water was cold and Burney Falls had tons of water coming out of cracks from lava. When the waterfall hit the ground the mist had a lot of colors like green and blue. I learned a lot about Burney Falls because of geocaching.

Geocaching is like a gift. I think other families should go geocaching so that they kind find a gift like Burney Falls!

Guest blogger bio: Alfred is Head Adventurist for Kid Adventures and really loves geocaching. He is 8 years old and going on to 4^th grade.

By Bethe | Posted in Activities, Guest Posts, nature | Tagged Activities, children, family fun, Grass Stain Guru, kids, nature, outdoors, parent, play | Comments (34)

Mystery Critter #52

July 17, 2010

Ahoy, nature detectives! In honor of summer, we’re off to the water to find this week’s Mystery Critter.

So put on your thinking caps and let’s get to it!

CRITTER CLUES:

I make my home in inland waters, including bays & freshwater rivers
I range in color from black to white
My diet consists of fish, crab and squid (Yum!)
Like a bat, I use echolocation to find my food

So, what am I?

Make your guess then go to eNature for the answer and more interesting facts.

Did you get it right?

If not, no worries. You will have another chance next week!

Even if you can’t make it to the water’s edge any time soon, there are amazing wild wonders awaiting you. So, unplug and go spend some time outdoors. It’s good for mind, body and soul.

And don’t forget! Join the Wildobs community and share your wild adventures with the world.

See ya outside! ~ The Grass Stain Guru

photo credit: TheNickster

By Bethe | Posted in Activities, nature | Tagged Activities, children, family fun, Grass Stain Guru, kids, Mystery Critter, nature, parent, play, wildlife, wildobs | Comments (12)

Kids and Nature, Enliven Your Life

July 14, 2010

Sharing nature with children is a wonderful way to get them excited about the wonders of wildlife, but is also one of the biggest blessings you can have in your own life.

My friend Karyl at Native Plant Wildlife Gardening describes it this way:

Today I watched a neighbor’s kids. We made toad houses and planted sunflowers and it was a treat for me. My garden does not look like much – it is too young yet but to see a habitat garden through the eyes of a child makes it amazing. There is a lot of life going on in my backyard, I’m just too used to it. Everything was WOOOOOOWWWW! to them. You know what, it is pretty WOW.

Yesterday I had a very important date–with my 4 year old neighbor Libby and her 2 year old sister Penny (and their mom, too).

They knew that I had seen the Eagles who for the first time ever, are nesting at John Heinz NWR, which is located in the shadow of the Philadelphia Airport. Their Pappy had also seen these Eagles, and they wanted very much to see them, too.

I packed up a pair of Bushnell 8 x 25 binoculars (perfect size for Libby’s little hands), an 8 x 25 monocular for Penny, and my spare binoculars for Mom and off we went on our grand adventure.

I was hoping that some Great Blue Herons would be wading near the bridge because large birds that stand relatively still are excellent for young children. We scoped out the bridge, but…..no Herons.

But Libby and Penny were unconcerned. We heard a big fish splash in the water, and it was so much fun to keep saying “SPLASH!”

We found a life size carving of a Bald Eagle and we spread our arms out to try to reach the tips of its wings, but we couldn’t because Eagles have verrrry biiig wings.

We made wishes on Dandelion seed heads, and got so silly laughing at the seeds flying everywhere.

We went down the “secret passageways” in the woods and amused ourselves by stomping across the little bridge to scare away the trolls.

It made us very happy to see the Mommy and Daddy Tree Swallows sitting together on top of their houses.

We giggled every time the Canada Geese said “honkhonkhonkhonkhonk” and we practiced saying that, too.

And we got to run, REALLY fast along the pathways.

We never did see the Eagle, but we sure did have fun!

How do you share nature with the kids in your life?

Guest blogger bio: My friend Carole Brown is a great writer, educator and photographer. Her site, Ecosystem Gardening is dedicated to teaching you to garden sustainably, conserve natural resources, and create welcoming wildlife habitat in your garden so that you will attract more birds, butterflies, pollinators, and other wildlife. You can follow Carole on Twitter @CB4Wildlife.