Let's Navigate! How-To Make an Outdoor Compass: Outdoor Hour Challenge

The girls and I have been spending as much time as possible out of doors.  This is a direct benefit of living in Texas during the end of winter and blossoming of Spring.  Allergies aside, we have been exploring and nature studying to our hearts content beginning our spring break.

Here is a quick activity that we enjoyed this week during Nature Study: Make an outdoor stick compass.

This is the Bug's outdoor compass.  She actually had to move her rocks around to the right position.  But that was only after I took the picture, of course.

1.  Use a the short stick that you found (already off the tree, no pulling off the tree directly) and push directly into the ground.

2.  Now push the stick toward the sun, leaving it at a slight angle.  The stick should not have any shadow.  Now, you wait . . .

3.  When your stick has projected a shadow of approximately 6 inches long or more, then you know that the shadow is pointing east directly from the stick.
  
4.  Now you can use rocks, sticks to make a line at right angles across the shadow, making north and south.  We painted our rocks, but chalk would work too.

HERE ARE SOME MORE OUTDOOR COMPASSES THAT WE LIKED:

PHOTO CREDIT via Compfight.com cc

PHOTO CREDIT via Compfight.com cc

PHOTO CREDIT via Compfight.com cc

What are you enjoying in your nature study?

Joyfully Learning with You,

The Joyful Socks Mom 

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• Nature Study: Take a Hike! with Poetry and Scriptures
• Home Education: Freebie Friday - Nature Study

Natural Play: Re-Purposed Play-set Woodlands

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We have hit some Yard Sales recently and have been coming away with a few essentials (okay, and probably a few totally NON-essentials) to finish some projects in our Natural Play area.  We decided that a Woodland theme would be a fun and easy addition to our collection.  Here is what we re-purposed from around the house:

• Big Daddy (the Bug's amazing daddy) cut some more natural logs for us.  He cut a nice large slice and a few smaller disks.  We were in charge of sanding, which is a great handy work item for any 8 year old . . . even the prim and proper girly kind!
• We inherited some wooden animals and landscape crafting items from our lovely next-door neighbor, who is retired and trying to lighten her load of crafts.  Maybe I should consider that?  NO WAY! We received: the owl, the rabbit, the goose-looking animal{please comment if you have any clue what strange avian-type animal this is, we like to be in the know} , the miniature toadstools and the miniature nest.
• Searched out and found a couple of pine cones for our owl to perch on, from our local obliging park.  (I do clip the sharp points off with the garden sheers before handing them over for playtime - just to clarify)   ; )
• I also re-purposed a material gift bag from Hanukkah to hold it all nice and tight.

Here are the things we added from the "outside" sources:

• Found a ton of old silk leaves and fall-like flowers to add to our landscape $0.75 @ Resale shop.
• Bag of green decorating gems. $1.00 @ Dollar Tree
• Purchased another bag of decorator rocks for good measure.  Solid! @ $1.00 Dollar Tree
• Nice basket for storage. $1.00 @ Dollar Tree

Total for our Seaside Re-purposed Play-set?  $3.75 plus tax!
If anyone is keeping score (which I doubt) . . .  swish, nothing but net!  That's a record baby.

How are your Natural Play days going?  What is in your Natural Play baskets?  Leave your comments below to share in the creativity!

Happy Rowing All!

The Joyful Socks Mom 

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Frugal Living: Natural Play on a Dime!

As promised, we have completed filling the Bug's Natural Play area with fun and engaging toys that will keep her time filled with imaginative play and education.  Now, that might sound like a tall order, but it was much simpler than you would think.  I did not spend hours crafting.  I did not spend hundreds of dollars (you guys know me better than that, don't you?)  What I did do, was look at the resources we had on hand.  I took some time at thrift shops and yard sales to look for a few odds and ends.  We used my husband and his handy-dandy shop to fill a few requests from the Bug.  We set some ground rules for her new Natural Play area, and there you go.

I ended up only purchasing only a few separate items for her play area.  Total for the entire revamping of the Bug's toys?  $12 Total!  Natural Play without breaking the bank or breaking Mommy's back!

What's in the Natural Play baskets?  Clockwise from top:

• Tea Time basket - This is actually an older set that has been up on the shelf.  Since moving to the Natural Play area it has seen far more action.  We use this together at least two times each week for "Mommy and Me" teatime.
• Seaside basket - I spent a little extra funds on this basket.  I purchase a bag of nice shells at Big Lots for $6.00, adding to them with various shells we collected last summer at Galveston beach.
• Forest basket - I purchased some nice smooth rocks at the Dollar Tree . . . you guessed it, $1.00.  I had some feathers, pin cones (from the local park), some paper and fabric flowers already on hand from my craft supply cabinet.  The felt owl was a gift from Mr. Fix-It, one of my Co-op students.
• This is a partial shot of the Bug's exclusive Natural Play space.  It is actually a space that is part of our homeschool area in the living room.
• Food and Kitchen basket - This basket features a few items we already had around the house.  I would really like to add some wooden and felted foods to this basket, but that is for another time.  The Bug had a wooden pedestal and mortar which is perfect for mimicking kitchen action.  I gave her a salt shaker (full of salt but with a cotton ball stopper) left over from a sensory bucket we did in the Fall.  Then a few simple fun things like: a plastic apple, chopsticks, cinnamon sticks, small "mixing" basket and wooden sticks for mixing.
• Play "Silks" basket - Okay, this is where we did a bit of skimping.  I am not going to spend a ton of money on genuine play silks, there, I said it and it's out there.  Instead, we just went through Mommy and Great-Grandma's wide selection of handkerchiefs, bandannas, scarfs and head-coverings.  The Bug picked her favorites and we piled into a basket for her.  Done.  I like my way better than the more expensive play silk method, just saying.

What's in the Natural Play baskets?  Clockwise from top:

• Gnomes from the Bug's Woodland play basket.  We made these little cuties out of salt dough.  We used yarn and felt for hats.  We are currently working on dresses for for the little "gnome" sisters.  The big kids have been reading the Hobbit out loud.  I think she has been inspired to create many "shire" like play scenes using these as her hobbits.
• This is a little inspiration display that we created together.  It sits just above her play area.  The old photo is a picture of her daddy when he was a little boy with her grandfather (his daddy).
• Wood baskets: The Bug has several different wood block baskets.  Hey, her dad is a carpenter so this is an area of plenty!  He cut the round blocks out of natural wood and left the bark.  I don't know how he hollowed the wood, but she LOVES to use this in play.  I've seen it become a bird house, a gnome home, Bilbo Baggin's home, a casserole dish, a secret hiding place . . . and the list goes on.
• Wood figures from her Woodland play basket.
• Woodland play basket:  This is the basket that holds the hodgepodge of her woodland characters.
• This selection of woodland play came from all over.  The figures were gifts from friends over the years.  They are old ornaments that I took the hooks off of  and re-purposed them as woodland angels.  The little decorated drift wood was given to her by our neighbors, who are surrogate grandparents.  The wife used to craft these little items.  She gave a finished one to the Bug and she also inherited all the craft goodies that went into making these.  Nice!  
•  More Wood play baskets: Here are more blocks.  Yes, there is a basket full of old Jenga blocks that I got at a yard sale for $0.75.  They work great for all the many things she needs to build.  She doesn't seem to mind that they say Jenga on the side either.
• Accessory basket: This is where the Bug stores all the Salt Dough goodies that we made for her.  Plates, flatware, food, trees, toadstools, etc.  This only took an evening of family fun to create and everyone had fun chipping in.  Cost?  The salt, water, oil and flour that we already had on-hand.

So, there you have it.  Not exactly organic, but as natural as we are going to get on a tight-budget.  It has made for one happy little girl, which is part of the point!

Happy homeschooling,

aka The Joyful Socks Mom

www.TheMacRak.com

Where We're at:

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Natural Play: The Bug's Natural Play Space

We enjoy exploring the beautiful creation that God has surrounded us with.  This explains our constant need to Nature Study at homeschool and our tendency to lean toward camping for most of our family vacations, plus we're proud to Boy Scouts . . . okay, technically my hubby and son are Boy Scouts, I'm still just a lowly Webelos Den Leader and both of the girls are "honorary" Den Helpers.  Sorry, I digress.  

The Bug and I did some shopping and research not too long ago, and we both were excited by the Natural toy selections that we discovered.  We have been working on making her play area more like what we have seen around the internet, Etsy, craft fairs and the like, without spending any extra money on new toys.  We decided that we had plenty around the house that could be gathered and used, re-purposed or built from Dad's shop.  I will blog on the specifics on her Natural toys a bit later, until then here is a peek.

Here are some pictures of how we organized her play area to make it beautiful and still accessible.

 

The Bug's Nature Table:  She uses her nature table to display ideas she gets while exploring God's creation.

This is her current display, meant to display the current season.  She has a Snowman-shaped wood carving to reminisce of the lingering winter.  Displaying the correct season can be a bit difficult when you live in Texas - believe me, we don't have much more cool left this winter . . . well, we think, that could change.

This is her complete Natural toy selection.  We did it all with what we had on hand, or what we made with items on hand.  I will include her actual natural toy selections in a later post.

The Bug is an avid Reader-Writer learner.  I have filled baskets with books in her play area with non-fiction selections.  She gravitates to these on quieter days and rainy days.  This basket is filled with Fine Arts titles - Christian Art, Easy Woodworking  for Kids, Monet, Da Vinnci for Kids, Plays Around the Year, Eco-Art and Global Art.

I will post soon on how we fill each of her baskets with Natural toys for next-to-nothing!  I am also working on "themed" Natural Play-sets for the Bug.  I will post on these when I get them assembled and tested out.  I also wanted to make some Natural toys and Play-sets for the Doodle Bugs (my twin nieces).  I will keep you updated.

Happy Homeschooling!

Heather Mac

(a.k.a. Joyful Socks Mom) 


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Natural Playing & Crafting

Natural Play

We have slowly and steadily been attempting to decrease the amount of traditional toys that the Bug has been playing with at home.  You know, your garden variety selection from Wal-Mart or Toys-R-Us.  I have been wanting to increase the toys that help her mimic appropriate adult behaviors (dolls, babies, kitchen play, etc.), connect her with God's creation and help her to develop her imagination.  We have been looking for ways to add to her "nature-based" toy collection (made with materials that were made by God) or educational toys, without spending more money on actual toys.  Her daddy has been crafting some toys for her (I will post on that a bit later) in his wood shop with materials he already has on hand.  I looked for a solution in the kitchen to make her some goodies to go with the things he has been making.

We joined forces as a family to create some fun "salt dough" objects for her to use in her Natural Play area.  It was great fun, lots of family crafting time and we spent our time and talents to bring a little bit of joy to the Bug.

Plain ole' salt dough recipe: 4 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1 tsp. oil,  1 - 1 1/2 cups of warm water

Bake your salt dough at 200 degrees for 2 hours.

The girls had a good time mixing up the salt dough . . . perhaps a bit too much fun at times, as proof of all the flour that had to be swept up later.

 My husband took this pic to prove that I was having fun as well.  I do avow that I did not make as big a mess as my girls, Scout's honor.

Here is a picture of the end result.  A feast fit for a gnome, fairy or any one else who may be dining at the table of Bug's imagination.  

 Closer look.  Clockwise from top - Each place setting has a plate, bowl, fork, spoon and cup; super 3-layer "Dr. Seuss-like" cake; basket of veggies; French bread; chocolate cake with strawberries, vase with flowers, turkey with veggies; chocolate pie; cabbage and carrots; bowl of mashed potatoes and a blueberry pie!

 Here are some toadstools and trees that I crafted.  Mr. Mac had cut up a few logs for the Bug to use as trees, tables, chairs, etc.

We have almost finished our refashioning of the new Natural Play section of Bug's toys.  We are completing some final touches and I will post a bit later on how to create Natural Play on a "next to nothing" budget.

Until then . . . 

Happy Homeschooling!

Heather Mac

(a.k.a. Joyful Socks Mom) 

Thanks for reading our blog, our Random Act of Kindness "spring-board". Please take the time to bless us with your comments. Who are we? Take a peak here. http://www.themacrak.com/macfamily.aspx