Let's Get Outside

• Jump Rope - Why How Games

• Hopscotch - Set up/Rules Variations

• Mother May I - Video Rules/Variations

• Red light/Green light - Rules/setup

• Four Square - Rules Video

• Other Activities for the Driveway

Driveway Games 4/27/20

One of the easiest and often cleanest outdoor things to do is to play games on the driveway. From splashing in puddles to chalk art , bike riding to roller blading (All described activities below), the driveway is a great place to take up some quick, relatively clean, and always fun outdoor activities. If it is big enough, you can even invite the neighbors and hang out with appropriate social distancing.

Outdoor Photography 4/24/20

Inside of every cell phone is a fun and educational tool - a camera. We have found a great many things to do over the past few weeks with cameras outside. Here are some examples of up close photography. Amazing how different everything looks, the closer you get.

• Some basics on cell phone camera use

• Simple Overview - How it works

• History of Camera

• Sources of Light Types of Light

• Breaking up Light - Rainbows

• Make your own Go-Kart - No power

• Make your own Go-Kart - W/ Power

• Science of Wheels

• Let's Get Rolling for kids

• Safety Equipment - getting on wheels

• Sky - Look at her mad skills

Skateboard/Roller Blade/Roller Skate/Scooters/Go Carts 4/20/20

There are a lot of activities to do outside on wheels. From Bike Riding to Roller Skating to creating a go-cart, every kid (and many adults) love to get on wheels and go. Don't forget your helmet, adult supervision and have a lot of fun.

STEAM Fires+Bubbles 4/14/20

Did you know that most children have no idea how magnifying glasses or bubbles work? Science at home is as easy as looking around your house, finding interesting objects and having kids hypothesize about how they are made, how they work, and how the items can be put to use by people. They will have fun while learning.

Safety Note: Many household items do pose some risk, so please be sure to have an adult closely monitor what the children are experimenting with.

• Magnifying Glass: for HS 4-8 Pre-3

• Building a fire with magnifiers

• Read: To Build a Fire by Jack London

• Bubble Science: Basics

• Big Bubbles and Complex Bubbles

• Bubble Art

• Lots of fun ideas for science at home

• Charlie experimenting with magnifying glass and both kids with bubble art.

• Lots of ideas and samples

• Variation - Treasure Hunt

Make it even more fun and STEAMesque by adding cameras, video, needing to solve problems or puzzles, build something, etc. Truly the sky is the limit. You can even have friends with the same list compete from their homes, yards, and woods.

Scavenger Hunt 4/11-4/12/20

Building a scavenger hunt can be a lot of fun. Of course their are hunts that others have created or you can create one specific to your yard or other space. It is definitely a good indoor activity as well, but we did ours outside, one on Saturday and an Easter version on Sunday.

• Charlie's scavenger hunts

• A pic of the hunt

Fishing 4/7/20

Fishing is one of the oldest outdoor past-times. From the earliest days of mankind, we have sketched, written stories, told tall tales, and of course actually fished.

• Cant Get to a Pond/Stream, Draw, Print and Color Some Fish

• Some Funny Tall Tale Fishing Cartoons

• Fishing Rules and Licenses

• Super Simple Basics of Setting Up

• NH Fishing Guide - Includes NH Locations and Fish ID

• Yet Another Go Pro Opportunity

• Fishing is For Everyone

• Dissecting a Fish - HS Bio Students

• Learn all about this "Pink" moon

• Phases of the Moon

• The moon explained - video

• A little on stars and constellations

• How does a Telescope work?

• Solar System Song

• Do wolves really howl at the moon?

Super "Pink" Moon + Star Gazing 4/6-4/10

Though the Moon is full on 8 April, the best time to view it is actually a few days before or after. Also, it will not actually be pink, it is named this after the spring blossom of pink phlox flowers that usually accompanies April’s full moon in the US

Time to Plant Some Flowers & Early Veggies - 4/1/20

As many of you know, planting veggies and flowers can be quite exciting to children (not to mention teens and adults). Now that we are finally in April, it is time to get some early plants going if you would like to avoid buying them a month or so from now. Some early varieties include, hanging plants, lettuce, kale, broccoli, radish, and peas. The good news is that this can be done completely outside (avoid the mess indoors) with absolutely free materials (except the seeds). We used egg carton, toilet paper/paper towel rolls, and newspaper to create our starter trays. the soil is from the yard.

• Simple Household Items as Starter Pots

• Seeds to Plants

• Planting Calendar for Zone 5

• Make your Own Variety - Cross Pollinating

Build a House for Birds - 3/31/20

While this type of thing isn't for everyone, not to mention it is partially inside work, it is a fun activity and if done right can provide many hours of learning while also having some fun. Everything from measuring and fractions to geometry and problem solving, working with wood can be a fun learning experience for kids and doesn't require much money or many tools. In our project, Charlie planned the design of the house from his own imagination, then we used wood scraps I had under the bench, wood glue, some random screws I had from another project (nails would have been fine) and we used hand tools (hammer, screw driver, saw) and power tools so he could experience both, but hand tools would have been fine. For the outside portion, we cut down a tree that was pretty dead already for the post, dug a hole and then mounted the house using a piece of scrap plywood and left over screws. The project took several days as we used some left over old paint (on the outside only) and it had to dry between coats. Below are some links that might be helpful.

• Very Simple Birdhouse Design

• Lots of Design Ideas

Additional Wildlife Ideas

While out there looking for wood frogs, check out some other cool outdoor and woodsy activities:

• Search for silver maples

• Search for wintergreen (this stuff smells awesome)

• Learn about the trees you might see

• Learn about habitats you might see

• Learn about animals you might see

• How does a tree grow?

• Learn more about frogs

• 50 great things - Some not appropriate for our region or time of year, but all great to do at some point

• A lot of other great ideas before, during and after a nature walk.

Bike Rides - 3/26/20

Do you have bikes at the house? If yes, it is time to get them out, pump up the tires, and dust off the helmets. Biking is one of the best forms of exercise their is and it takes you to many exciting and beautiful locations, many of them just up the road and around the bend from where you live.

• Bike Safety

• You can travel to bike some cool places in NH

• Amazing bike videos from Highland

• How come my bike doesn't tip over?

• History of the bicycle

• Can you draw a bicycle?