February brings the rain,
Thaws the frozen lake again.
Sara Coleridge
Category: Celebrating
Candlemas Week | Exploring Nature With Children
It’s Candlemas Week in Exploring Nature With Children
Candlemas falls on Saturday, February 2nd and takes its name from the blessing of candles for use in church throughout the coming year, marking the presentation of the Holy Child in the Temple, where Simeon held Jesus and called him a ‘Light to the World’. In pre-Christian times February 1st was an important festival to celebrate the returning light.
Here are some links to help with your nature study.
- What is Candlemas?
- Presentation of the Lord, Candlemas, and Groundhog Day by Father Scott Winchel (video)
- Bright in winter’s depths: why the flawless flower of Candlemas is a joy forever
- The Snowdrop by Hans Christian Andersen
- How to make beeswax candles
Happy exploring!
Happy August!
“August brings the sheaves of corn,
Then the harvest home is borne.”
Sara Coleridge
Happy July!
“Hot July brings cooling showers,
Apricots and gillyflowers.”
Sara Coleridge
Happy Summer Solstice!
Happy exploring on this the longest day of the year!
Happy June!
June brings tulips, lilies, roses,
Fills the children’s hand with posies.
Sara Coleridge
Vernal Equinox Week : Exploring Nature With Children
This week in Exploring Nature With Children is ‘Vernal Equinox Week’.
Here are some helpful links to help you along:
- Autumn Equinox explained (video) This is a really smashing explanation for the equinoxes, and is equally applicable to the vernal equinox.
- Nature Journaling: John Muir Laws & the art of slowing down, sitting still, and paying attention.
- Spring Picnic Recipes
- How to sow wild flower seeds
Happy exploring!
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, friends!
Another fresh new year is here, another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear.
To love, and laugh, and give!
William Arthur Ward
The 12 Days of Christmas: Exploring Nature With Children
Next week will be the Twelve Days of Christmas in Exploring Nature With Children
Use the chapter to make the most of your time in nature and with each other.
“Tweet of the Day has been entertaining early morning listeners to the Radio 4 schedule every day since 2013, but this Christmas we will delight in an avian offering of the well known song Twelve Days of Christmas.
On the first day of Christmas so the song goes, a true love sent a partridge in a pear tree. As actress Alison Steadman suggests as ground birds, partridges are not known for their amorous arboreal perching. Why a partridge in a tree could have many meanings, but given the song is of possible French origin, the French or red-legged partridge seems an ideal candidate as sitter in a pear tree.”
Happy Thanksgiving!
To my dear American friends, wishing you a peaceful Thanksgiving.