Mabel Osgood Wright

The journey back to the joys of the natural world-whether its an garden on an urban rooftop, a footpath into a lush  forest, or a backyard vegetable patch-will define the beginning of this 21^st century. Much of the credit for this rebirth goes to Robert Louv’s Last Child In the Woods and the “Nature Deficit Disorder”  generation  growing up today.  Along with all the empirical and anecdotal evidence Louv cites, many studies underscore -on several levels- the need to balance our technological living with the natural world. The health of every person and the health of our world depend on it.  Our mental health-our well-being-our intellectual health-as well as our physical health demand activities that take us away from the screen or the text. Moreover,  placing importance on this life will ensure that those who value our environment will preserve it.

Interestingly, before the computer, the cell phone, and I Pod, earlier naturalists were defending the natural world.  Mabel Osgood Wright who founded the Connecticut Audubon Society is one of those naturalists. She grew up in New York City but  lived her married life in Fairfield, Connecticut. Her children books such as Four Footed Americans And Their Kin  written in 1899  shows how the “House Family” interacts with the animals. Critics praise Wright's attention to portraying the animals in their natural habitat.

 

 

Beach Day & Book

When the day is done, a visit to the beach can lead to some fun reading. The key to motivating children to read is to "strike when the iron is hot." Probably whatever caught your child's eye during the day can be found in a book. Making this connection with children shows them books are not something in addition to what goes on throughout the day. The books are PART of a day.

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Miranda's Beach Day by Holly Keller is a 2009 picture book that shares the day of crabs and sandcastles along with a powerful, yet subtle, message about Nature.

Flowers, Children & Nature: A Natural Fit

Recently we took our 4-year-old granddaughter to your typical slide and swing park in New Jersey. It is always a delight to be with her. But her real joy (and, of course, ours) took place across the street at a garden displaying its June flowers. My granddaughter had visited before and proudly showed off the purples, pinks and blues. Gardening with one pot or a small garden connects children to nature. The plethora of books for children and gardening is also a bonus. From the 'how to' of planting seeds, caring for them, and enjoying the fruit or flower. Also, some garden books connect gardening to art and poetry.

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In The Garden With VanGogh Julie Merberg and Suzanne Bober ( 2002 Reed Businesses) will engage babies and pre-schoolers with vivid sunflowers and irises accompanied by short rhymes.

Walkingstick

What is more fun then a lively song to enjoy the best of nature.
If you have not seen a Walkingstick (a Northern Walkingstick in New England) you must read about them and hope you spot one while hiding on a branch. This website is a good place to start.

Do You Know?
A Walkingstick can regrow a leg but it will be shorter then his other ones. Look at the picture. Do you think this Walkingstick has a new leg?

If a Walkingstick loses an antennae, it grows a leg in its place.


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Hidden Walkingsticks by Meish Goldish (2008 Bearport Publishing)
Ages 4-10

A Robin's First Spring Nest

"Cheer up! Cheer up!" Finding a nest with baby robins is a great way to listen to the robin's call and 'cheer up.' These three robins are eagerly awaiting a tasty worm.


Do You Know? Robins build several nests throughout the season. For their first home they usually choose a securely nestled place in an evergreen tree.
Can you guess why they move to deciduous trees later in the summer?

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My Spring Robin
By Anne Rockwell, Harlow Rockwell, & Lizzy Rockwell. Age: preschool-K

Listen and Look for A Vernal Pool Near You

Looking for nature close to home any time of year is restful, not to time-consuming, and a great way to spend time with a friend, your child, or alone. Mid-march is a perfect time to look for a vernal pool. The Connecticut Audubon Society tells us, "You may have a vernal pool in your backyard! In early March, listen for the quacking call of wood frogs arriving at the vernal pool. On the first warm, rainy nights you might find a parade of spotted salamanders risking exposure to predators and traffic as they make their way to their breeding pools. Vernal pools are small, temporary bodies of water that are critical breeding habitat for many amphibian neighbors that need our protection."

Why Save the Caddisfly?

Maybe it is the ephemeral nature of a vernal pool that makes it seem less important than a permanent habitat. However, without these small bodies of water that appear in mid-March to late April and disappear in the warmer months maintaining over 100 species including the more well-known tree frog, spotted salamander, caddisfly, fairy shrimp, and bog turtle who need an aquatic environment to spawn would disappear permanently and as quickly as these ponds dry up. This list of inhabitants who use the pool is a long one; some use it for every portion of their life cycle; others depend on it for specific times.
Some of these species are cute and attractive such as the tree frog and salamander. Others, like the caddisfly, "the underwater architects", according to Glenn Wiggins; are intimating, night flying nuisances- unless you are a fly fisherman, that is. For this sportsman knows caddisflies are a trout's favorite and essential meal. There is a plethora of information explaining how caddisflies catch trout. However, finding juvenile literature for children about the caddisfly is difficult, if not impossible. Unlike its cousin, the beautiful butterfly, who also spins a silk cocoon, this simple moth which carries his wings over his back like a tent, has a hardiness instead of beauty. It is this endurance that explains why ecologists often study this aquatic invertebrate? It's absence is a harbinger of a deteriorating environment, particularly the vernal pool which supports so much biological diversity. Unlike the mayfly which cannot eat or drink, the hardy caddisfly tolerates more pollution. Therefore, if this insect disappears, there is good reason to suspect toxins in the water.

Do You Know?

Caddisflies are called architects because, ..."some species of caddisflies are even known to incorporate tiny pieces of translucent quartz, believed to serve as a window allowing the resident
larvae to monitor daylight."
Mary Garvin and J.P. Lieser Life In the Water: Aquatic Vertabrates (online)