Educating Children Outdoors

This is a first for me....teaching nature classes in a different country. I am on a mission trip with my church, and I get to teach the kids about nature at the beach (definitely different than the desert). We have learned about shells, jellyfish, sand dunes, wildflowers, and birds. And we had a Bible lesson about Matthew 8:27 and Jesus calming the storm.

I'm still teaching a little. I'm only offering private programs for groups right now. This amazing co-op hired me to teach several classes for them. This was a class about AZ fish. Despite not having access to water at our location, we still had a blast, and the kids even practiced their fishing skills and learned about fishing regulations. We also learned about fish adaptations, parts of a fish and more.

If you are interested in booking your group, visit our website www.educatingchildrenoutdoors.com



   

I taught a class Tuesday called fangs and stingers (mostly focused on snakes and arthropods) and we had a young (barley had a rattle) western diamondback show up for our class. I was so hoping we would see a snake now that's it's warming up. We even got to safely watch it move from under the tree to another part of the park.




   

Protecting nature everywhere I go

This month, I also finished up my Friday afternoon survival skills class. They learned how to use a compass and completed an orienteering course. Learned about finding food and water. And for the final class, they put everything they learned into practice by "getting lost." I gave each group a scenario too, like they forgot to pack water, broke a leg, got bit by a venomous snake, etc. I'm going to miss this group of kids, they were a lot of fun to teach.



   

I'm a little behind on sharing photos. These are from the edible and medicinal plant program I led a couple of weeks ago for a homeschool co-op. There were 30 kids that attended. At the end of the walk, they got to sample some items and make a creosote ointment and rosemary tea bag, even the mom's joined in on the fun of making the ointment.



   

Preparing some rosemary for the kids to make rosemary tea bags for the private edible and medicinal class today. Though not a native to AZ rosemary grows really well in AZ. I'm lucky enough to have one on the backyard. And as you can see the Honeybees love it too.



   

Korwyn and I went on an adventure this afternoon to scope out our location for next weeks edible and medicinal class for a private homeschool group.



   

I've been doing a little bit of prep work for an upcoming edible and medicinal plant hike for a private homeschool group next month.



   

This morning, I led a private group program. I took them geocaching. They had a blast and found 9 really fun caches. Visit our website to book your private group program. We are booking programs for Feb-May currently. https://educatingchildrenoutdoors.com/private-programs



   

Last weeks Trailblazers, Conservation Biology, and Inchworms classes



   

I had 2 survival skills classes yesterday. I had a private group that came up from Tucson for a 3 1/2 hr crash course and my Friday afternoon class had their fire class.