nature

Fall Bucket List: Take a Nature Walk

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 3 Comments

Back in September I took on the challenge of completing …. well attempting to complete this Fall Bucket List from Loves of Life Blog. We’re slowly checking things off. This time around was “Take a Nature Walk”. For those who know me or at least have read my “About Me” page know that I’ve worked in the fields of Outdoor Recreation/Education and Environmental Education.  So, going for a “nature walk” is like going back a few years, when I used to take groups outside at night:  spring, summer, fall and winter. It’s almost as normal as putting on your shoes for me. I love to be outside.

As I  started to write this post my husband took our dog, Maclean outside for a pee and said for me to come see the sky. It was as dark as can be, a few bright starts and I believe a 1/2 moon (apparently that was yesterday – had to look it up). Anyway, it was a perfect night to be outside….so I gave us a challenge next week to rake the leaves at night once Lilly is asleep and then we’ll see how bad of a job we did the next day. It get’s us outside at night, being active and together. Blog post to come on that one 🙂

Last weekend we went to a local park in Centreville, Nova Scotia. It’s a small park, 2 soccer fields, baseball fields and a little trail system in the woods. When I went to Acadia University, I managed to help run an environmental education program out of this park and haven’t been back since. There was this amazing little path that had nothing but gorgeous RED leaves – we were a little late this year and the colours had already moved on from that luscious red.

We had a lot of fun walking on the trails, learning how to balance on roots, checking out tree stumps, collecting leaves and taking in the fall colours:

Lilly tracked down the best leaves, walked hand and hand with Daddy and even let her baby sibling join in a picture.

I just love fall colours 🙂

This might become a new fall tradition for us.

Do you have a fall bucket list?

Have you been outside to enjoy any trails/parks etc? Where?

Are the leaves changing colours where you live?

For more amazing photo’s of Fall in Nova Scotia, check out my friend Lyndsay’s blog post here –  she’s a professional photographer, has two pretty cute boys that she blogs about at The Testoster Zone.  The pictures are taken on another one of my favourite places in Nova Scotia, at the start of the Bluff Trail in Timberlea/Hubley area.

Still to come – Fall Bucket List – Making {vegan} Pies.

Bucket List for Kids

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 12 Comments

Today, while on Facebook, I came across my friend Colin’s post on Take Me Outside. Last year, Colin ran ACROSS Canada!  Yes, you read the right, he RAN ACROSS CANADA to raise awareness about getting children (students) outside to play in nature. Check out his awesome story at the Take Me Outside website.

What I came across today was an article from The Globe and Mail – called Bucket List for Kids! (I can’t take any credit for the title of this post). As I read through the list, I realized that:

  1. I don’t have a bucket list for myself!
  2. Should I start one for my daughter, who is 2 in June ?
  3. That I have done 90% of these 50 listed activities as a child and some as an adult!!!

What’s the harm in having a bucket list?

[A bucket list is “a list of things to do before you die. Comes from the term “kicked the bucket”.]

As I looked through this bucket list for children – I realized I had accomplished most of these things as a child. The bigger moment was when I realized that children are NOT experiencing these activities for themselves – TODAY.

Sad.

I chose to share 12 out of the 50 examples on  this bucket list:

 

The list

1. Climb a tree                                                       

2. Roll down a really big hill

3. Camp out in the wild

4. Run around in the rain

5. Eat an apple straight from a tree

6. Go sledging

7. Take a look inside a tree

8. Hunt for bugs

9. Discover what’s in a pond

10.Go on a nature walk at night

11. Cook on a campfire

12. Canoe down a river

How many of these activities did you do as a child? Or, as an adult?

Do you have a bucket list? Share some with us in the comments below.

Would you create a bucket list for your child? Or, WITH your child?

 

Where did our playgrounds go?

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 7 Comments

When I was a child my playground was my backyard, my neighbour’s back yard, the little patch of forest down the road, and soccer fields.

What has happened to our playgrounds?

Well, they’ve gone inside.

Screen Time is the new “playground” for kids today.

My husband and I have decided that we will more than likely never own gaming systems. That’s not to say we can’t rent them or borrow them for a special day. But we will not own them.

Screen Time is taking over our children’s outside play time and I just don’t like the idea of that (yes, this is my opinion).

I’ve mentioned in a previous post here that our daughter is going to grow up with such a different lifestyle then us because of all the new screen time devices and social media sites. But I will make sure that her playground remains outside in nature. She will know what lichen is, how to play hopscotch, skin her knees if she falls, get fresh air and get her nails dirty.

Our playground will be our back yard, the park down the road, the trails across the highway, the ocean and lakes that surround us, our Provincial and National Parks.

What was your “playground” as a child?

What IS your “playground” like for your children today?

Picture – found on Facebook a while back and recently posted on a friends page and that made me want to blog about it.