Experience Nature: Get the Kids into the Woods

My sweet niece and sister have moved away!  (cue the chin quiver and teary eyes!)  I'm soooooooo sad that they're gone!   But I know they're going to love their new place.  

Before they left, Flanna and my niece got to spend a beautiful, if cold, day building a new hut in the woods.  They are becoming quite the master craftswomen.  They also took our dog Padme for a long walk, but poor old Padme I think would've rather stayed inside the warm house!

The girls play so creatively and constructively together when they're outside in the woods.  There's no bickering or arguing--it's really sweet.  On this day, they made a plan for their hut, cooperated to build it together, and created a complex imaginary scenario in which they were sisters (that's the plot of pretty much every game they play, poor little only children!) who had to make it on their own in the wilderness.  I really think it boosts their creativity to be outside in a wild natural setting that is open to being whatever they make of it.  (Can you tell I've been reading "The Last Child in the Woods" lately?)

I think it boosts my spirits to be outside, even in the freezing cold, and it definitely seems to snap the kiddos out of a funk.  So, the next time you're feeling frazzled, and the kids are bickering inside the house, just get yourselves out into nature--you'll be glad you did!

check out those fabulous walls--the new hut is pretty beautiful so far.  

What ways have you found to experience nature despite the cold temps?