Earthways: Simple Environmental Activities for Young Children

This is a must-have book for any parent and child who loves nature, or wants to include nature in their child's life. It is well written with realistic arts and crafts projects that will actually work--not frustrate your child. It also has a very deep Waldorf flair to it for any parents who are looking for ideas to do at home. LOVE this book!

I just recently got this book, and we love it is much. There are loads of great seasonal craft ideas. All of my kids love this and they range in age from 13 to 6 months. (Ok so the 6 month old doesn't do anything yet... but the other 4 do) I would recommend this book to every family. H

Nurture a sense of wonder and curiousity in your child by allowing them to discover nature. I have a 3 1/2 year old and this is the wonderful book to help her discover and explore her world. There are a wide range of natural, fun and simple activites that range from age 2 to age 5. The projects are easy to follow and are clearly illustrated and shown through each season. Fall activities include: leaf crowns, leaf banners, nature's people, laterns, apple drying, baking apples, wheat to bread, harvesting pumpkins, making corn husk dolls and grating the cobs. Winter activites include: star windows, nutmeg grating, finger knitting, sewing gnomes and yarn dolls. Spring activities include: wing wands, streamers, pinwheels, kites, dish gardens, butterfly mobiles, flower crowns, pressed flower cards, making flower necklaces, butter making, wool preparations and gardening with children. Summer activites include: shooting star streamer balls, butterfly crowns, walnut boats, bark boats, parachute people, paper birds, bean tepee, berry picking, making berry cobbler and basket weaving. In addition to seasonal activites, Earthways also includes: making children's cloth aprons, creating a seasonal garden or a nature table, recycling, discussion of toys from nature and creating a more natural outdoor play space. There is also a section of various gift and candle making activites. Aside from being a great introduction to Waldorf, the book offers wonderful activites for the family to create, explore and discover together. Quality family time at it's best. For parents wanting to learn more, the book has a tremendous resource section of suppliers, organizations and environmental books. There are resoures for teachers. I absolutely love the seasonal picture book resource section, it's 4 pages long! Would you like to incorporate more natural, independent, or creative play? I encourage you and your family to grab a basket and go on a nature walk to collect nature objects. Collect some shells, rocks, pinecones, acorns, twigs, flowers, leaves, seed pods and display them on a low shelf or table in your house. See how your child's imagination and creativity take flight, as your child comes to the table to plays with these objects. I was amazed when my daughter stood up 3 pinecones to represent our family and began to play with them.

As a homeschooling mother, I'm always looking for simple, easy learning activities that can benefit my children from preschool age to late elementary. Earthways is one of the best books I've seen on this topic. The activities are geared toward younger children (preschool/early elementary), but even my pre-teen enjoys the varied activities.