What you will need:

• 1/3 Cup of Flour
• 1/4 Cup of Water
• 1 packet of Gelatin
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons of Corn Syrup
• 2 Cups of Bird Seed

Supplies:

• Drinking Straw
• Cookie cutters
• Mixing bowl and Spoon
• Mat or Foil to put your seed on
• Cookie sheet (optional)

How to make your own birdseed dough:

1. Put 2 cups of bird seed in a bowl

2. Add 1/3 Cup of flour

3. Next put in 1 1/2 Tablespoons of corn syrup

4. Then add 1 pouch of gelatin

5. Last add your 1/4 of water

Now mix well until all your ingredients are incorporated nicely and it looks something like this:

Tip: Your mixture will be a bit sticky, but that’s okay!

Now the fun part!

The next step is to pat out your dough, this dough is too sticky to roll. Grab a mat or some foil and lay it on the table with a bit of cooking spray or oil on it to keep it from sticking. Once it’s on the mat, you can pat it out flat with your hands until it is about 1/2 inch thick.

Next, use your cookie cutters to cut shapes out of the dough. While your seed dough is still in the cookie cutter, slide it off the mat and onto a baking sheet.  Just press you dough back together so you can cut more.

This recipe makes about 12-15 bird seed feeders.

Before you bake the feeders, use a drinking straw to make a hole in each one so you can hang them when they cool.

Now its time to bake them! Put them in the oven at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes (it depends on how big and thick yours turn out). You will know they are done when they are hard.

Tip: You can let the bird feeders air dry, but you need to let them sit over night until they are hard. (This can be a long wait for little ones.)

When your feeders are completely cooled (about 30 minutes), you can tie string to them so you can hang them in the trees for the birds to eat!

Now you’re ready to hang! We hung some right outside the window so that we could watch the birds enjoy their new treats.

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This post was written by Katie Myers exclusively for Bonbon Break Media, LLC

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You can go online at www.geocaching.com to find coordinates for geocaches hidden in your area. You can find ones that required a bit of a hike or ones that are more easily accessible. Then you go out with your GPS (or an app for your smart phone) and try to find them.

They aren’t always easy to find. They are usually very small containers camouflaged and are well hidden in a tree or under a log so that other people just passing by are not likely to disturb them. Once you find the geocache, there is a log inside that you write your name and date that you found it. Sometimes there is a little trinket inside!

You can take the trinket if you replace it with an equally interesting trinket. When you get back home, you go online and record your findings so that the owner and others can keep up with whether or not the geocache is still there and the condition it is in.

Lots of people in our area have placed geocaches.

We learned all about geocaching online and picked out one to search for. The coordinates took us to a local park.

This is it. It’s just a little yellow container hidden deep in a bush. Very hard to see if you don’t know what you’re looking for!

We were excited to open this geocache and find a foreign coin. Remember to bring some trinkets along to replace the one you take. We’ve used happy meal toys, small army men, and even  little tokens we’ve found in other geocaches!

We like geocaching because we love being outside and have fun spending time exploring. It can get frustrating when you can’t find the geocache though, and please watch out for snakes!

ABOUT KIDS ACTIVITIES BLOG: Kids Activities Blog is all about fun things to do with kids!  Playful learning, crafting and activities are featured along with resources for parents.  Be sure to pick up 101 Kids Activities: That Are the Bestest, Funnest Ever! in a bookstore starting June 10.

Follow Kids Activities Blog on Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest |Google+ | Instagram

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We spend many a day toting water bottles and packing bug spray as we venture with our crews into The Great Outdoors.  We would not marinate in DEET or unleash our inner pack mule if we didn’t think the payout was worth the effort.

1. Nature is a top-notch noise buffer.

On our latest hike, my sister-in-law Kim said, without any trace of irony, as her children screeched past with their thundering herd of cousins, “I prefer to parent outside.”

We totally get what she means. Nature is the ultimate white noise: no pesky walls to bounce back annoying sibling smacktalk or worse.

Besides, when you are outside, you can always hang back and pretend all that noise is coming from someone else’s kid.

2. Nature brings out their creativity.

There is nothing like wide open spaces and some cool finds along the trail to bring out their inner woodland fairy or superhero. 

3.  Nature is the ultimate arena.

We are extremely lucky to live a stone’s throw from a great state park that participates in Maryland’s Parkquest, but our experience hiking and camping all over our local environs is that every park has some kind of fun to offer. Frisbee golf and geocaching are the most common games we have found, but you won’t know until you go (or check their website).

4. Hiking is a great workout.

Simply putting one foot in front of the other for three to six miles will make you feel so much better about all those extra ice cream cones and hot dogs you have been consuming on behalf of summer fun. Of course, finding a copper head on the trail might accelerate your heart rate a bit but that just means you can have the sprinkles, right?

5. Some of the very best places you can’t get to by car.

Marco Polo will have nothing on you and all you need is a pair of hiking boots or sneakers.

6. The view from the top.

It works literally and as a metaphor. Take your kids up a mountain and let them see the reward of all that hard work for themselves.

7. There will be moments that melt your heart.

Teens and tweens aren’t always cute and cuddly any more, but stick them on a trail and they surprise you in the best ways. We have also found that a trail is a great place to talk — kind of like the car but without all the smelly sneakers and sports gear fumes.

And of course. . .

Memories that will last forever.

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When PADI approached me and asked if we would promote Women’s Dive Day, it was an easy YES!

I won’t lie, it has been 9 years since I have donned a wetsuit, partially because we live in cold waters and also – kids. However, seeing these photos and reading about this event has me feeling homesick for immersion, exploration, appreciation, salt water and sand. Now I am very inspired to find a way to make it happen and I know JUST the three women to contact.

What is Women’s Dive Day you ask? It’s an adventure. A day like no other. A day to share a life experience with current and new friends.

July 16, 2016, marks the second annual PADI Women’s Dive Day. It’s an annual celebration of women in scuba diving and provides special opportunities for more women to enter the sport of scuba diving.

During PADI Women’s Dive Day, PADI Dive Centers and Resorts, dive clubs, and other organizations around the world will offer a variety of dives and events, ranging from first dives to shark dives, beach clean-ups to special speaker engagements, and much more. Some PADI Dive Shops will also offer the opportunity to try scuba diving, for the first time, through the PADI Discover Scuba® Diving program. Others will focus on PADI ReActivate, which gives lapsed divers the opportunity to refresh their scuba skills, rediscover the sport they love and reactivate their dive certifications!

The inaugural 2015 PADI Women’s Dive Day event was an historic day for diving. More than 6,000 divers from 65 countries participated in 335 special events on all seven continents. The PADI photo album on Facebook shows how women (and some with their families) from all over the world enjoyed the 2015 event.

How to Participate

If you would like to participate in PADI Women’s Dive Day, you can find an event near you or get more information at http://www.padi.com/women-dive

If you’re not yet a PADI-certified diver you can contact your local PADI Dive Center or Resort to get started or you can explore options in the PADI course catalog.

If you are already a PADI-certified diver who is interested in participating in the 2016 PADI Women’s Dive Day event, please contact your local PADI Dive Center or Resort to see if they’re hosting an event – and encourage them to get involved, if they’re not already.

You can also visit PADI’s blog  at http://www.padi.com/blog/2016/03/03/womens-dive-day-plan-to-participate.

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1. Go tidepooling – find out when low tide is happening
2. Build a sandcastle
3. Have a picnic lunch in the yard – try these for a fun snack
4. Visit a National Park
5. Have ice cream for dinner
6. Run through the sprinklers
7. Go to an outdoor concert
8. Watch a movie outside
9. Harvest blackberries for a pie
10. Make freezer jam
11. Sleep outside and watch the stars – meteor shower schedule
12. Make daisy chains
13. Go to the park after dinner
14. Paint a garden sign
15. Create garden markers
16. Make a fairy garden
17. Plant a butterfly garden
18. Catch a crab or some shrimp for dinner
19. Pedicures
20. Build a bat house
21. BBQ at the beach
22. Bonfire with friends
23. Hike to find the Lorax
24. Hike to find fairies
25. Go to the zoo
26. Create a new zucchini recipe
27. Explore nature at night
28. Face painting
29. Dance party in the yard
30. Make pizza
31. Go to a baseball game
32. Go camping
33. Go swimming
34. Go sailing
35. Go fishing – or pretend!
36. Go birdwatching
37. Look for cloud animals
38. Make popsicles
39. Make granola bars
40. Wash the cars
41. Go on a road trip – snack ideas here
42. Make bird feeders and bird food
43. Go on a biking scavenger hunt
44. Sell lemonade
45. Pretend to be super heroes
46. Blow bubbles — make your own bubble solution
47. Fly a kite
48. Create a cardboard super structure
49. Watch local wildlife (orcas in our case!)
50. Create a summer mural with sidewalk chalk
51. Roast marshmallows – make s’more cones
52. Go on a photo scavenger hunt
53. Make a special dessert and deliver it to a friend
54. Go for late night ice cream cones
55. Make ice cream

A few of our FAVORITE items for summer fun! (with Amazon affiliate links)

PIN IT FOR LATER:Photo Credit: iStockphoto Graphic by: Val Curtis

The post 50+ Fun Summer Activities first appeared on BonBon Break.

Or, “Why yes, I am going to schlep four kids to that new science museum two hours away, where we will eagerly wander through the exhibits, each completing the 10-page scavenger hunt I created last night. Then we will come home and ‘discuss’ at great length the scientific theories we learned, because, brace yourself, what if we don’t keep our minds active ALL summer?”

“GASP! Wait, hold it! We must, just MUST go to the dollar store and buy 125 pool noodles to construct a backyard water park! We will invite the neighborhood kids over, serve vegan popsicles, watermelon chunks cut out like dolphins, and a vegetable crudité platter shaped like a palm tree. And what summer pool party would be complete without nitrate, skin, meat, additive, and taste free hot dogs on gluten-free buns covered in artisanal ketchup?”

I am done. Sort of like I how I was done with the school year, but I am already done with summer. And by done, I mean I am done with all the forced smile-inducing, uber-planned and supervised, over-the-top summer life experiences I am supposed to provide for my kids. You know what I want my kids to experience this summer? The same type of summer I would have experienced in the late 1970s. The exact same one. I survived it, and they will too. As a matter of fact, it must have been pretty memorable because 30 years later I can tell you exactly what it entailed. It entailed FUN. Fun we made all on our own. What. A. Concept.

My top 10 ways to give your kids a 1970s summer.

1.  Let them watch TV. Plenty of it. But only the TV Land channel. I want my kids to watch The Love Boat, The Carol Burnett Show, The Jefferson’s, Charlie’s Angels, My Three Sons, The Six Million Dollar Man, Gilligan’s Island, $100,000 Pyramid, and my personal favorite, Hart to Hart. Seriously, what little girl in the late ’70s didn’t want to be an amateur detective married to the CEO of Hart Industries and driving around in a yellow Mercedes-Benz SL Roadster, all while sporting a matching lilac pantsuit and perfectly coiffed butterfly winged wavy brown hair? Because I sure as hell did.

2.  Eat whatever you want, and/or whatever can find. There will be no more pantries full of organic vegetable chips and non-GMO graham crackers. No more refrigerators full of anti-pesticide fruit, free range eggs, and cold pressed juice. This will be the summer of Frito-Lay and Red Dye #5. I want to see my kid’s reaction when I tear open a tiny envelope of cherry Kool-Aid, sprinkle it into a BPA-laden plastic pitcher, dump four cups of regular, granulated, white, and maybe even generic sugar (not raw, stevia, or agave) then add water from the tap, and voila! You are hydrated! I will be over here drinking a Tab. Lunch will be fried bologna and a blue can of Planter’s Cheese Balls, and for dinner, we will pile in the car and go pick up a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, a styrofoam quart of mashed potatoes, and O. M. Geee, dessert will be pineapple upside cake! Made from canned pineapples in…….wait for it……syrup!

3.  Make them play outside. Like all day. All. Damn. Day. Hot? Drink from the hose. Run through the sprinklers. Swim in the pool until your hair feels like straw, turns green, and the bottom of your feet are calloused from the bottom of the pool. Search for ladybugs, play hide ‘n seek between the houses, run down the street gutters after a rain storm. Read under a tree. I hear this lady named Judy Blume writes good stuff.

4.  Send them to the movies for the entire day. I will drop you off at around 11 am and pick you up for dinner. It’s real simple. You sneak from one theater to the next. Nobody cares.

5.  Spend three nights in a row at your best friend’s house. No, you don’t have to call to check in every hour. And yes, it’s totally OK that her parents will be at work and nobody will be home all day. It will give you plenty of time for #1, 2, and 3.

6.  Make stuff, like from stuff you find. No trips to Hobby Lobby for pre-cut, pre-stuck, pre-fabricated crafts. Find crap in the garage and assemble it into something you can play with. No, you can’t Google how to do it. Ropes are fun.

7.  Have them put on a talent show. A real, genuine sing and dance and entertain-the-hell-out-of-me talent show. I promise I won’t upload it to YouTube or share it on Facebook. I pinky swear. No, there are no themes, no requirements, no directions, no anything. No, there is no right way to do it. You have an imagination. Please use it.

8.  Play Simon until you want to throw it against the wall or smash into 1,000 pieces. It’s the original train your brain app.

9.  Build a fort in the backyard. No, I am not gonna help. Yes, you can use the $125 Pottery Barn Kids duvet cover from your bed. I don’t care anymore. Making a memory trumps 400-thread-count cotton.

10.  Finally, learn to find the amazing in the ordinary. Trust me. You will need this skill in your 40s. I pinky swear.

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With warmer weather and longer days, it’s time to get outside! We’ve gathered a great collection of recipes for the grill to help you do just that!

While many of these straightforward dishes are easy to prepare, they don’t skimp on flavor. And if you’ve been looking for an excuse to get creative with your grilling, this lineup — full of unique preparations and flavors — may be the catalyst you’ve needed to get you going! Check out those intriguing salad ideas, delectable appetizer recipes, and mouthwatering dessert temptations.

Are you hungry yet?

Bust out that marinade and fire up your grill! Summer’s calling! Make the most of it by spending time outside with family, friends, and delicious food.

50+ Recipes for the Grill

CHICKEN

Lime Marinated Chicken Skewers from French Press

Monterey Chicken from The Girl Who Ate Everything 

Greek Chicken Kababs with Tzatziki by Cooking Classy

BEEF

PORK

Grilled Pork Chops with Peach, Bourbon, Mustard Sauce by Bobbi’s Kozy Kitchen

Jack and Coke Baby Back Ribs by One Sweet Mess

Mojo Pork Tenderloin by The Girl Who Ate Everything 

SEAFOOD

Fish Tacos with Lime Cabbage Slaw from Cooking Classy 

Grilled Clams with Chorizo from Noshing with the Nolands

Asian Salmon Kabobs from Damn Delicious 

BURGERS

Chipotle Turkey Burgers from Pinch of Yum 

Cheddar Ranch Chicken Burger from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Caramelized Onion Mushroom Cheeseburger from Noshing with the Nolands

VEGETABLES

Rainbow Veggie Skewers from Gimme Some Oven

Grilled Sweet Potato Fries from Gimme Some Oven

PIZZA

Grilled Nacho Pizza from Damn Delicious

Grilled Herb Garden Pizza from Love & Lemons

Chicken Sausage, Spinach & Mozzarella Pizza from Pinch of Yum 

APPETIZERS

Grilled Brie with Blackberry-Basil Smash Salsa from Half-Baked Harvest 

Peach-Gorgonzola Grilled Polenta Rounds from Half-Baked Harvest
 

BBQ Sausage-Stuffed Grilled Jalapenos from Erica’s Recipes 

SALADS

Grilled Ginger-Sesame Chicken Salad by Cooking Classy

Grilled Radicchio & Endive Salad from A House in the Hills 

SAUCES

Chimichurri Sauce from Gimme Some Oven 

SWEETS

Grilled Banana Ice Cream Sundae from Damn Delicious 

Grilled Peaches with Orange Blossom Syrup from An Edible Mosaic 

Grilled Pineapple with Cinnamon-Honey Drizzle from Wine & Glue 

Find all of these great recipes and MANY, MANY MORE on our

Get Outside & Grill Pinboard:

Follow Bonbon Break’s board Get Outside & Grill! on Pinterest.

MORE GREAT RECIPE COLLECTIONS:

• 50+ Recipes to Foster Healthy Eating
• 50+ Fall Soup Recipes to Soothe Your Soul
• 50+ Perfect Holiday Pies

ABOUT SUZANNE: Suzanne Cowden focuses on food as centerpiece for both everyday routines and special occasions. Each recipe featured on Flour Arrangements, from simple loaves of bread to fondant decorated birthday cakes, comes with a story that blends life with cooking. Suzanne lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and daughters.

You can find Suzanne on Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

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The post Get Outside & Grill! 50+ Backyard Recipes first appeared on BonBon Break.

Like most parents, when my first child was old enough to start doing craft, I went to the craft store and stocked up on pompoms, pipe cleaners and glitter. But somewhere along the way my girls and I started experimenting with natural items in our craft activities—leaves, stones, flowers, bark—and these days I hardly ever visit the craft store at all!

The benefits of crafting with nature are many and varied, and by the end of this post I’m sure you’ll want to try it too.

Why I love crafting with nature

Nature’s Readily Available

I love that if my kids decide they want to make some crafts I don’t have to go anywhere to get it. It’s all there for us, outside! It’s perfect for children who can be impatient to get into their craft as soon as a creative idea arises.

Nature’s Versatile

We’ve made so many crafts using so many different natural products. I have an endless list of ideas in my head but if you need inspiration, take a look at the nature crafts on Mother Natured or check out my Nature Craft Pinterest board.

Nature’s Cheap

I know parents and teachers that spend a fortune on the best craft items for their kids when most crafts end up in the same place—the bin. Crafting with nature is free (other than some glue and other incidental products you may use with nature) and although nature craft doesn’t always last as long, you can easily document your creation by taking a photo!

Nature Promotes Creativity

Working and crafting with nature can have some disadvantages (leaves don’t always glue onto rocks or sticks don’t always fit quite as perfectly as a paddle pop stick) but I find that this makes us more creative. It builds problem solving skills and I’ve noticed my children manipulating the nature resources in different ways to get the result they desire.

Nature’s Eco Friendly

One of the most important reasons I craft with nature is because it’s much better for the environment to use biodegradable products rather than synthetic craft materials. I’m not perfect but I am trying to reduce the waste we create in our home and considering we are big crafters, this is one area we are cutting down.

Of course, when we are using natural products from the environment, we do need to be mindful of the impact of taking these items from the environment too. You don’t want to spread weeds or destroy the environment by taking too much of something or removing it in a way that will damage the place you took it from.

Nature’s good for Kids

Many believe it is vital, both to the wellbeing of our children and to raising the conservationists of the future, that children interact with nature. There’s been plenty of research supporting this school of thought.

How to get started

Go Outside

The best way to start is by going outside with your children and collecting nature. We use a beautiful basket to collect our nature products. It’s also a great excuse to get the kids out of doors!

Start replacing craft items with nature

I’ve written a whole article dedicated to helping you replace some of the most commonly used craft items with nature products, but here are some of our most popular posts:

• Instead of using glitter (which is ground up plastic) make nature’s glitter instead
• Make nature pom poms using grass
• Make nature weaving frames (like the ones above)

I can’t imagine not using nature in our crafting now. It’s not just great for my kids but it’s great for me too. I love sitting alongside them and touching natural products from nature, it’s relaxing and feels good for the soul.

How do you use nature with your children?

ABOUT PENNY: Penny is the creator of Mother Natured, a site designed to help parents build and strengthen their children’s love of nature and wildlife through simple, fun activities.

A mother to three girls, she also works part time as a wildlife education officer. Penny holds a Bachelor of Applied Science – Wildlife Biology and a Graduate Diploma of Education (Early Years). In what little spare time she has left, Penny loves to read, go camping and be out in nature with her family.

Follow Penny on Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest |Google+ | Instagram |

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The post Why Craft with Nature? first appeared on BonBon Break.

• Camp in the backyard. This is the “Great Outdoors” version of a Staycation, and it’s a blast. The best news: it doesn’t matter if your yard is big or small. A tent will fit in any size space, or if you’re hardy, you can just grab some blankets and pillows and sleep under the stars. Add roasted hot dogs, S-mores, and campfire songs (with or without an actual fire) to the mix, and you’ve created an night to remember.
• Squeeze in a hike. Take a look at the trails near your home and pick one with lots of opportunity for discovery. Maybe there’s a winding nature path, or a trail with a vast mountain views, or a walk with a burbling the river along the way. Pack a high-energy picnic for extra fun, and make sure to offer you kids rewards (read: sugar, stickers, tattoos) for a job well-done.
• Try something new. What’s an outdoor activity your family hasn’t tried yet? Perhaps it’s rock climbing, fishing, canoeing, or whitewater rafting. Well, it’s time to get it scheduled. Come up with a few options, take a family vote, and then get out there together. Trying a new adventure might also provide a bridge to asking your child how he is feeling about returning to school with a new teacher and classroom.
• Go on a scavenger hunt. Design a path that’s a revival of sorts; it takes you back to some of your favorite summer haunts. If it’s feasible, choose a route you can reach by bike. Good options include the discovery museum, natural areas, library, lake, or playground. It’s always fun to end on a sweet note, maybe at an ice cream shop. With the items your kids collect during the scavenger hunt, create a scrapbook or box called Summer Finds 2014. You’ll have so much fun looking back during the school year and saying, “Remember when…?”
• Road Trip, Anyone? Maybe there’s not time for something major, but what about a quick overnight? Get spontaneous! Book a campsite at a local state park, check out a nearby hot springs, or pack up the bikes and head to a neighboring town with popular pedestrian paths. Add some grab-and-go snacks and travel games like Bingo or Spot It to the ride, and the fun keeps up while the wheels are rolling.

 Read More from Carrie Visintainer

ABOUT CARRIE: Carrie Visintainer is a Colorado-based writer and the founder of Free Your Wild, empowering women and families to unlock their inner wild. Her work has appeared in Outside and 5280, and she’s the Wild Mama columnist for The Coloradoan. Her first book is forthcoming, represented by Wolf Literary. Visit Carrie and share your insights at www.freeyourwild.com.

Follow Carrie on Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | LinkedIn

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The post Last Hurrahs: Ideas for Getting Outdoors Before School Starts first appeared on BonBon Break.

She’s back from camp!!

Aside from the dreaded stomach bug, my daughter returned from sleep away safe camp and sound…as predicted by many.

Neither Angela nor I had ever gone to camp longer than a week, so it was quite a learning experience for us all.

On the drive home, through the pouring rain, we got an earful of entertaining stories peppered with clever pseudonyms, sleep deprivation and drama in high gear. But three hours later, we tucked her into her lonely bed around midnight with little regret. We were happy that we made the decision to send her.

Before I nodded off, five lessons from my daughter’s 1st camp experience stood out:

1. Regardless of the careful planning, (i.e. vitamins, rain gear, mattress pads, etc.) she’ll undoubtedly come home sick next summer too.

2. She was listening to me after all…the majority of the time that is.

3. God bless Amazon Prime.

4. I’m too hard on her.

5. Thomas Bayly was right. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

What valuable (or chuckle worthy) parenting gems have you taken away pre- or post- camp? Have any of them altered your parenting moving forward? I’m a rookie here, so I could use the help.

As always, thanks!

~Daddy-O

About DADDY-O: Greg Santomero (aka DaddyO), is a Dad of two creative and spirited girls. He is married to children’s media creator, Angela Santomero (Blue’s Clues, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Super Why!, etc.).

An award winning designer/creative director, Greg is responsible for the visual look of NBC’s Olympic Games, The Super Bowl, The French Open and Wimbledon. Greg’s work has garnered him several Emmy, Broadcast Design and Promax Awards.

Greg began Santo Studios Design, a boutique design studio specializing in all forms of visual communication and branding utilizing live action, 2D and 3D for film, television, web and print.

Follow Greg on Twitter , Google+ or on his Dad’s Clues section of Angela’s Clues.

This post was written by Greg Santomero exclusively for BonBon Break Media, LLC

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The post 5 Parenting Tips I Learned from Camp first appeared on BonBon Break.

Do bugs get in the way of you or your kids enjoying the outdoors? My son hates bugs. If he gets one on him he immediately wants to go home. There have even been times he hasn’t wanted to go outdoors, especially hiking, because of bugs. So I have had to come up with a few tricks to help him deal with his fears and make our outdoor time enjoyable. Hope they help you as well.

ABOUT MAE: Mae has spent her life and career connecting with the outdoors. She has worked as a park ranger, research assistant, forest policy intern and as an advisor to environmental science students. Nowadays she spends her time connecting her family with the outdoors and teaches on the side. She blogs over at Mommy Loves Trees where she shares her tips, tricks and adventures (with a tree twist, of course).

Follow Mae on Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest |Google+ | Instagram |

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The post Helping Kids Deal with their Fear of Bugs by Mommy Loves Trees first appeared on BonBon Break.

Many of our first, most special childhood memories can be traced back to direct experiences in nature together with a parent, grandparent or other relative. And it really doesn’t take much to get a child hooked on nature. You don’t need a garage full of expensive gear. You don’t have to go on big adventures to exotic locations. You don’t need a ton of money. You don’t even have to be particularly athletic. All it takes is a caring adult that is willing to take a child outside.

ABOUT LINDA:  Linda McGurk is a writer and photographer who grew up in Scandinavia, where people live by the mantra “There is no bad weather, only bad clothes,” and spending time in nature is a national obsession. She believes that the best childhood memories are created outside, while jumping in rain puddles, roaming through the woods, digging in dirt, catching frogs and climbing trees. Now a US citizen who lives in rural Indiana with her husband and two young daughters, she blogs about restoring the connection between children and nature at rainorshinemamma.com and hopes to inspire other parents to get outside with their children every day, regardless of the weather. Her writings about conservation, organic farming, sustainable living, forest schools, the outdoors and children’s health have appeared in a wide range of newspapers and magazines in North America as well as Scandinavia. Though she makes a living glued to a screen the better part of the day, it is when she goes for a walk in the woods that she feels truly alive.

Follow Linda on Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest |Google+ | Instagram

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The post How My Grandparents Got Me Hooked on Nature by Rain or Shine Mamma first appeared on BonBon Break.