Welcome!

Thank you for visiting the home blog of Caliso Learning, a natural science-based business celebrating the beauty and ecology of our natural environments. Our goal is to connect you and your family with nature--actually, we want you to fall in LOVE with nature!


Here you will find nature-inspired articles and posts, family activities, personal stories, resources, and more--all with the goal to connect you with the benefits of nature for family fun and inspiration! Please enjoy and let us know what you like :) Follow us on Facebook for even more resources, more frequently!

Monday, August 23, 2010

10 Simple Ways to Connect With Nature

We hope you enjoy these 10 easy ways to connect you and your family with nature. These fun ideas are some of our favorite activities compiled from previous lists and handouts of ours for a range of nature-themed family fun--or if you prefer some nurturing, soul feeding moments. If some of these are second nature, we encourage you to share your experience and guidance with another family and friends! Be sure to include your own experiences and ideas with us in the comments below.

Happy full moon by the way, you can start with #10 as soon as tonight!

1. Fight habitat fragmentation, create a backyard habitat. Get yours certified here: http://www.nwf.org/gardenforwildlife/

2. Create a personal meditation garden. Include the sights, smells, sounds of nature that relax you: rocks, birds, water, citrus, jasmine…

3. Why not take an evening to learn about the stars/constellations you can see. Call your local astronomy club and go to their next star party!

4. Go for a walk in the rain and notice the changes in nature. Talk with your child(ren) about new smells, how things feel, sounds. What happens to the birds, insects, trees, flowers, and people?

5. Photograph the letters of your name found in nature. Does that tree make a good Y or V? Do you see a B at the base of a leaf?

6. Plant a salad garden, a pizza garden, fruit salad garden, or even a salsa garden! There are plenty of online guidance for all ages.

7. Refill your birdfeeders. How about offering some creative—safe!—nesting materials as an additional resource for your feathered friends?

8. Collect leaves from your yard showing the life cycle of a particular tree/plant. From new green leaves to yellowing, to dried and brown.

9. Establish a secret garden for your child where they can create their own unique garden to plant collected rocks, sticks, plastic dinosaurs...

10. Go on a full moon walk. What will you experience? Once, our group encountered a drum circle in the canyon, another time a curious tarantula!

Photo: Ecosalon.com

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Perseids Meteor Shower (Timelapse Video)

In case you missed the Perseids, we just had to share this oh so beautiful video shared by Facebook friend Roy Scribner. We just love the Joshua Tree, it adds a magical touch! Please enjoy this short video treat: http://vimeo.com/14173983


Joshua Tree Under the Milky Way from Henry Jun Wah Lee on Vimeo.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Gift Of Wonderment

“If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life.” ~Rachel Carson

We can help our little ones maintain this gift by encouraging their wonderment of nature (and so many other magical things!). In fact it would do us well to get ours back and discover the natural world through their eyes again! Not everything we encounter needs to always be explained with a scientific reason for occurring.

Often times the best teaching opportunities for our children occur when they are watching us -- in how we react to nature, or how we behave in nature. Do we enjoy living in the moment and allowing a sense of awe or whimsy to settle about us without expectations? Do we pick up litter along the trail? Do we cringe at the site of crawlies or marvel at their tiny existence; do we value their role in nature? Are we comfortable outdoors? Fearful, respectful, at home in nature? Our children are always watching, what are we teaching them?

"Teaching Opportunity" by M. Hedgecock

[click image for larger size]