Natural Playscapes: Rock Hopper Garden

Last summer we visited the amazing Hamilton Children’s Garden. The garden is filled with playful and enticing elements throughout, with plenty of creatively designed natural playscapes and gardens perfect for spontaneous, unstrunctured play and discovery—the best kind!

One feature my son particularly loved was the “Rock Hopper Garden,” large boulders spaced just far enough for children to jump from one to another, landscaped with native, “fall” friendly plants.

Our backyard was a fairly blank canvas in need of some play-friendly and exciting space for my son to enjoy. We LOVE natural playscape designs and the rock-hopper garden was a great opportunity to create a natural area where he could have a little adventurous fun. So with some leftover large rocks in our yard (not quite the boulders at the Hamilton Children’s Garden, but worked just the same), we set out to create this nature-inspired playscape for our 5-year old.

We found this to be an easy concept to put in place, the hard part of course was rolling/moving/carrying the very heavy rocks into place. Aside from positioning the rocks and getting the rocks to place, little ones can be a great help—my son helped with ideas on placement, digging, filling and of course stamping the rocks and soil down.

As more plants get added, they will soon fill the spaces between the rocks, adding a little more to the challenge. Meanwhile, my son is happily hopping his way around an outdoor play area he helped build!

We’d love to hear what natural playscape designs you’ve added to your yard (or plan/wish to add!). Once you get the rocks, this is an easy one to put in place. If you’d like to add this element to your backyard, here are a few tips that might help :)

Tips:

• Make sure you have help moving the rocks (no sense in throwing your back out). I was able to roll a few, but my hubby helped with the rest! (Depends on what rock you have access to.)
• I recommend digging out a shallow hole to accommodate the pointier side of the rock, backfill with the soil and stamp down. This will allow it to sit nice and stable.
• Let your youngest test the first two rocks (for spacing) before you place all of your rocks. You don’t want them to be too far apart, but not too close either—create a little challenge that will grow with them for one or two years at least!
• If you decide to combine with a garden (and why not?!), make sure the plants you choose are child-friendly, no poisonous plants or spines/thorns!

Let us know about your natural playscape, share your ideas and pictures!

Dynamic Duos: Partner Mandalas!

Inspired by a cooperative time-filler found in Family Fun magazine, I have found partner mandalas to be a great exercise for building creative confidence no matter what your artistic ability. Something you can do with the little ones, this was a fun artistic activity to do with my kindergartner.

Each artist gets one color marker and a square sheet of paper. 

Partners begin by drawing a circle in the center of their paper, then they swap sheets and add an element to the design (a ring of dots, dashes, zigzag lines, or a more detailed element). Continue swapping and adding elements until your mandala is finished.

The photos (bottom of the post) are the two mandalas created with my 5 year old son. We both liked seeing what each of us would add and how quickly the madalas grew.

Try these alternatives! 

• Find a area with plenty of natural materials (rocks, leaves, twigs, petals, sand, etc.) and have each partner alternate turns adding a ring using these materials only.
• Use brown, grey, and/or black markers to create mandala designs you can transform yet again by coloring.
• Create a family mandala during the holidays or a vacation. Leave a jar of colored pens or pencils along with the ongoing design out where family members can add their own ring related to their experience(s). You can assign each family member a color or let them choose as they go. *Try to keep colors alternating
• Make a journal madala. During your next vacation, retreat, or as a personal journaling exercise, add a daily ring to your madala design to represent the emotion or experience(s) from each day.

 

Amazing Cephalopods!

Take a nature break with David Gallo, an enthusiastic ambassador for the sea and pioneer in ocean exploration, as he leads you through a deep sea and shallow water dive highlighting our favorite cephalopods like the octopus, squid, and cuttlefish!

Length 5:25 (minutes/seconds) Thank you to Caliso friend Laura H. for forwarding this clip! If video does not appear, click here to watch.


Source: www.ted.com/talks

My Kindergartner, Scorpions, & Stinkbugs—Oh My!

This time of year the weather cools down and the desert night invites exploration. We took advantage of a thin crescent moon combined with a hazy night sky to take my 5-year old son on his first scorpion hunt. I should mention our scorpion hunts are more of an unofficial survey, we’re just counting and sizing up how many individuals we find without collecting specimens. Living in the desert offers the perfect opportunity to scout scorpions which are easily seen using portable UV lights.

Searching for sand scorpions on the desert floor is an exiciting adventure for most, no matter what your initial feelings are at first, you end up having an interesting time. It is a favorite fall activity of mine and I couldn’t wait to get my son out there to experience the challenge and fun of a successful hunt. I couldn’t believe I had finally talked him into venturing out into the desert night with me and my cousin, and the scorpions did not disappoint!

At our first stop, just after dark we spotted an eloedes beetle (stink bug) and 13 sand scorpions in about 40 mintues, not bad. We decided to indentify the tiny scorpions as babies, kindergartners like my son, teenagers, a preschooler. They were all juveniles, so we decided to try our luck at another, nearby location.

We hit the jackpot at our second stop. Two more eloedes beetles! Yes, but oh the scorpions! We began to lose count at 25 scorpions in only about 30 minutes. We found babies, sub-adults and, just as we decided to head back to the car…the biggies—well big for sand scorpions (photos below). My son was getting tired, and my cousin theorized that more were coming out the later it got, including the big guys. We agreed that next time we should begin our hunt an hour or so after dark to test that theory :)

No matter their age or size, scorpion morphology stays the same.
Compare this tiny, half inch baby scorpion...

A "teenager" about one inch in length...

An adult sand scorpion about 2 inches in length. 2 1/2" to 3" with its "tail" flat.

My son was into it during our first stop, it was like a treasure hunt to him, but the tiny scorpions (or little lobsters as he first called them), weren’t impressing him. Especially since they stayed perfectly still. Maybe he was expecting a different kind of treasure. He even questioned if they were real. The adventure began to wear off for him along with his patience. However, he did get excited when he spotted the scorpions first and also when we found two large scorpions during our second stop :) I’m glad I left the whole natural history of the scorpion schpiel for another time. *wink*

Later, before bedtime I asked him if he had fun and he said, yep he really did (sans the stink bugs of which he didn’t like). YAY! I cheered inside, maybe just maybe he will be my scorpion-hunting buddy.

Thinking about giving scorpion hunting a try? READ THESE FIVE TIPS! First, read up on scorpions in your area: what species, if any, do you have in your area and what terrain you’re most likely to find them; how venomous are they? Avoid getting stung—do not harass, handle, touch, collect, or bother the scorpions you find.

Second, know your search area, scout it out in daylight first! Be very familiar with local hazards like cactus, snakes (we do not do this activity in the summer months), and man made hazards like junk piles, abandon wells/mines, temporary shelters, roads, etc.

Third, always wear closed in shoes and check your shoes and pants with the UV lights to make sure you don’t have any “hitchhikers.”

Fourth, skip the full and near full moon nights. Great for seeing your way through the desert night, but not for scorpions who seem to take cover, away from such a bright light (easier for predators to spy them). Choose the new moon or similar dark moon nights.

And finally, you need a UV light (black light). Flashlights are recommended but don’t use both simultaneously and do not rely on spotting scorpions with a white light, they are nearly impossible to see for most. Manuever your path slowly, using the black light only. Portable black lights can be found at some hobby stores, gem and mineral stores, auto accessory stores, and on line. Don’t forget the batteries.

Have fun and be safe!

From the archives: Creature “Spirits”

It's a busy little Halloween weekend here at Caliso, so we pulled a spooktacular post from the archives of witch--ooops, which we think you ghouls will enjoy!

It covers the paranormal--actually it covers the very normal activities and sounds of familiar creatures that just may explain the ghostly scream you heard beyond the trees, or why certain objects keep moving mysteriously around your home.

Please note that the links at the end of the post are not linking directly anymore. All we had to do was copy/paste the links to listen to the eerie wild animal calls; but oh so worth it as they are sure to send a chill down your spine (they sound amazingly like a human screams, and even a baby crying).

So, click on "Creature Spirits" below...if you dare. Mwahahahaaa!

Restore Your (Family) Nature: Creature “Spirits”: Confession time. I’m a huge fan of all shows that chase after evidence of ghosts, cryptozoological creatures (like Bigfoot), and UFOs. I can...

Leaf Me Never: Fall Leaf Garland Craft

Ah fall, quite possibly my FAVORITE time of year. For this desert native, I love autumn and the cooler temperatures it brings—perfect for hiking, camping, and just hanging outside, taking in nature. This family activity is a great craft to complete outdoors this time of year! It is easy and fun to create using nature’s beautiful fall leaves or at least being inspired by them. With this idea you can make a fall garland, a leaf booklet (use the hole and ribbon to create your book bind), a family portrait garland, place tags for a family dinner, or what ever else your creative mind takes you. Let’s grab some leaves and have fun!

 

You’ll need: Leaves (fake or real…if real, make sure they are still soft and bendy), glitter (think fall gold, orange, red, brown, yellow), hole puncher, glue, ribbon, scissors.

 

But we also recommend plastic or wax paper surface as glue will seep through leaves, family photos, mini clamps for holding pictures in place while drying, wire or wire ribbon for tendril affect.

Directions:

Collect your leaves (even more adventurous to collect REAL fall leaves if those are available to you—just make sure they’re still soft and bendy). We used fake leaves because, well, we don’t have “fall” in the desert! You could make mini-garlands (faerie garlands) with smaller native leaves, something we’ll try some other day.

Make a hole with the hole punch near the top center of the leaf. Depending on how you want to hang them, that could be at the leaf stem, leaf tip, from the side or even near the center of the leaf.

Decorate your leaves. Here are some ideas: use a pen to draw, write messages, poems, jokes, or your favorite quote, glue glitter in designs or on the leaf edges, glue photos on the leaves and decorate with each one with glittery frames. Little ones can just dab glue about randomly and shake on some glitter…it will look fabulous! Sometimes it’s nice to leave some leaves blank to string in between your glittery delights, but how it’s made is entirely up to you!

Let your leaves completely dry before stringing! This is a good time for a snack break, take your nap, do your homework, or run around the yard for play exercise. You also could pick up the dog droppings or wash the dishes for mom or dad, but I was just thinking outloud.

String leaves for hanging. Leave about 6”—8” of ribbon (or wire) on each end for tying loops for hanging. String through the holes your punched earlier. We recommend looping the ribbon (or wire) around stems to keep leaves in place on your garland, or you can double loop the ribbon through the hole, this will also hold your leaf in place and keep in from sliding along the garland. If you are stringing through the center of the leave, try tying a loose knot on either side (both sides of your leaf) to help keep it from sliding. If using wire (our preference), be sure to leave lots of extra for making tendrils and still having enough left over for the end of your garland! You can always add wire at stems for a seamless line :)

For tendrils…wrap wire around a pencil or your finger. Remove finger or pencil ;) 

Ready to hang! Decorate a fall basket, a centerpiece, archway, outdoor niche, the gate or front door…hang your fall treasure anywhere you wish to enjoy.

Let us know how it goes, share photos of your garlands and any tips with us!

 

Breakfast Geology

Good Morning Bunnies! How about a little bacon and eggs for breakfast? We're pretty sure this is how geologists get their proteins and minerals ;)

We love this quirky find in the Hi-Desert Nature Museum's (Yucca Valley, CA) geology display.

Howlite is commonly found as carvings, or in jewelry. It is a porous mineral, easily dyed to look like turquoise because of the similar look of the veining patterns. Dyed howlite (or magnesite) is marketed as turquenite. Howlite is also sold in its natural state, sometimes under the names "white turquoise" or "white buffalo turquoise," or "white buffalo stone" (none of which are true turquoise).

Honey Onyx is a delicate, soft stone often used as a decorative and architectural stone for kitchen countertops, bathroom sinks, and as stone sheets and tiles. It is particularly beautiful when back lit.

Travertine is a sedimentary limestone deposited by hot mineral springs or in limestone caves ("flowstone"). It is sometimes marketed as travertine limestone or travertine marble (it is not a marble). Travertine is often formed in creeks or rivers, or in caves as stalagmites and stalactites. Sometimes flowstone cave structures are deposited into thin sheets called "draperies" or "curtains" with brown and beige layers that look like bacon--often called "cave bacon."




"Cave bacon," a type of flowstone. Image by DanielCD














Source Wikipedia