Spring is the time when our bodies start to twitch and you’ll find our whole family staring out the window longing for sunshine and brighter days. One of our favorite springtime activities is getting outdoors in our canoe. Canoes offer a fun, traditional way of experiencing the outdoors. Designs and materials have changed with time and technology, but modern canoes still evoke memories of the functional boats used by Native Americans and early wilderness explorers. For us trips can vary in both time and distance, from an hour-long excursion on a nearby lake or a four-day camping trip to remote mountain lake. In spite of or perhaps because of this diversity, it is an activity we always come back to.

Before having children my husband and I did a bit of white water rafting, but we were not very familiar with canoes or kayaks. So we approached canoeing with our two-year-old daughter with a bit of trepidation. Would she sit still? What if we capsized? Did we have the equipment or the know-how to do something like this?

Our fears were quickly put to rest. Our daughter is now six, and she and our 18-month-old son love the canoe. The pure bliss of being able to relax and listen to the healing sound of the water rejuvenates us and reminds us why we love being outside. Paddling in the canoe allows us to connect with nature and opens our eyes to things we don’t always see when hiking or exploring on land. While coasting across the surface of a lake or stream we have glimpsed bald eagles diving for fish, cliff swallows feeding their young in the nest, and gopher snakes swimming in the reeds. Being on the water also allows us to get up close and personal with painted turtles and western toads.

Here are a few tips to start your own water explorations:

Keep the kids involved in what’s going on. From unloading the car to paddling the boat there is always something they can do. And keeping them invested in what’s going on makes the trip that much more rewarding because they are able to contribute.

We think of outdoor activities in terms of three simple words: discover, wonder, connect. I like to try to bring toys or think up activities that encourage these. We sing songs, play “I spy,” bring fishing poles, or use binoculars to look at the world in more detail. Water is an ideal medium for contemplation so I also like to encourage everyone, myself and my husband included, to just relax and take time to reflect or just daydream.

I will be the first to admit that my idyllic dream of floating along contemplating nature is often interrupted by a crying baby, or another child asking for food or complaining of boredom. Be practical and bring one or two non-essential toys. If they are water-friendly toys you can tie a string to them and attach them to the gunwales so they can float alongside the boat.

Snacks. Bring lots of snacks. They tend to keep spirits high, relieve boredom, and help when the kids, and adults, get cranky and tired during that last bit of paddling back to shore.

As far as equipment, we bring lifejackets, paddles, snacks and plenty of water on every trip.

Other useful equipment includes a bailer (a bucket or suction water gun also works); a dry bag for keys, wallets, cell phone, etc.; and a padded seat, towel or blanket (I recommend fleece since it dries out easily back at camp or the car) to cushion little ones sitting in the bottom of the boat and your own backside. As with any outdoor activity we find it’s a good idea to have a change of dry clothes for each person, more snacks and extra water bottles waiting at the car when we get back.

It should be obvious, but remember to practice good water safety. When launching the boat everyone needs to be wearing a life jacket. In the canoe, sitting is a must. Before heading out, think about the time of year and where you are travelling. If we are heading to a larger lake in early spring I will take a set of extra clothes in a dry bag; if someone falls out of the boat it is much more essential to put them into dry clothing and get them warm to prevent hypothermia before we get back to shore than it would be if we were exploring a stream or inlet in August.

There are lots of options out there when it comes to canoes, but do not be intimidated. We started by renting a canoe from a local outdoor equipment store several times before purchasing our own. Canoes in the 16-foot to 17-foot range are among the most popular. They offer a nice combination of speed, maneuverability and carrying capacity. When looking for a boat keep in mind that the wider the boat, the more stable it is. The narrower the boat, the more efficient and easier the paddling. Narrow boats are slightly more “tippy,” but they tend to be lighter and easier to keep on a steady track.

On longer trips space can become an issue, but there is still plenty of room if you pack light and think ahead. In many ways it is like backpacking: if there is one device that can do three jobs, bring it and leave the other devices at home. Our first multi-day trip transformed our canoe from a recreational toy into a mode of transportation. From that time onward camping took on a whole new dimension for us and our kids.

If you find yourselves out on the lakes and streams this spring, listen. If you hear multiple voices making up their own lyrics to the tune of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, it is probably just us, floating along in our tippy red canoe.

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Crystal Atamian is an environmental educator who fell in love with the wildlife biologist who taught her how to dissect a duck. When she is not living in her tippy red canoe she knits, gardens, plays, and creates with her two children in Spokane, Washington. She blogs about the dirt and discoveries at Duck Duck Moose.

“No matter how much one may love the world as a whole,
one can live fully in it only by living responsibly in some small part of it.”

                                                          -Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America

“Nobody can discover the world for somebody else. 
Only when we discover it for ourselves does it become common ground
and a common bond and we cease to be alone.”

                                                        -Wendell Berry, A Place on Earth: A Novel

I have been thinking lately about a trend in my life over the past ten or so years. For a long time I was very interested in international issues and causes; my focus was broad and far-reaching. I felt myself drawn to what I saw to be the issues of “real” or “major” importance in the world and tended to dismiss concerns closer to home.

Yet, as the years have gone by, and especially in the years since my sons were born, and more recently, since settling our family on our small homestead, I notice myself and my perspective turning inward, refocusing on this place. My place. The land and rhythms that I am surrounded by and living within. The idea of a “sense of place” has been hovering in my thoughts, its voice growing louder, sounding calm, steadfast, nourishing, drawing me closer.

Looking back, one of the main influences that brought about this change in perspective has been my interest in local and sustainable agriculture, and this interest led me, in turn, to Wendell Berry’s writing. I deeply believe that, as Berry says, “one can live fully in [the world] only by living responsibly in some small part of it,” and that “only when we discover it for ourselves does it become common ground and a common bond.” First we must draw into ourselves and our surroundings, be present in and with them, learn about them and sink into them before reemerging, more grounded, centered and present, able to more fully connect with and create community with others and the wider world.

It used to be that having a “sense of place” was a given; it was unusual not to have a strong connection to a particular place. Today, however, in our very mobile and frantic society, there is a growing need to consciously create and nurture the knowledge and understanding of where we are – physically as well as in our inner selves. A need to create and nurture a sense of who we are, being grounded in our surroundings; to lay a footing for setting our own roots and establishing our own rich history whether we or our family have lived in a home for generations or months.

We need these roots, and this sense of being grounded, of belonging in the place we call home. If we allow and encourage ourselves to be open to observing our surroundings and our inner selves, this knowledge will give us the foundation for a greater awareness and connection to the nature of our place, to the particular rhythms enfolding us. There are practical benefits to this: knowing and being able to teach our children the names of plants and animals we see each day and learning how to care for them, finding edible plants to add to our meals, or maybe gaining a better understanding of why certain plants do better or worse in our gardens. At the same time there are also personal benefits: understanding the connection between natural rhythms and our inner selves (emotions as well as physical being), greater mindfulness and a lighter spirit from being out in nature more, from taking the time to pause and focus, seeing the beauty in small things we might have overlooked before. We can gain a greater respect and reverence for the nature and rhythms in which we live, and simply having a greater understanding of where we are helps point the way forward with more sure, steady feet.

This time of the year, with winter beginning to loose its grasp and spring starting to make inroads, is a wonderful time of year to begin to take steps toward finding our sense of place. It is a time of natural as well as spiritual renewal and regrowth. The year is still young and it is easy to find our spirits lifted and inspired by the newness and hope of regrowth around us. The natural world is in many ways a blank slate. Starting from the decay and dormancy of winter, it is easy to see the changes taking place, easy to begin to notice the shapes of the land, the flowers blooming and trees leafing, and to begin to identify these, to notice the changing weather and rhythms as they unfold. It is the start of a new year’s cycle of growth.

It can be an overwhelming prospect, thinking about where and how to begin learning about our surroundings, outside and in. I want to offer a number of suggestions, because we all connect to different things, we all learn differently and find some ways of interacting with our selves and surroundings more meaningful than other ways. So please keep this in mind when reading these ideas. Most of these ideas can easily expand to include children of all ages; it is never too early to start helping our children to develop their own sense of place, as well! So, pick an idea that grabs you and start there. Put any others that sound interesting in reserve, to call on when you are ready, but choose one to start. And start. Imperfectly, tentatively or boldly, take a step.

Getting To Know Your Physical Place

Keep A Record of What You See

Keep a journal or notebook handy and take five minutes each day (or as often as you are able) to make note of what is happening outside. You could choose to pick a place outside to visit each day, or a window to look out of and note any changes happening. Another option would be to simply write down some general observations from the day. This doesn’t have to be exceptional or extensive. Focus on what is of special interest to you (the phase or location of the moon, the types of flowers blooming, the birds or other animals you see…) and feel free to go beyond “just” words, to include pictures, leaves or flowers to press, information you learn about animals or plants you see – anything you would like to add. This can be as simple or encompassing as you desire.

Capture Your Place in Photographs

Take a walk around your home – inside or out – and notice the places that speak to you of home, of being centered. Take photographs of these spots and display them somewhere you will see them often.

Take Regular Nature Walks

Get outside several times a week and take a walk. This can be as short as walking around your home or up and down your driveway, or it can be longer if you like. Walking the same route often will help you get to know one portion of your place more intimately. You will have the chance to notice things you haven’t before, to see the beauty that has mostly gone overlooked. Sometimes when you go, take a field guide or two and begin to identify the names of trees, plants and flowers that you pass by. Listen for the bird songs or insect noises; look for animal tracks on the ground and see if you can identify them.

Map Your Place

Put pen (or crayons) to paper and draw a map of your place. This can include your home and yard, if you have one, nearby houses or businesses, parks, land features like streams or ponds, mountains or ravines. Include the places that are important to you, and that help to make your place yours. The goal is not to create a perfectly-to-scale map, but to create a picture of your home, your place.

Getting To Know Your Inner Place

Make a Reflective List

Set aside a block of time when you can be uninterrupted. Sit quietly and reflect on where you are, in this period of your life. As words, images or phrases surface, write them down. Once you have what feels like a complete list, read through your words, images and phrases and reflect on what they say about where you are, what your inner place looks like at this point in time.

Create A Picture of Your Place

Look through magazines or other sources for images that speak to you. Try not to censor yourself, but instead clip any and all images that you are drawn to, without first asking why. Once you have a stack of images, create a collage, or an image book from them. Spend some time reflecting on your finished piece: do you see any recurring themes, moods, images, colors? What might these say about what your inner space looks like now?

Map Your Inner Place

What makes up you at this point in time? What roles do you play? What inspires you? What obligations do you have? What feeds you? What drains you? Using your answers to these questions, take pens, crayons, paints – whatever medium you prefer – and draw a map of you. You might start with your name in the center, and expand from there, it might be a very detailed and orderly map, or perhaps more free-form and concept-oriented. Maybe it will be a word map, or maybe you visualize your inner place as a house with different, connecting rooms, or a garden with various beds. However you decide to create it, the goal of your map is to create an image that you can hold in your hands of who you are and what your place is like at this time.

And Then…

Once you have gotten to know your place and the natural rhythms surrounding you a bit better, take some time to reflect on whether there is a portion of your physical place that could use a little extra care. Are there many birds but not much for the birds to eat? Is there an area around your home that could benefit from some flowers to encourage the honeybees you saw, or some herbs to add to your dinner? Is there an area with a lot of litter that could be cleaned up? A neglected fruit tree that could possibly be brought back to health? And, as with your physical place, reflect on areas of your inner place that might need extra care, and take steps to give back to your spirit as well, for while we first must take the time to learn about and begin to understand our place, the next, natural, step is then to find ways to care for the nature around and spirit within us; to give back to what is supporting us.

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Annie Demko lives in Northeast Ohio with her husband and twin boys on a small, historic homestead where she spends her days caring for and playing with her sons, cleaning, cooking, creating, and attempting to coordinate and accept the chaos. She has recently begun blogging about her days and desire to find and celebrate the beauty and value in the ordinary at Moon in the Window.

Sophie later learned that the BFG ( Big Friendly Giant) was a dream collector.
She took him with her in the pale country where you can hear dreams sailing along.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“We is in Dream Country.” the BFG said. “This is where all dreams is beginning.”

It is not a rare occurrence for many of us to hear the sounds of little feet running down the hallway into our bedrooms, only to be greeted with a frightened voice saying “ I had a bad dream.”

What about the midnight holler? “Mom, Mom, I had a bad dream!” On such an occasion it is me whose big feet are running down the hallway.

Other children cannot find it in them to fall asleep for fear of a bad dream.

Many years ago I read Roald Dahl’s book The BFG to my children. Wouldn’t all of us wish for a giant who blows good dreams upon sleeping little children from his dream jar? Why couldn’t we wish for something so splendid? We might be short on BFG’s but I was sure that I could whip up something wonderful in the way of a dream jar.

Every night one or two dream wishes are written on a slip of paper and placed into the jar. At the end of the year we take all of our dream slips and place them in a clear jar with the year clearly marked on it. Placed on a shelf in the bookcase, our jar becomes a testament to great sleep and wonderful dream collecting.

Dream Jars

Materials

1 quart mason or canning jar with lid

1 sheet of tissue paper any color

Mod podge or other decoupage medium

Sponge brush

Assorted stickers and lettering

Paper cut into strips

Instructions

Rip the sheet of tissue paper into medium sized pieces.

Wrinkle all of the pieces of tissue paper after you’ve ripped them into the desired sizes.

With your sponge brush, brush one small section of the jar from the top to the bottom. Place tissue paper over the glued section.

Brush decoupage glue over the tissue paper.

Move on to the next section of the jar and repeat until the jar is completely finished. Let dry completely.

Once the jar is dry, place the letter stickers on one side of the jar to spell the word “dream.” On the back side of your jar put an assortment of stickers that make you happy. 

Cut small strips of paper to leave beside your jar with a pen or pencil for nightly dream wishes.

Our children have such fond memories of making their dream jars. A few I’ve seen go off to college as “nostalgia” and others are still in active use. Our eldest daughter uses her dream jar to place her affirmations and life-list items. On the lid of her jar she has written, “To be read daily.”

For some of the children in this house “bad dreams” are a thing of the past but many a rainy afternoon sees them reading their collected dreams of years gone by.

If there’s anything I’ve learned it’s that we don’t need a big friendly giant to send us our good dreams. We can all become collectors of great dreams. Just be sure to share them wildly.

Here’s wishing you many happy and wonderful dreams!

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Amazon best-seller Valarie Budayr is author of The Fox Diaries: The Year the Foxes Came to Our Garden and The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. She is the founder and owner of Audrey Press and Jump into a Book. Valarie lives in Tennessee with her husband and 3 children.

Spring is the perfect season for a pretty baby hat that keeps heads warm on cool days, and brightens up any outfit. 

Size: 3-9 months

Hook: H

Yarn:

Weight Category: 5 – Bulky: Chunky, Craft, Rug Yarn

Gauge:

Knit: 14.6 stitches x 18 rows = 4″ (10cm) on size 10 (6mm) needles

Crochet: 10 sc and 12 rows = 4″ (10cm) on K-10.5 (6.5mm)

Key:

CH-Chain

SC-Single Crochet

SK-Skip

HDC-Half Double Crochet

SS- Slip Stitch

DC-Double Crochet

FPDC-Front Post Double Crochet

Pattern Notes: In every round, you will always do the first stitch of the next row into the same stitch you just SS’d to. The first stitch of each row (where you will end up SS’ing to) appears to be short, but please know that it is the way it should be since for this pattern I chose not to CH 2 or 3 at the beginning of each row. Also, the hat starts out rolling outwards initially, but as you work down the hat it will start making its real hat shape.

Please note that each row is specified by a ” – “, and there are no stitch counts.

Pattern

-Ch 2

-Place 7 HDC in first CH, SS to the first HDC

-HDC in the first HDC, HDC in the second HDC, then place 2 HDC in the next, continue in this pattern for the entire row, SS to the first HDC

-DC every HDC, SS to the first DC

-DC in the first DC, FPDC in the second DC, continue in this pattern for the entire row, SS to the first DC

-Place 2 DC in the first DC, FPDC in the FPDC, continue in this pattern for the entire row, SS to the first DC

-Place 1 DC in the first DC, Place 2 DC in the next DC, then FPDC in the FPDC, continue in this pattern for the entire row, SS to the first DC

-DC in EACH of the next THREE DC’s, FPDC in the FPDC, continue in this pattern for the entire row, SS to the first DC

 Do previous row a total of nine times.

-HDC every DC, and FPDC stitch for the entire row, SS to the first HDC.

-HDC every HDC for the entire row, SS to the first HDC.

 You can stop here if you would rather not add the flower.  It will look like this.

FLOWER

-CH 3, SS to first CH, CH 1

-SC X 6 in the center of the loop, SS to CH1, CH 1

-2 SC in every SC, SS to CH 1

-CH 3, SK 1 SC, SS to next SC (this forms a picot stitch) CH 3, SS to the next SC, CH 3, etc until the end of the row)

-CH 5, SS into space of first picot stitch, CH 5 again, SS  to space of next picot stitch, etc till end of row.

-CH 7, SS into space of first picot stitch, CH 7 again, SS to space of next picot stitch, etc till end of row.

-Fasten off and attach to the hat in desired location.

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Laura Hooker is a full-time mother, wife, Registered Nurse, and sewing and crochet-a-holic! She came about this wonderful world of crafting at an early age, and finds much inspiration from her lovely friends in blog land. She really enjoys coming up with and displaying her own patterns and tutorials. She is married and has a seven-year-old little boy and a new baby boy. You can find her at her blog, Ravelry page or her store on Etsy where she and her twin share sewing and fiber tutorials to inspire creativity in other Mamas.  She also can be found at Windfall Dolls, where she and her sister give away Waldorf inspired dolls to deserving little ones.

Alphabet Glue is a treat for children and adults alike. What inspired you to create the publication?

I’ve always been a huge fan of children’s literature, and a few years ago I began a regular feature on my blog where I would talk about favorite books that my daughter and I were reading together. At first I really wasn’t sure that anyone was reading my Library Monday posts, and in truth, I was really writing them for myself as a type of journal of our family reading adventures anyway. But before long, I started getting these wonderful emails from other families who were using the posts as a guide for finding books to read together. I realized that my passion for quality children’s literature, bookmaking projects and library going was not at all unique and that so many families were really looking for ways to engage in collaborative, creative projects together around reading, writing and storytelling. So, I created the first issue of Alphabet Glue and was totally amazed by the outpouring of support for the project. That enthusiasm was incredibly motivating and before long, I was working on a second issue. I really love that I’m able to contribute to the family lives of my readers in such a positive and fun way, and I also love that the magazine feels authentic in reflecting my own journey as a parent and an educator.

What role do you believe a love of literature plays in a child’s development?

I think that a love of literature is really a love of story, and story is just such a huge part of how we relate to the world! For children, so much of the way that they express their imagination and creativity is through story, and interacting with quality literature helps them to broaden their view of the forms that this expression can take. I also think that children (and adults) process a lot of their experiences and questioning through the stories that they create, and that their relationships to literature change and deepen as they grow older and have more diverse experiences. Engaging with literature allows us to see the world from perspectives that are unique and differ from our own, and this is important to the way we grow as people — throughout our lives.

You have a lot of creative projects for children to explore. How do these enhance the reading experience for children?

As much as I think that most children really like to be read to, or read themselves, I also think that many children have more meaningful experiences with reading, writing and storytelling when they can get involved in projects that encourage them to actively engage. My own daughter may not be all that interested in just sitting down and writing a letter, but give everyone in the family their own mailbox for her to send things to, and suddenly the idea is much more compelling. I also include bookmaking projects in each issue of Alphabet Glue. I started doing this because I really believe in teaching children that their experiences of reading and writing can be just as authentic when they are the ones creating the story as they would be if they were reading something written by a professional author. Every story that we create has value, and being seven and making a book at the dining room table doesn’t mean that your story is any less important than the one on the shelf in the bookstore!

 As parents, in what ways can we help to foster a love of reading with our children?

 Honestly, I think that the biggest thing that we can do is to love reading ourselves! I really believe in making reading a priority activity that is included in the rhythm of daily life, pretty much without exception. I read to my daughter every night, even though she is a great reader these days and I could easily send her off to bed with a book to read on her own. I hope to keep reading to her until she goes off to college! I love the idea of reading as an activity of family togetherness. But, I’m also learning a lot right now about encouraging a love of reading through allowing some space for her to make her own choices about what to read. I always choose really high quality, well-written books to read with my daughter — I’m an unapologetic book snob! But I’m also learning to respect the fact that she may well want to read cheesy chapter books about magic spell casting cats on her own time and that this is part of her growth as a reader.

What is your favorite activity or craft from the upcoming Spring edition of Alphabet Glue?

Well, the February/March issue of Alphabet Glue was recently released and I have to say, it may be among my favorites to date. My daughter and I worked on a lot of the projects together this time around, and we had such a great time doing it! It was just a lovely way for us to be together in the busy days after the birth of her baby brother. I love the miniature mailboxes in this issue, and we’ve had so much fun creating our own family postal service. We’ve got mailboxes all around the house so that we can sneak funny little notes to each other. I’m working on the April/May issue now, and have some great garden related activities planned, as well as a feature on projects and books related to flight and flying objects.

Annie has shared with us a tutorial for making Story Lanterns, which originally appears in Volume Two of Alphabet Glue. Enjoy!

Thank you to Annie for sharing her thoughts with us here. To learn more about Annie and Alphabet Glue, please visit her blog.

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Annie Riechmann is an educator, parent and unapologetic lover of striped knee socks, avocados and field guides. She lives in Vermont, wishes that she was better at flying kites and can be found online on her blog, Bird and Little Bird.