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ENLARGE
JODI SMITH
What are you doing this summer with your family? 4-H wants to encourage you to get outside and engage your kids in hands-on learning. There is so much that the great outdoors has to offer families in the way of fun, inexpensive, educational entertainment. Kids are natural explorers and will follow right along once we slow down and take the time away from today's modern technologies. So put away the cell phones and electronic games and go outside and get some fresh air. Engaging youth in the world around them provides lifelong skills, confidence and understanding of how the natural world functions.
Look around the house and gather together some tools for exploring. Some items that would be helpful could be a magnifying glass, binoculars, tweezers, bucket and tape measure. Use your imagination and be creative with other items that you find in that junk drawer that could be useful for your exploration. Then get out there and enjoy the great outdoors! As we head into summer, here are a few tips and ideas for activities that you can do with your kids.
• Nature hikes — Have your child carry something along to gather what they find. Use paper and a pencil or crayon and get natural rubbings from trees or leaves by just placing the paper over the object and rubbing gently.
• Visit one the North Umpqua's many beautiful waterfalls for your hike. For more information, visit http://www.co.douglas.or.us/parks/brochures/north_umpqua_river.pdf.
• Bird-watching — Take your binoculars and check out a book from the library on birds in the area.
• Scavenger hunts — Make your own nature scavenger hunt lists at home and see who finds all the items first. Have a special hunt in which your kids have to dig for a buried treasure.
• Craft — Lay fresh flowers or leaves on a wooden board and cover with plain cotton muslin fabric. Help your child pound with a hammer to create the image on the fabric. This design can then be cut out and glued onto a notebook to make a journal.
• Tree identification — Collect leaves found on the ground and compare to a book or Web resource to learn about different trees. Use the leaves you collect and set up a race to find the matching leafs.
• Visit the Butterfly Garden at the Elkton Community Education Center, or visit the fish ladder at Winchester Dam.
Before we know it, it's Douglas County Fair time. The OSU Extension Service 4-H program will be offering free educational, hands-on activities in the Exhibit Building this year at fair. The activities will be on a variety of 4-H club topic areas and the community will have an opportunity to learn about 4-H.
The Extension Service will also be involved in the forestry tent at the fair; it will be set up between Douglas Hall and the Exhibit Hall. The tent will provide a variety of kid-friendly crafts and activities. We are hoping to have animal exhibits, birdhouse making, wildlife puzzles, Wheel of Forestry and much more. Stop by with your kids and check it out.
Look around the house and gather together some tools for exploring. Some items that would be helpful could be a magnifying glass, binoculars, tweezers, bucket and tape measure. Use your imagination and be creative with other items that you find in that junk drawer that could be useful for your exploration. Then get out there and enjoy the great outdoors! As we head into summer, here are a few tips and ideas for activities that you can do with your kids.
• Nature hikes — Have your child carry something along to gather what they find. Use paper and a pencil or crayon and get natural rubbings from trees or leaves by just placing the paper over the object and rubbing gently.
• Visit one the North Umpqua's many beautiful waterfalls for your hike. For more information, visit http://www.co.douglas.or.us/parks/brochures/north_umpqua_river.pdf.
• Bird-watching — Take your binoculars and check out a book from the library on birds in the area.
• Scavenger hunts — Make your own nature scavenger hunt lists at home and see who finds all the items first. Have a special hunt in which your kids have to dig for a buried treasure.
• Craft — Lay fresh flowers or leaves on a wooden board and cover with plain cotton muslin fabric. Help your child pound with a hammer to create the image on the fabric. This design can then be cut out and glued onto a notebook to make a journal.
• Tree identification — Collect leaves found on the ground and compare to a book or Web resource to learn about different trees. Use the leaves you collect and set up a race to find the matching leafs.
• Visit the Butterfly Garden at the Elkton Community Education Center, or visit the fish ladder at Winchester Dam.
Before we know it, it's Douglas County Fair time. The OSU Extension Service 4-H program will be offering free educational, hands-on activities in the Exhibit Building this year at fair. The activities will be on a variety of 4-H club topic areas and the community will have an opportunity to learn about 4-H.
The Extension Service will also be involved in the forestry tent at the fair; it will be set up between Douglas Hall and the Exhibit Hall. The tent will provide a variety of kid-friendly crafts and activities. We are hoping to have animal exhibits, birdhouse making, wildlife puzzles, Wheel of Forestry and much more. Stop by with your kids and check it out.
When the school year begins, the 4-H Afterschool Program will be organizing low cost no-school day trips. For more information, please contact the Douglas County OSU Extension Service at 672-4461 or contact Jodi Smith, 4-H Youth Forestry Instructor at 672-4461. You can also visit http://extension.oregonstate.edu/douglas/.
