SOUP, BUGS AND JOURNALS
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand. – Einstein

Imagination stirs in nature…

Finnegan led the free play with his wild and wonderful imagination, creating home made soup. The giant tractor tire became the pan.  The other children helped him gather yummy ingredients such as cones, grasses and wildflowers. Sticks for stirring and little stones became salt thrown in with great delight to his magnificent soup…delicious!

Crafts last week included nature journals…

Tree rubbings and bug paintings were added to the journals…

Dare to delve into the vastness of your imagination and stimulate the imagination of others.

Wishing you all lot’s of fun, joy and laughter in nature this week. Love and Peace, Marghanita x

THE LET’S GO OUTSIDE REVOLUTION BEACH PARTY APRIL 15th 2011

The “Let’s Go Outside” Revolution is about changing the way children spend their time.

Happy, Healthy Children Play Outdoors!

Happy, Healthy Toddlers Play Outdoors!

I AM THE REVOLUTION!

Happy, Healthy Adults Play Outdoors!  WE ARE THE REVOLUTION!

Happy, Healthy Teenagers Play Outdoors! WE ARE THE REVOLUTION!

THE FUTURE LOOKS GOOD!

JOIN THE FUN!  JOIN THE REVOLUTION! BE PART OF A BETTER FUTURE!

JOIN THE REVOLUTION on FACEBOOK!

I will be sharing the Revolution Beach Party video and report later this month.

Personalized Illustrations – A Unique Gift to Treasure

A beautiful reminder of how magical nature is to your child.

Do you know a child who would like to be a nature loving Butterfly Girl or a Dragonfly Boy?

“My daughter was thrilled to be able to help “create” her own butterfly girl! She loved being able to pick out the colors and the hair style, it was neat to hear her own fantasy of what her butterfly girl would look like. When it arrived she was so excited it was just like she imagined. She was so proud of her creation and loved seeing her very own butterfly girl come to life. This is a wonderful present to give to your child, we both adore it!”  Cathy Piso-

Here’s a unique opportunity to have your child, grandchild, niece, nephew or friend illustrated as a B utterly Girl or a Dragonfly Boy  by children’s illustrator Marghanta Hughes.

The beautiful illustration incorporates the child’s date of birth on their very own chrysalis and special nature quotation chosen by yourself.

This special offer will only be available from now until late November. It takes 14days from ordering the illustration to be completed and ready for delivery. Please allow a further 4-7 working days for delivery.

ORDER NOW FOR CHRISTMAS

Samuel and his friend head out for an adventure.  They are off to to build a gang hut in the woods next to the waterfall where the wild things roam.

Remember your childhood? Children need to be allowed to roam free and be wild.

Richard Louv-An Inspiration

Richard Louv is a journalist and author of seven books about the connections between family, nature and community. His most recent book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder (Algonquin), translated into 9 languages and published in 13 countries, has stimulated an international conversation about the relationship between children and nature.

Louv is also the chairman and co-founder of the Children & Nature Network, an organization helping build the movement to connect today’s children and future generations to the natural world. Louv coined the term Nature-Deficit Disorder™ which has become the defining phrase of this important issue.

My book characters the Little Humbugs are eco warriors and love to fly and walk everywhere. From a distance they love to watch the HUMAN children walk and bike too. I try to walk or bike whenever I can. Lately I have been doing a lot more biking. I’ve even started delivering my environmentally friendly books and educational dolls locally by bike.

And I’m loving it!

The larger orders are a bit more challenging. Like the box on the back of my pannier but I’m managing so far.

SO WHY DO I BIKE?

• It’s good for the planet
• It saves me money
• It keeps me fit
• I get to be a good role model for my children
• I get to meet my retailers face to face

You can hear the bird song, stop and watch the amazing wildlife we are so fortunate to have here in the Okanagan. Even in a city there is always a tree or a bird to appreciate on your travels. Yes, it’s really hard work especially when it’s a 45 minute uphill ride home but it’s so worth the effort when you think of all the positives.

And what about the children….

Samuel and Jasmine have walked or cycled to and from school every day for the last 3 weeks. Now that the weather is changing, we will revert back to using the car some days.

Appreciation

It’s been hard work walking home but they have become the best of friends on their walks to and from school. Last week Sam had to walk home with his saxaphone (which is almost half the size of him). That night when I was tucking him into bed, I told him how proud I was of him for walking all the way home with his heavy saxaphone. He held out his hands and showed me blisters that had formed on his little hands from carrying the case.  As I kissed them better, he turned and looked up at me and said, ” at least I didn’t have to walk 8 hours to collect water Mum”.

I wept.

The Leaf Dancer

Take a walk and see what you can find below the trees.

Chestnuts, acorns and lot’s of leaves.

Down by the lake, hunt for rocks in the Autumn breeze.

Why not try making one of these….

Nature friends dancing

Acorn Boy and Acorn Dad

What Autumn treasures have you found lately?

Nature play nurtures a child’s body, mind and spirit.

When children and nature mix, something magical happens….Watch the video.

What a joy it was to share time with these children in nature…………Thank you! This event helped raise funds for children suffering from Cancer. The funds will go towards the Camp Goodtimes organized by the Canadian Cancer Society.

CHILDREN NEED OUR HELP…

An average child will spend:

• 4-7  MINUTES a day in unstructured play

• 7  HOURS each day in front of electronic media

No surprise then that:

• Childhood Obesity is at an all time high

• 4.5 Million children aged 5-17 yrs have been diagnosed with ADHD

• Several childhood cancers have been linked to what we eat

All of these dire conditions have one thing in common: Experts have linked their negative impacts with loss of play in nature. Playing in nature is highly conducive to enhancing every facet of healthy child development. We can all play a part in changing these horrific statistics.

Here’s a few friends online who are doing some great things with kids and nature: @OCPlayparks, @activekidsclub,  @salisburydowns, @balmeras – Grassstainguru, @Goexplorenature

Today’s children deserve the right to experience the benefits of nature just as we did.

This weekend support  take a child outside week . Why not build a fairy house.

Here are a few of my favorite resources to help connect kids with nature: Children & nature network; Nature Rocks ; Green Hour

Join me on my “Build a Butterfly Girl House” Tour 2011. I will be traveling from BC down the westcoast to California so if you would like to help connect children with nature, please get in touch: info@littlehumbugs.com

I would like to take this opportunity to say a special thank you to Don and my husband for all their help in making this event such a success. I would also like to thank Jasmine, Emily and Kristina for their help on the day.

Children need nature and nature needs children.

TOFFEE GIVEAWAY

My first book character TOFFEE turns eight this month. I can’t believe it! I’ve had an incredible amount of fun with this little book character over the years. From Highland Shows to book launches held at Edinburgh Castle and the late Queen Mother’s castle, Glamis Castle.

I even got to walk down 5th Avenue on Tartan Day with my little book character. But the best times by far were running my storytelling art workshops with children throughout Scotland, London and New York. My Toffee workshops gave me an opportunity to give kids a “hands on experience”-clay making, scavenger hunting, storytelling and bug hunting. A fun way to learn about the natural world from the tiniest insects to the bigger beasts like the magnificent Highland Cattle.

What a joy it is to watch and inspire a child’s sense of wonder. Nature and children were meant to be together.

Seeing Toffee come to life in animation-was a real thrill too.

David Jnr, Jasmine and Samuel with the “real” Toffee the Highland Cow

My children sang the theme tune for the animation pilot and 4 minute video. Every time I hear the tune my eyes well up.

Celebrating Toffee’s Birthday

To celebrate Toffee turning 8, I’m giving away Toffee the Highland Cow goodies.

TOFFEE GIVEAWAY

My kilted clan in their Toffee t-shirts, Perthshire, Scotland.

Toffee’s Bug Hunt picture book, Toffee On Parade Artpack,  Toffee t-shirt and signed Toffee print.

For your chance to WIN the Toffee goodies, just leave a comment below………..what’s your favorite bug?

Watch Toffee’s Bug Hunt video as featured on CBeebies.

Visit Toffee’s website and learn a bit more about Scotland and it’s wildlife.

You can take the girl out of Scotland but you can’t take Scotland out of the girl!!

What’s your favorite bug? For a chance to WIN the Toffee Goodies just leave a comment below.

This post and the following 2 posts are dedicated to my beautiful friend Don who allowed me to hold this magical event in his grounds, a nature haven for wildlife.

The Butterfly Girls of Summer Charity Event 2010 (Biggest Fairy House – Kelowna 2010)

These days, a typical child spends only 4 to 7 minutes outside each day. Compare that to the 7½ hours daily the average kid uses electronic media, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. I want to help reverse these statistics.

So I decided to hold a nature event…….based around my book characters The Little Humbugs. The Humbugs live their lives not dissimilar to how we all used to live, just like indigenous people who respect and live in harmony with Mother Earth.

Preparation for the event…

First I cleared an area for my tree stump stools around an existing stump that was just the perfect size for a Little Humbugs table.

The Little Humbugs seating area. An area in the shade for crafts and picnicking.

We evolved in nature – if we become disconnected from the natural world we lose something magical, something so precious.

Then I started on the construction of a tepee structure for the Butterfly Girl (fairy) house

For the last couple of weeks I have been foraging, collecting pine beetle infested logs, stripping them, cutting back any large branches and finally on Friday I got to raise the logs with the help from Don (the owner of the grounds) and my eldest son into a tepee like structure.

Next, I started to add the frame work. (Older children can be involved in this process).

A spiritual experience.

There was something very magical about building such a structure, I enjoyed the solitude, it gave me time to let go, to feel the connection with the earth, the wonderful surface, patterns and textures of the rustic wood, the dry, dusty soil. My days of working on the land, getting dirty, smelling the forest, feeling the warm summer breeze kiss me and make the long, dry native grasses toss and dance were special. Finally seeing the structures come together as damselflies and dragonflies entertained me with their magnificent acrobatic displays, it reinforced my mission to start a nature facility (school) for kids sometime in the not too distant future. To share the joy and wonder Mother Nature gifts us every day and to feel connected to our incredibly beautiful yet fragile planet.

Keeping it environmentally friendly, I used pine beetle damaged branches

and biodegradable twine.

A welcoming heart (made from willow, handmade felt beads, a pine cone threaded on twine) for the entrance.

A whopping 8ft structure stood in front of me.

Now it was time to invite the children to hunt for foliage, decorate and let them weave their magic into my tepee structure, making it their very own…Butterfly Girl (Fairy) House.

Find out how the children bring  their enthusiasm and energy to breathe life into the Little Humbugs charity event and fill my heart with joy and laughter in my next blog post…………

The more I work with children in nature the stronger my passion grows to spread the word about the importance of nature in a child’s life. This event is raising funds to help kids with cancer. We hope to raise enough funds to allow several cancer patients the opportunity to have a fun day in nature.

If you would like to get involved helping to raise awareness of such an important cause please contact me: info@littlehumbugs.com or why not become a Little Humbugs Ambassador.

A storm the night before had brought lots of rain making the mud thick and gooey.

Chloe and her Butterfly Girl friends Amber and Olivia love when the earth is of a squelchy consistency, just perfect for making mud pies. Sometimes the girls will jump in the squelchy mud, making them laugh so much that their sides ache, then dance in the warm summer rain to wash it all off.

Go on……..have a SPLASH in the MUD!

Just like the Little Humbugs, my kids love getting dirty!!!!

Mud Glorious Mud!

Backyard fun-David Jnr and Samuel 2008

According to this report, playing in dirt can make you smarter: Smarter Kids

Watch the DIRT Movie trailer: