
Splendor awaits in minute proportions. -
E.O. Wilson

Archive of Weekly Activities

Take a large piece of paper, some watercolors or other paints, and a hard surface you can lay on the ground outside. Find a tree or bush that is casting shadows and place your paper where it captures these shadows. Quickly and loosely draw around the shadow shapes - they will move and change; so just capture them as you can! Then fill in either the shapes or the space around the shapes with your paints. Isn't our inner ecology filled with the same illusive, ever-changing dance of light and shadow?

Sketch a sound! Find a place to sit outdoors. Spend at least five minutes just listening for what you can hear. Do you hear traffic? Birds? Animals?
Wind? Water? Choose a sound and think what symbols could you use to draw a simple sketch of that sound? For example, a bird's call might look like this: >>> ^>>> ^. Try to capture the pattern & the intensity of the sound.

Make the "green hour" a new family tradition. Give yourself( and your children) one hour each day as a time for unstructured play and interaction with the natural world. Even fifteen minutes is a good start. Imagine a map with your home or summer place in the center. Draw ever-widening circles around it, each representing each successively older child’s realm of experience. How can you encourage yourself and your family members to expand your circles of familiarity and comfort with the natural world this summer. Grow widening circles of freedom and experience, venture forth!

Find a scrap of board and place it on bare dirt. Come back in a day or two, lift the board, and see how many species have found shelter there. Take in the incredible abundance of life around you. What creatures pass by your house each night, live in your garden, or inside your walls? We are surrounded by and interdependent with all this life!