Critter Corner: Deer

Fascinating Deer
What animal arouses more emotion, controversy, interest, anger, compassion and awe than deer?  They live throughout the United States, in the cities, the country and the suburbs.  Deer are magnificent and fascinating to watch if you are lucky enough spy one, can provide a delicious and healthy food source and can wreak havoc in gardens, woodlands and on roadways.  Grown ups know them for all of these qualities and, love 'em or hate 'em, they provide an awesome opportunity to promote nature appreciation in children.

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KidsDiscoverNature.com is one year old!

Happy Birthday!
What started as a whim last winter has now become a full-fledged blog with followers and sponsors! And, on top of it,  I now call myself a blogger, which makes me giggle, since writing was never my "thing."  My sister, Kara, was always the creative writer in the family (BTW - She writes for Treehugger.  If you are interested in following her posts you can find her latest one here).

In celebration of Kids Discover Nature's first Birthday, I am launching a new feature entitled Critter Corner.  Since animals are my passion (I watch "Nature" on PBS religiously and think Planet Earth was the best movie/series ever), I thought I would pass along my knowledge to all you 'rents out there that know what a squirrel and Blue Jay look like, but that's pretty much the extent of it.

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Join the Great Backyard Bird Count February 12-15

As a follow up to my previous post, here is a wonderful outdoor activity you can do with your children.  In that post, I listed "feeding the birds" as an easy activity to use to encourage them to go outside.  Well, this one will help you take it one step further because it will help you teach them about nature.

Consider participating in the National Audubon Society's Great Backyard Bird Count coming up in a few weeks.  At the end of this post, I have included the official press release from the National Audubon Society, which includes all the information you need to participate.

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Your kids didn't go outside today? What's your excuse?

Another winter day has passed.  Did your kids spend it hanging around in the house after school watching television or sitting in front of the computer? I have heard the excuses from my kids --- "it's cold, it's yucky out, I don't feel like it" and one of my all time favorites...."it's boring!"  Why is it so hard to get kids outside these days?  Sometimes I get tired of pushing them out the door and feel like giving in and letting them hang around inside.  And it's true, winter weather makes it hard to go outside to play.  It's so much easier to be outside when the sun warms your face and you don't have to bundle up.

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Bring the Outside In

There are those days when going outside to play just isn't in the cards.  That has been the case for my children these past few days.  My daughter is recovering from a stomach bug and it is just too darn cold for my son to be outside.  When the temps are in the single digits and the wind chill is fierce, his little fingers become icicles in a matter of minutes.  Needless to say, we are are going a little stir crazy and could use a breath of fresh air.

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