A Favorite Outing: The Nature Center

Yesterday the boys and I walked over to our local Nature Center (Westwood Hills). I love that our weather has been nice enough lately to walk several blocks (we only have one car, so most days I can only travel by foot or bike which isn't very fun in the winter).Our Nature Center is a good outing. Even though their building is small, the boys can spend a lot of time in there. They like to look at the live animals (snakes, turtles, salamanders, toads, etc.), stuffed animals, touch the hands on exhibits, play the games, read books, play with puppets, etc. They even have backpacks stuffed with theme-related (mammals, birds, trees, etc.) materials: books, CDs, binoculars, games, etc., that you can check out for a week.

They have to spend time on the playground before we leave. But we usually go to hike and explore. Even in the winter, there are new things to discover and lessons to learn. Tracks in the snow, tapping the maple trees for sap, seeing the apiary, looking for birds and other animals--even just the fresh air and exercise is good. Especially when we're surrounded by buildings and concrete, it's very refreshing to to be surrounded by trees and "wilderness" for a short time. It seems to refresh the boys some, too.