Green Parent Chicago

Nature as Nurturing: An Educator’s Narrative to Motivate Nature Play

A soft breeze graces against our skin, birds chirp happily in the tree tops and the sweet smell of a magnolia tree perfumes the air around us. Many of us recall distinctive sensory memories from our time outdoors and nature poses a feast for the senses. Visual stimuli abound: greenery of all shapes and sizes, leaves garnished with edges from smooth to jagged, and an array of characters from pale brown squirrels to vermillion insects. Nature invigorates and nurtures all of our senses: visual, auditory, tactile and olfactory.

Nature offers a lot more to us than just sensory memories, however. Children around us often serve as a reminder of how enticing nature can be. Many teachers and parents can speak to how many times “Can we go outside?” has punctuated a topic at hand.

This is for good reason: nature offers a learning environment that is engaging while remaining calming and restorative. Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have conducted several studies that indicate time spent outdoors can have a positive effect on reducing the symptoms of ADHD in students ages 5 to 18 across gender and socioeconomic statuses. This evidence was also observed in both a nationwide study and a preliminary study whereby students were monitored for cognitive challenges before and after a walk.

It seems that nature offers something analogous to a holistic reset button, an effortless way to experience calm and effective attention restoration. These therapeutic effects within nature may even have beneficial effects yet to be explored, including components such as reduced levels of domestic violence within the home and positive uplift for cancer patients. Many would argue that these therapeutics effects are important to note in an increasingly stress-inducing, medicating world.

“Well, what about in winter?” The results are even more striking. The therapeutic effects of nature can be at work literally through a window view. Besides gardening, hiking, and walking outdoors, we can still receive nature’s perks by simply looking outside to a natural view. Many natural changes are impressive and breathtaking to witness, and as an added bonus, these benefits are cost-effective and increase support and appreciation for the environment.

How do we cultivate a system for beating the winter blues, homework blues, or “need a moment” blues? Pursuing a course of nature perks can be simple, elegant and personalized in a way meaningful to an adult, family or child. Here are some suggestions:

Begin a nature journal: Use it to press leaves or wildflowers, describe nature observations and practice nature poetry.

Dabble into the world of field guides: birds, trees, wildflowers, edible plants, medicinal plants… name it and there is a field guide that educates on the topic. These are simple, inexpensive and easily available online or in a local bookstore.

Go on a nature walk: Make family time in nature. Have kids collect artifacts from their walk (leaves, pinecones, flowers, etc.) and help them to identify what they found. For kinesthetic learners , have them act out a skit of their favorite nature walk moment.

Create a monthly nature goal: Consider a nature-inspired family trip, new walk route, nature photography collage or intention to make homework breaks “outdoor” breaks. This is a great way to capitalize on diverse family interests and talents.

Cultivating time to look, react to and document what is happening in the natural world is an important role to be reinforced. Without being aware of the subtle peace and beauty within our natural landscape, much understanding of where our food comes from or what is so precious about our natural landscape will be lost to generations raised indoors.

From solar panels to beautiful gardens and biodiesel, people need to pay attention to their natural surroundings in order to fully appreciate all the complexity our environmental world can and should offer. Look to the kids asking to go outside or romping in a nearby park and remember that nature is the best teacher.

-Julie Ann Howlett is an Illinois-based educator and nature enthusiast offering educational services that promote environmental respect, holistic understandings, and compassion for your educational journey. Sign up for her e-newsletter with JAHLearning@gmail.com or visit JulieAnnHowlettConsulting.com.

This article appears in the August 2014 issue of Natural Awakenings Chicago

Chicago Parks To Continue Free Swimming Classes for Kids and Teens This Summer

The Chicago Park District will once again offer a free session of swim lessons to new enrollees age 6-17. The Park District initially offered the popular program this past January.

The first session (10 weeks) of Learn to Swim classes for kids and teens ages 6-17 will be free, when using coupon code FIRSTFREE. 

Fees will apply for Learn to Swim classes in subsequent sessions, or for an additional class in the same session.  The Learn to Swim fee is $22 for each 10 week session. (This fee may be waived for qualifying families.)

The FIRSTFREE coupon code can be used when registering online or in-person at the parks.

Chicago Park District pools and splash parks open Friday June 13. View this list to find a park district pool in your neighborhood.

-Christine

-photo credit: Chicago Park District

The 606 to Host "Trail Mix" of Events For Families and Design Enthusiasts

Chicago's soon to be completed new park, The 606, has a variety of events in store this summer around the city for families and those interested in the design and construction of the park, which is currently under construction along the site of the former Bloomingdale Trail.

"Trail Mix" kicked off on Tuesday with a conversation at The Darwin School Auditorium on native plants that will inhabit the park, and continues June 7 with a family bike ride and potluck at the McCormick Tribune YMCA.

Organizers say Family Days are geared toward children ages 3 to 12 and their caregivers and will include fun, hands-on activities. Evening events in the series are for adults who would like to join behind-the-scenes Conversations with experts working on The 606’s history, design and construction. All events in the series are free, but registration is required.

View the park's website for the full schedule of events and RSVP here.

-photo credit: The 606

Dress Like a Tree, Get in Free at The Morton Arboretum on Arbor Day

The Morton Arboretum will host an Arbor Day celebration April 25 with a costume contest for prizes and free admission for visitors who "dress like a tree". Additionally, members who ordinarily get free admission can obtain one free guest pass at the membership desk on that day. 

The event is part of the Arboretum's week-long Arbor Day celebration, which begins with an Arbor Day 10K Run this Sunday, April 13, followed by spring plant sales, and a tree planting and storytime with Curious George. 

For a full schedule of events visit: 

http://www.mortonarb.org/events/celebrate-arbor-week-2014

Cargo Bike Week 2014 & Cargo Bike Roll Call This Sunday!

In celebration of the upcoming Roscoe Village Kidical Mass bike ride and Cargobike Roll Call this Sunday, I”m kicking off another Cargo Bike Week here at Ding Ding Let’s Ride!

First.. let’s make sure you have all the info for the Sunday event:

So what kind of cargo bikes can you expect to find at the Roll Call this weekend? Well, since we’ll be there,  you should expect to find at least one Yuba Mundo, a long-tail style of cargo bike.

Three Yuba Mundo cargo bikes with slightly different configurations at a March 2013 Kidical Mass ride in Logan/Palmer Square.

The organizers have stated they’ll have at least one WorkCycles brand bike there, and with the addition of my bike, that should make at least two of the Dutch-style utility bikes in attendance.

My WorkCycles Dutch utility bike, called am Omafiets. (Obviously this photo was taken in much Spring-i-er times.)

Sounds like this this WorkCycles FR8 cargo bike will be there too. This bike can haul some very heavy loads.

They’ve also mentioned that they’ll have a Bullitt cargo bike at the Roll Call ….

Getting a delivery via Bullitt cargo bike right to our front door.

and a Bakfiets!

A baby in a Bakfiets at the November 2013 Roscoe Village Kidical Mass ride.

Who knows what other bikes will be at the ride!?  Come join everyone for a short family bike ride/parade and stick around to look at cargo bikes!

-Samantha

This article originally appeared on Samantha's family biking blog Ding Ding Let's Ride where she writes about everyday biking in the city, bike activism, family biking, and adaptive biking for special needs children.

Get Outside, Get Physical and Fundraise as a Family for Your Favorite Org

The Muddy Cheer Challenge is coming to the Chicagoland area this summer on June 28 and 29 in Wilmington, IL. It's a fun way to get the whole family involved in charitable giving while having a great time in the great outdoors. All ages are welcome. 

Here's how it works:  Sign up as a "host group". For every runner that signs up under your name (at any location), Muddy Cheer Challenge will give you back a portion of the registration fee.  Muddy Cheer Challenge will donate to your group $15.00 per every adult runner (13 and over) and $10.00 per every child runner (12 and under). In return, the host group will provide volunteers to work at the event (the number of volunteers will be based off of the size of the event and the size of the host group. This number will be determined closer to the event date). The host group will advertise and promote the mud run on their website and social media sites, posters and flyers.

 

Each runner will receive a Muddy Cheer Challenge T-shirt and a finishing medal.   

Green Parent Chicago readers:

Get $10 off each ticket to the event with the code: Single (this code is case sensitive)

 

-photo credit: Muddy Cheer Challenge

 

 

Things to Do Today in Chicago: Instead of hitting the mall

Review: "The Sleeping Beauty" at Auditorium Theatre

What I love best about living in Chicago is the great number of cultural offerings available. From music to dance to art and theater, not only are there numerous events taking place, but the venues that host these events truly enhance the experience. Auditorium Theatre is no exception.

My youngest has been interested in dance for some time and is still at an age to love fairytales and animal stories. This past weekend, we had the chance to watch Ballet West perform the classic ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Seated inside the gilded walls of the Auditorium Theatre, my little lady and I were dressed in our fancy clothes excited to see this classic story come to life.

With live orchestral accompaniment by the Chicago Sinfonietta, the staging, costumes, effects, and the brilliant moves of the highly talented dancers of Ballet West, the story took on a new meaning for the many children in attendance, like mine, raised on the Disneyfied version of Sleeping Beauty.

Complete with fairytale character wedding guests like Little Red Riding Hood, the Big Bad Wolf, and Mother Goose, the show was a treat for all ages. My daughter was especially pleased with the adorable White Cat dance with Puss-in-Boots.

The opening night production showcased the Ballet West company featured on the popular CW show, "Breaking Pointe". Led by Artistic Director Adam Sklute, formerly of The Joffrey Ballet, Ballet West's company of 48 dancers include: Principal Artist Christiana Bennett (in the lead role of Aurora), Haley Henderson-Smith (as Carabosse The Fairy of Jealousy), First Soloist Elizabeth McGrath (as Lilac Fairy), and First Soloist Rex Tilton (as Prince Desire).

Auditorium Theatre is well known for hosting dance, and the venue is a perfect setting for experiencing the dynamic art of dance, its size being not too small, nor too large to prevent a feeling of connection between the audience and the stage. The theatre hosts the annual holiday favorite "The Nutcracker" with the Joffrey Ballet each year.

-Christine

 

What's Green and Has 200,000 Feet?

Lollapalooza 2013! Chicago's annual mega music fest, which took over Grant Park for 3 days earlier this month, may not immediately spark eco-friendly images in your mind, but it should. Lolla's green is more than skin deep. Many public spaces slap up a few recycling bins and claim green status, but Lollapalooza and Kidzapalooza have been walking the talk and getting ever greener by the year.

Water Refilling Stations

Back when the fest began, plastic water bottles were at every stand and if you brought a water backpack or reusable bottle, they were dumped at the gates and the lines to refill them inside from slow drinking fountain troughs were long. Those days are OVER.

All water sold is now in recyclable cardboard boxes and concert goers are encouraged to bring their own refillables.

Cameback filling stations are now ubiquitous and make refills quick and easy with little to no wait. They're free, staffed, and feature many high powered hoses that fill fast!

Carbon Offsets

All in all, my family has been impressed with Lolla's increasing green efforts over the years. This year they roped off more areas of Grant Park to protect the flowers and trees in sensitive garden areas. They also give 10 percent of their gross Lolla revenue back to The Chicago Parks Foundation, to help Chicago's Park District. That's over 4 million since 2005. They make recycling, refilling water, and making green choices for dining and shopping at the fest easy.

Here's what Lollapalooza organizers have to say about their treading lightly aims.

"According to Green Mountain Energy, together, we avoided 110,200 lbs of CO2 emissions this year! In addition to offsetting the electricity Lollapalooza does use, the festival will be using bio-diesel as its primary fuel for generators at the 2013 festival, directly reducing Lollapalooza’s carbon footprint. Festival attendees also had the option to purchase a $3 carbon offset at checkout or donate at the Booth at Green Street South.

All carbon offsets purchased from Lollapalooza 2013 will benefit the Indian Creek Landfill Gas Project in Hopedale, Illinois, just outside Peoria. The landfill has special equipment that captures naturally occurring landfill gas, which contains methane, and destroys it through a combustion process. Methane is a harmful greenhouse gas with over 20 times the potency of carbon dioxide.

The project is third-party certified by Climate Action Reserve, which means the offsets are real, permanent, and beyond what’s required by law or would have occurred otherwise."

ChiIL Mama's daughter, Sagezilla, has a green name, green eyes, and has rocked the recycling program at Lolla now for 3 years with her big brother.

Rock N Recycle

My kids have joined the "Rock N Recycle Program" now for 3 years. They've picked up a big bag of recyclables off the grounds during Lolla and traded it in for a rockin' free t-shirt and a shot at winning a bike and other swag! It's open to all ages and makes the kids feel like eco-super heroes. They love making a difference.

This green tee above, with guitars forming the recycling symbol
was the 2012 Rock N Recycle prize.

Families can Rock N Recycle together. It's a great way to set an excellent example and get your kids involved in helping the earth and giving back to the community.

As you can see, there's also plenty of green space, shade and room to play in the Kidzapalooza area. Kidza is a family friendly mecca for kids 10 and under, who are admitted FREE to Lollapalooza with a paying adult. All Kidza activities are free, including airbrushed tattoos, punk hair styles, the instrument petting zoo, and more.

And some of the nation's best kindie musicians and surprise guests play the stage. Kidzapalooza ends around 5 p.m. daily, so families can still venture out and catch all the evening headliners. I know many parents who have seen aerial photos of the densely packed melee of Lolla headliner crowds and thought they'd never be able to navigate it with children in tow. But a music fest is a living, breathing organism: denser at the core, with plenty of space at the fringes.

If you don't have a compelling need to be a front and center rail rider right at the stage, then Lolla is workable with even the tiniest of tots. We've done it every year since our kids were 1 & 3! They've grown up Kidza over the past 9 years the fest has called Chicago home. And it's been a wonderful experience for our family.

At first we brought them in back pack carriers, then a double jogger, now we all walk and we're down to small day packs. With plenty of water, sunscreen and lots of glow sticks so they'd be seen and not hurt after dark, Lolla has been fun and totally doable with the whole family. Now that they're 10 & 12, they still love it and eagerly anticipate our annual time in Lolla Land.

The Blisters, now 17 and college bound, first formed their band as 7 year olds.

2013 Kidzapalooza Stage Highlights

-A set by Chicago's own First Lady of Children's Music, Ella Jenkins, who just celebrated her 89th birthday!

-Two days of sets by The Blisters (including drummer, Spencer Tweedy, oldest son of Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy and Lounge Ax Mom) He was 7 years old when he first formed the band and has played Kidzapalooza several times before.

-Kindie favs like Ralph's World, The Not It's, Chicago's own Q Brothers, and many more.

-Peter DiStefano and Tor

-Surprise guests including Shaun White, well known for snowboarding and skateboarding, and his band Bad Things, joined on stage by fest founder Perry Farrell!

-Bonnie Kenaz-Mara is a writer-potter-painter-photographer-videographer-actor-animal wrangler-kid taxi driver-all around creatrix-and mama to two amazing kids. You can find her writing daily at http://www.chiilmama.com/ and http://chiilliveshows.com/.

Review and Ticket Giveaway: Shrek the Musical at Chicago's Shakespeare Theater

Summer Smart as the spunky Princess Fiona discovers that true love is more than skin deep in Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s production of Shrek The Musical, now playing at CST’s Courtyard Theater through September 1, 2013. Photo by Liz Lauren. 

A wonderful time was had by all at "Shrek the Musical" at Chicago’s Shakespeare Theater at Navy Pier. This delightful adaptation of the first "Shrek" movie really was most clever in bringing the story to the stage. The all-ages, very talented, ensemble was perfectly cast into charismatic roles.

The kids and I reveled in the fact that the costumes, the accents and even character sounds imitated the well-known movie so accurately. My children related to similarities in the musical to that of the movie, and it brought them joy to see it live on a stage.

While the screenplay did a phenomenal job in keeping true to the story of Shrek, I felt it went beyond in bringing an important message to its audience members. Clever lyrics were strewn in a few songs relaying how important it is to be true to oneself. Shrek the movie already carries much of this, but in a much more hidden nature.

James Earl Jones II as Donkey and Michael Aaron Lindner as the lovable ogre Shrek become newfound friends on an adventure to rescue the Princess Fiona in Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s production of Shrek The Musical, now playing at CST’s Courtyard Theater through September 1, 2013. Photo by Liz Lauren.

"Shrek the Musical" made a prominent point to create a stronger message (and far less hidden one). Fiona, while locked in a tower and reading fairy tale endings in books, was sure that her fairy tale was on its way, only to realize later in her own story that the love she read about repeatedly in a book was not her story to live.

Fiona brings attention to how the world of fairy tales truly needs to be updated, while the cast of the amazing misfit fairy tale “things,” (as Shrek relates to them as they land in his swamp) sing in wonderful spirit about how we all need to “let our freak flag fly.”

The main messages of the show are: that we are all different and this does not necessarily mean that there is something wrong with us, our differences are not reasons to not be loved by someone. We all deserve to be free to be who we really are, and that we should be loved for that no matter what. It was hard not to get a foot tapping during the fabulous musical delivery of these sentiments.

In addition, the summer is such a wonderful time to visit Navy Pier. To be able to pop into shops, and out on the pier watching the amazing ships sail about, and enjoy the warms smells, the beautiful Chicago skyline, and friendly faces.

We had a lovely matinee time which allowed for some wonderful sun-soaking pier side, but I am certain you’d enjoy this show day or night. It is lively, clever, comical and really just a good time for all ages. And what better than to have children walk away with such a wonderful message with some upbeat, toe-tapping music to boot? Enjoy the show!

-Amy Jarjusey blogs at http://www.nakitababy.com/

Green Parent Chicago wants to know: which of the Shrek series is your child's favorite and why? Comment below for your chance to win a Family Four Pack of tickets to see Shrek the Musical at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Contest ends Friday August 23.