By Rebecca P. Cohen
Depending on where you live, there may still be snow on the ground and bare trees overhead. But trust me—spring is all around you. The natural world is waking up, and the changing weather provides exciting opportunities for outside activities.
One spring morning, as we walked the dog before school, my kids discovered that our local creek was overflowing with rushing water, thanks to the previous evening’s rain. They ran to pick up fallen twigs and yelled gleefully, “Pooh Sticks!” This game, played by Winnie the Pooh in A. A. Milne’s The House at Pooh Corner, involves racing sticks in a stream, and I played it with my parents as a little girl. Thanks to their grandparents, my boys learned the game too.
That magical April day was Pooh Stick heaven. We had one race after another, each of us dropping our stick of choice on the count of three from one side of the bridge and racing over to the other side to see whose stick would come through first. At the end of each race, the boys would shout, “Let’s play again!” Each time, we’d try a different size stick or wood chip to see which produced the most success. We all were having so much fun; the simplicity and joy of the moment was inspiring.
That night, when I asked each of the boys for three great things that had happened that day, the first for each of them was Pooh Sticks. So the next time it is raining, head for a nearby creek and have some Pooh Stick fun. Even if you’re by yourself, you can pick up two sticks and give it a go.
Here are a couple of other outdoor ideas for April:
Ships Ahoy! Sail Juice Box Boats in Puddles
After your kids finish their juice boxes, find a puddle and float them like boats. Make up a story about their adventures. Once the children are done playing, they can write or draw a story about their adventure and tell you about it. What a great way to encourage their creativity!
Splash! Rate Your Puddle Jump
Once the family is suited up in rain gear, head out to the puddles and start jumping! You can rate your jumps like they do in the Olympics! The biggest splash, of course, is “a perfect ten.” But everyone will need to try many times to perfect their individual technique. And you’ll want to splash in as many puddles as possible, since the wave effect may be different depending on how deep or long the puddle.
Excerpted with permission from Fifteen Minutes Outside: 365 Ways to Get Out of the House and Connect with your Kids, by Rebecca P. Cohen. Published by Sourcebooks, 2011.
Top image: jamocha76, stock.xchng
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