Happy 2019! We’re excited about our first blog post of the year which reflects back on several meaningful friendships we acquired. Below we introduce you to four organizations, all of whom have helped inspire us while encouraging their customers to create, play, and interact with Mother Nature.

1: Tinkergarten

Tinkergarten is a network of teachers, leaders, and families. Inspired by the desire to return back to outdoor play, they teach skills such as creativity, empathy, teamwork, and communication. Local leaders run courses guiding play and learning and you can find your local courses here.

We wanted to share some of the awesome ways Lee Alliet, a Wisconsin Tinkergarten teacher uses Stick-lets®. Her students make woodland forts for bears while she teaches them about hibernation and she also includes them as part of a sweet activity Easter basket! Tinkergarten also features a simple DIY stick activity as part of their collaborative team building exercises. They have several other DIY activities available on their website. Check them out, print them out, and participate!

2: Wonderkin

If you haven’t heard of Wonderkin, founded by Emma Huvos, you are missing out on beautifully curated packages focused on fostering a love of play and a respect for nature. Each month they select unique toys, books, and games based around a theme. Our Coral Red, Monarch Orange, and Plum Purple connectors were featured in their September 2018 The Tree Box. The box also featured the book Sky Tree by Thomas Locker, a tree journal and twig pencil, and tree cookie necklaces so kids could learn about the growth rings of trees. View the unboxing video here.

Check out the website to see all their educational activity boxes ranging from Winter Wildlife to the Astronomy Box and give your kids something nature-oriented to look forward to each month.

We reached out to Emma and asked her what she hopes children gain from their time spent with Mother Nature. Her response aligns 100% with our mission: 

“There are so many important skills and qualities that children gain from spending time outdoors, but I think that the two most important are curiosity, which is the foundation for a lifetime of joyful learning and exploration, and a deep personal connection with the natural world, which is the root of environmental stewardship.”

Thank you, Emma! 

*Wonderkin conducts Q&As with the creators of items found inside their boxes. Interested in what Christina, founder of Stick-lets®, had to say? Read it here!

3: PopUpPlay

        Created in 2014 by Jennifer Brevoort and Folasshade Laud-Hammond, PopUpPlay is a traveling pop-up workshop dedicated to encouraging social interaction, learning, and of course play! Preferring to use a variety of upcycled materials like cardboard boxes, hula-hoops, and pool noodles, families are encouraged to interact together building large forts or playing games of mini-golf set-up by the dedicated team of volunteers.

“We believe in powerful play” is the mission statement PopUpPlay rallies behind. While powerful play is the forefront of their events, they also strive for helping parents gain confidence to better play with their children and allowing kids to strengthen leadership skills during activities while collaborating with their peers.

We partnered with PopUpPlay in November for one of Philadelphia’s largest play festivals. Check out the results on our previous blog post – Cherry St. Pier Playfest.

4: Your Natural Learner

Last but not least, we introduce you to our friend Leah McDermott, creator of Your Natural Learner and Grow Your Natural Learner. She’s a natural learning advocate, homeschooling mother, speaker, author and curator of some trendy gift guides!

Leah has designed a series of curriculum guides for parents and teachers of students from pre-K to second grade, and they are available online!  If you’re not in the market for a speciality guide comprised of over 20 cross-curricular nature-based themes and 500 activities, you could purchase one of the many shorter guides available for Pre-K/K children such as the WINTER Theme or TREES Theme.

The newest (and coolest) thing by Your Natural Learner is Leah’s admirable #150hoursoutside project.  Can you spend 150 hours outside this year? We bet you could, especially with encouragement from the network Leah has helped establish for her followers! Learn more here and then go outside to play! Be sure to tag #150HOURSOUTSIDE when you share your photos on social media.

We asked Leah what she feels is the simplest and most effective way public schools can implement outdoor education. Her response:

“By just GOING OUTSIDE. We've seen very clearly that the more we allow schoolchildren to spend time outside in unstructured activities, the more benefits those children have academically, socially, behaviorally, emotionally, etc. We have to continue to pad our school schedules with more time outdoors. And for those teachers who are working in schools that don't have a lot of scheduled outdoor time... take it anyway! Be a rebel. Pick up your reading books and take them outside and read under a tree together. Take your math workbooks and some chalk and do math problems outside on the pavement. Have your students gather natural objects outdoors and bring them into the classroom to use in exploration, science, play, and more. There are so many ways to facilitate natural learning in a public school environment - we just have to be willing to find those ways to do it!”

Thank you, Leah!

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If you have ideas for a partnership, please let us know! We love to collaborate with others whose mission is to inspire outdoor play, team building, curiosity and/or STE{A}M education.

Happy 2019! We’re excited about our first blog post of the year which reflects back on several meaningful friendships we acquired. Below we introduce you to four organizations, all of whom have helped inspire us while encouraging their customers to create, play, and interact with Mother Nature.

1: Tinkergarten

Tinkergarten is a network of teachers, leaders, and families. Inspired by the desire to return back to outdoor play, they teach skills such as creativity, empathy, teamwork, and communication. Local leaders run courses guiding play and learning and you can find your local courses here.

We wanted to share some of the awesome ways Lee Alliet, a Wisconsin Tinkergarten teacher uses Stick-lets®. Her students make woodland forts for bears while she teaches them about hibernation and she also includes them as part of a sweet activity Easter basket! Tinkergarten also features a simple DIY stick activity as part of their collaborative team building exercises. They have several other DIY activities available on their website. Check them out, print them out, and participate!

2: Wonderkin

If you haven’t heard of Wonderkin, founded by Emma Huvos, you are missing out on beautifully curated packages focused on fostering a love of play and a respect for nature. Each month they select unique toys, books, and games based around a theme. Our Coral Red, Monarch Orange, and Plum Purple connectors were featured in their September 2018 The Tree Box. The box also featured the book Sky Tree by Thomas Locker, a tree journal and twig pencil, and tree cookie necklaces so kids could learn about the growth rings of trees. View the unboxing video here.

Check out the website to see all their educational activity boxes ranging from Winter Wildlife to the Astronomy Box and give your kids something nature-oriented to look forward to each month.

We reached out to Emma and asked her what she hopes children gain from their time spent with Mother Nature. Her response aligns 100% with our mission: 

“There are so many important skills and qualities that children gain from spending time outdoors, but I think that the two most important are curiosity, which is the foundation for a lifetime of joyful learning and exploration, and a deep personal connection with the natural world, which is the root of environmental stewardship.”

Thank you, Emma! 

*Wonderkin conducts Q&As with the creators of items found inside their boxes. Interested in what Christina, founder of Stick-lets®, had to say? Read it here!

3: PopUpPlay

        Created in 2014 by Jennifer Brevoort and Folasshade Laud-Hammond, PopUpPlay is a traveling pop-up workshop dedicated to encouraging social interaction, learning, and of course play! Preferring to use a variety of upcycled materials like cardboard boxes, hula-hoops, and pool noodles, families are encouraged to interact together building large forts or playing games of mini-golf set-up by the dedicated team of volunteers.

“We believe in powerful play” is the mission statement PopUpPlay rallies behind. While powerful play is the forefront of their events, they also strive for helping parents gain confidence to better play with their children and allowing kids to strengthen leadership skills during activities while collaborating with their peers.

We partnered with PopUpPlay in November for one of Philadelphia’s largest play festivals. Check out the results on our previous blog post – Cherry St. Pier Playfest.

4: Your Natural Learner

Last but not least, we introduce you to our friend Leah McDermott, creator of Your Natural Learner and Grow Your Natural Learner. She’s a natural learning advocate, homeschooling mother, speaker, author and curator of some trendy gift guides!

Leah has designed a series of curriculum guides for parents and teachers of students from pre-K to second grade, and they are available online!  If you’re not in the market for a speciality guide comprised of over 20 cross-curricular nature-based themes and 500 activities, you could purchase one of the many shorter guides available for Pre-K/K children such as the WINTER Theme or TREES Theme.

The newest (and coolest) thing by Your Natural Learner is Leah’s admirable #150hoursoutside project.  Can you spend 150 hours outside this year? We bet you could, especially with encouragement from the network Leah has helped establish for her followers! Learn more here and then go outside to play! Be sure to tag #150HOURSOUTSIDE when you share your photos on social media.

We asked Leah what she feels is the simplest and most effective way public schools can implement outdoor education. Her response:

“By just GOING OUTSIDE. We've seen very clearly that the more we allow schoolchildren to spend time outside in unstructured activities, the more benefits those children have academically, socially, behaviorally, emotionally, etc. We have to continue to pad our school schedules with more time outdoors. And for those teachers who are working in schools that don't have a lot of scheduled outdoor time... take it anyway! Be a rebel. Pick up your reading books and take them outside and read under a tree together. Take your math workbooks and some chalk and do math problems outside on the pavement. Have your students gather natural objects outdoors and bring them into the classroom to use in exploration, science, play, and more. There are so many ways to facilitate natural learning in a public school environment - we just have to be willing to find those ways to do it!”

Thank you, Leah!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

If you have ideas for a partnership, please let us know! We love to collaborate with others whose mission is to inspire outdoor play, team building, curiosity and/or STE{A}M education.