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Shannon has a M.S. in Geology, is a teacher in a Waldorf School and has background as a children's yoga teacher.

She is passionate about connecting children to themselves and to the natural world.

About Backyard Mama

Backyard Mama's mission is for every child to spend time outside every day.

The intention of this blog is to offer inspiration to do that. Take this tips and tools and use them, or contact me and I can run a program at your center.

Our programs take many forms:
* classes in your school or childcare center
* classes for camps or nature centers
* professional development through conferences and workshops
* professional development designed for your staff
* community workshops at libraries and agencies

We're always excited to design something special just for you!

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Blog Carnival: A Favorite Nature Place (from Childhood)

I’ve been having computor trouble and lots of kids to attend to. So sorry if this was a drag for you today! Hope it will work itself out. Now I have written and re-written this post so many times.. I am off to my favorite nature place to recover from getting this together! Thanks for joining!.

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This past week we have had a lot of rain here in Rhode Island… and as I went walking down the street with my mother and son, looking for puddles to splash in and run off streams by the edge of the road to dam- up, I remembered the Spring rains of my childhood.

We lived in an incredibly unique community- as a child I rarely had adult supervision- we played in the creeks and forests, meadows and up and down the roads. In the Spring we headed to the creek, inner-tube in hand, and floated the rapids, splashed, made mud pies and laughed.

The creek we played in was about 3 feet wide on a normal day, but doubled in size in April. There were a few pretty wild rapids that were just daring enough for a young adventurer to experiment with white water.

When we were worn out from being cold and wet, we’d head over the a big hill ;with tons of small run-off streams and we’d build dams and re-direct the water flow to make little ponds and float boats. Eventually the dam would break, and boats float away; of course we’d start over- this took hours of focused excitement!

This deluge of 2010 brought back so many wonderful memories- I had a great time digging trenches to keep the rain from pooling next to our foundation. I watched as my garden became completely submerged in water. I splashed in a puddle got soaked, then heard a saturated tree crumble in the woods.

As I sat down to write about my favorite outdoor place of childhood- I realized that this special place was where ever I was outside, breathing fresh air, experiencing the elements, and enjoying the excitement of company.

Thanks for participating once again in the Nature and Children Blog Carnival. So many wonderful people joined in last week, I encourage newcomers to read the entries.

Welcome to the second Nature and Children blog carnival with the theme: favorite place in nature from your childhood.

Please remember to link back to this post and follow the rules.

April 14 theme: Writer’s Choice (must have to do with children and nature generally)

April 21st Kids and Earth Day!

Off to play! ~Shannon

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4 Responses to “Blog Carnival: A Favorite Nature Place (from Childhood)”

  • commonweeder says:

    I do have many happy memories of life outside when I lived on a farm in Vermont, in the woods, out on the lake (where my cousins and I thought we could safely skinny dip- wrong) but I also spent many happy hours reading indoors. I wanted to let you know about agreat book for children – Arbor Day Square by Kathryn Galbraith about the richness that trees brought to a new pioneer community – over time. Arbor Day is coming up!
    .-= commonweeder´s last blog ..The Color of Spring =-.

  • [...] post is part of Backyard Mama’s blog carnival; this week’s theme, a special childhood place. As is normal for me, I had several and couldn’t pick [...]

  • Debi says:

    I’m with you, Shannon — my favorite outdoor place from childhood really depended on where I was. Sometimes it was my own backyard, other times a quiet tree near our cabin in Yosemite. I’m so thankful for all the wonderful places I discovered as a kid! Hope to join up with your carnival soon!
    .-= Debi´s last blog ..My Big Explorer’s Favorite Hawaiian Adventures =-.

  • jenny says:

    Wow the rapids sound like fun. I’ve really enjoyed reading how different everyone’s experience in nature as a child was depending on the country / area they lived in.

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