Learning

I love reading so much – I sometimes dream about taking a whole week off and just reading for the whole time. I’d revisit all the amazing personal development and business books that I love so much, get recommendations from my teenage daughters about good new fiction and come home from the library with piles of classics that I never seem to have the time to read. Oh, and nutrition and parenting books, women’s studies and books about yoga too… Anyway, for now, I squeeze reading into cracks and crevices in my day. Here’s what I’m reading right now

Anne Dhir shares her favourite picture books featuring children being carried by their parents. One evening, as we were reading Catch That Goat to Odaline, she became very excited as she had spotted a mum carrying a child on her back!

There is a satisfaction that comes with spending time outdoors. In my work, as a facilitator of naturebased programmes, I aim for a holistic approach, to include minds, bodies, emotions and spirits to make sure we meet the fundamental need of humans to spend time outside in nature. Our modern educational curriculum concerns itself predominantly with the mind and the accumulation of facts whilst forgetting how much we learn from playing, feeling and being encouraged to have a sense of wonder and mystery. Marina Robb takes us on an adventure into the woods to play games and get connected to the earth

ONE OF MY EARLIEST MEMORIES is of walking in the Welsh countryside at night with my father and stopping to watch shooting stars darting across the sky among the twinkling stars. Astronomy has fascinated me ever since, and this love of the night sky has been passed on to my children. On dark, moonless nights they spread a blanket on the lawn, lie down, and try to make out the pictures made by the stars above their heads. Emyr Parri encourages parents to bring the night skies to life for their children.

With a few basic kitchen ingredients you can make great finger paints for your children that don't contain any dubious substances. Then, with a little foraging and creativity, you can colour them with wild flowers and leaves to create a truly natural painting experience.

With rules and regulations, campsites can be strict. There are some that allow camping fires, but these are few and far between and often get booked up during the busy summer months. One simple and fun way to enjoy camping on your own terms is to start in your very own garden! Kids will love the novelty of a camping night, and it is a lovely opportunity to have some ‘connected’ time together as a family without the distractions of television or video games. Here are some ideas to make your garden camping night one to remember...

In the next edition of The Green Parent magazine we bring you the best selection of summer festivals for you and your family according to your passions. If you’re into dancing, we recommend Sacred Arts Camp and the Gaiatribe Creativity Camp. Like music? Check out Wychwood and Boomtown. For outdoor activities, we love The Wilderness Gathering. Find the best event for you and your family according to what you love

There’s nothing like a lovely bit of stationery to revive the desire to put pen to paper. Deliciously crisp writing paper, a good pen, lovely art supplies and a journal may seem like an archaic pleasure in our computer-driven times, but there’s something about the tangibility of these things that makes them special.

Increased violence by young males is spinning out of control. Boys are constantly bombarded with the false information that real boys must always be strong, aggressive, tough, in control, and repress their feelings says Ted Zeff. Boys are continually saturated with this distorted version of manhood from television and movies, video games, the Internet, peers, coaches, and other adults. In the last 15 years the violent video games and movies children have been exposed to have become more graphic than ever. Here is a 10 step plan to help combat the culture of violence and raise a compassionate son.

As every home educator knows, children learn best when they’re having fun. Most parents, whether they home educate or not, soon become aware of this fact through watching a child’s face light up in recognition when a dull text book fact comes to life through play. It could, and has, been argued that real learning doesn’t take place in an artificial classroom environment, but through a child’s engagement with the world around them. The joy of sharing that learning with our children is unbounded, and a lot of the time we are re-learning forgotten things or discovering concepts anew.