December, 2019
Nature N
iños New Mexico
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Photo Above: Nature Play Every Day training conducted by Sally Anderson (Sol Forest School) and Sarah Candelaria (NMWF).
Welcome to the firs
t edition of
Nature Niños New Mexico
! Nature Niños New Mexico will be a platform to share the great things that are happening around our state that revolve around getting our niños connected to nature in all of it's forms.
New Mexico Wildlife Federation's mission is to inspire New Mexicans to conserve public landscapes, watersheds, and wildlife for our children’s future. By doing this we must engage and inspire our youth to have meaningful connections with nature during their childhood, creating future stewards of our beautiful state and all of it's natural elements.
NMWF is spending time creating partnerships with national and local organizations that share this same vision. We hope that
YOU
will also join the
Nature Niños team by inspiring those around you to encourage and allow our youth to reengage in nature.
We'll be sharing many opportunities each month for you to get involved around the state. We'd also love to hear what great things you are already doing as a parent, teacher, administrator, or friend to get our youth outdoors.
Please email us your stories to Sarah Candelaria:
sarah@nmwildlife.org
and we'll be highlighting new programs each month in our future
Niños in New Mexico editions.
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GARDEN FOR WILDLIFE
NMWF New Partnership- Statewide
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Since 1973, Garden for Wildlife has been educating and empowering people to turn their own small pieces of Earth into thriving habitat for birds, bees, butterflies, and other wildlife. In doing so, people across North America are making a difference in their cities, towns, and neighborhoods—all while deepening their connections to the natural world.
Founded on the belief that everyone can enjoy and protect wildlife where they live, work, learn, play, and worship, the National Wildlife Federation’s Garden for Wildlife programs provide simple steps and resources to create beautiful spaces that make a big impact for local and migratory species, from small window boxes to vast habitat corridors.
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SOL FOREST SCHOOL (ABQ)
Sandia Mountains,
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At Sol Forest School, our “Treeschoolers” are not only allowed, but encouraged, to climb trees. As co-facilitators in their learning and play, we are there guiding them through new experiences of risk and adventure. In terms of tree climbing, we provide pre-teaching whenever possible in the form of dialogue (i.e. “Look for a branch as thick as your wrist to stand on”) and sometimes, modeling. We are also there for our new climbers, covertly spotting and offering specific directives such as, “Think about where you are going to place your foot next” or “Take a quick break, steady yourself, and look down for a moment. Do you feel like you have climbed high enough for today?”. What we don’t do is offer physical help. We explain this to the children before and as they climb, sharing with them that it is important that they do all the work, because this is how they will stay safe.
This November we had a new Treeschooler join us named Bennie. Bennie is an adorable, vivacious, ebullient, sometimes dreamy, three-year-old boy. Soon after Bennie joined us, we noticed he was very interested in climbing trees, like his older brother. One day several of our older Treeschoolers were climbing a favorite Juniper tree that is old, gnarled and tall, and Bennie wanted a turn. After the other Treeschoolers came down Bennie quickly got to work trying to figure out how to make his way up the tree and into the first little “seat” that this tree offers. He struggled with his initial approach, going from one side to the other, trying to determine how to start. Despite his might, his little legs could not reach the very first low branch that would offer him enough lift to make the next move. He called out several times, each time growing in more intensity, “Teacher, help me! You supposed to help me!” but I calmly explained that he could do the work and that I would be there to spot him. This pattern went on for several minutes and Bennie was growing frustrated.
Just as I was intuitively sensing that Bennie might soon give up (it had been nearly 10 minutes), he stopped in his tracks, pointed to his sweet little curly-haired head and exclaimed, “I know! I need a rock. Friend rock will help me!”. He then did a quick visual scan of the forest floor and found a rock roughly the size of half a standard brick. I caught myself thinking, “That’s never going to work”, but kept quiet and readied myself for what I was certain would be a failed attempt. Bennie’s small hands labored to get “friend rock” in just the right spot, on top of the old Juniper’s exposed roots. He checked more than once to see if it was steady, took a deep breath, and stepped up on the rock. Believe it or not, that 2-3-inch advantage did the trick and in no time, Bennie was up in the old tree, making his way to the first seat. From here he sat down, looking like a King with a wide grin across his face. With a deep sense of satisfaction, he then simply said, “Teacher, I did it!”.
-Sally Anderson
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Please consider making a donation to NMWF to promote our work with Nature Niños!
No donation is too small when it comes to getting our youth outdoors!
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NUESTRA TIERRA
Gila Trout Restoration Project at Willow Creek 2019
Getting outdoors should be a fundamental part of growing up as a child. Whether you play outside on a playground or have opportunities to visit a farm or ranch, I believe that it’s essential for a child’s development. Grasping a handful of dirt, running through a mud puddle or tending to your chickens or pets are opportunities that all children should have, but so many will not. Opportunities outside classroom give children a chance to learn at their own pace and in their own style.
As a former school teacher and administrator, I understood the values of building a fort, NOT “Fortnite”! I encouraged my teachers to give children opportunities to learn outside the rigors of those classroom walls. Some did, but most didn’t. I encourage parents and or guardians to look for those opportunities to take your kids fishing, hiking, biking and allow them to build a fort. These adventures for children will pay big dividends for you and them in their future.
-Ray Trejo
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Rocky Mountain Youth Corp
Statewide, New Mexico
What does it mean to join an RMYC crew?
Joining a crew can be an amazing, life-changing experience! It is an opportunity to serve in beautiful places doing important work that benefits local communities. During the course of their season, RMYC crew members gain new skills and connect with a variety of passionate individuals.
Is RMYC right for me?
RMYC’s conservation-based crews partner with federal, state, tribal and local land managing agencies. Crew projects can include maintaining trails, erosion control, invasive species removal, forest restoration fire prevention activities, and more. Members of RMYC receive job-specific training and many other personal and professional development opportunities throughout the season.
To learn more about this opportunity click
here
.
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SANTA FE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM
Santa Fe, New Mexico
The four walls of the Santa Fe Children’s Museum contain wonders for kids to explore, and the fun doesn’t end there. T
he Museum’s
“backyard” is nature at its most family-friendly. Children are invited to climb a tree, visit the adobe playhouse, or discover dinosaur bones buried in the sandpit. Many visitors return every Thursday from 10:30 am - 12:30 pm, for the popular Seeds and Sprouts program.
Educator Leona Hillary leads a multi-sensory adventure, with activities ranging from
digging for worms in a vermiculture compost bin, to planting and harvesting the community garden. Year-around kids can read a story under the shade of a tree, identify creatures with magnifying glasses and microscopes, or create nature-based projects such as a mini water catchment system from cardboard and straws.
The Museum garden boasts over an acre of fruit and nut trees, raised vegetable and herb beds, flowers and pollinator plants, and is set up as a model of sustainable southwest gardening. Animals are studied through native visitors like rabbits, insects, and birds, as well as museum pets, such as Bisquick the pancake turtle, who forages his own fresh salad from the “pizza garden”.
Seeds and Sprouts
ensures that New Mexico’s flavor is showcased. The Museum’s expert gardner, Hector Solis, introduces kids to a specialty bed full of green chile peppers, heirloom tomatoes and other fiesta-friendly foods. Children sample these regional vegetables and get a small spicy taste of Santa Fe as they take a turn in front of a traditional “horno” oven to bake tortilla chips and biscochitos . . . our state’s “official” cookie!
Whether they are learning about the differences between pears and peaches, enjoying the taste of carrots they pulled with their own hands, or witnessing the life cycle of a butterfly... kids visiting the Santa Fe Children’s Museum’s
Seeds and Sprouts
leave with a sense of connection to the wonder and beauty of nature!
Click
here
to learn more about what Santa Fe Children's Museum is doing.
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What's Happening with ECHO? Natural. Healthy. Affordable.
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These are the foundations of Early Childhood Health Outdoors (ECHO). And this is what ECHO is designed to accomplish:
All young children in Colorado have daily access to quality outdoor learning environments where play and learning support development across all domains— cognitive, physical, social, and emotional.
ECHO is based on a decade of research by North Carolina State University’s Natural Learning Initiative on the Preventing Obesity by Design model. This research showed that by improving the design of outdoor spaces through affordable interventions and training early childhood professionals, young children and early childhood programs enjoy substantial benefits:
- Children are more physically active in the outdoors and engage in social interactions more often.
- Children and providers enjoy naturalized outdoor spaces and spend more time outside, supporting healthy behaviors.
- Hands-on gardening encourages the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables.
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Join NMWF 's Mission to Get Our
Niños in Nature!
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NMWF is entering Early Childhood classrooms across the state sharing the love for natural loose parts play and sharing environmental education ECE lessons from Project Learning Tree. To request a visit
Email
Sarah.
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NMWF is sharing the great work for the Leopold Learning Project throughout public schools in New Mexico! Reach out to schedule a class visit or field trip extension.
Email
Sarah.
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The Commissioner of Public Lands is offering free Rec Access Permits on a first-come, first-serve basis to applicants visiting State Trust Lands with a family member who is a
5th grader
in a NM public school.
(These free Permits are sponsored by the NMWF.) Click
HERE
for more info.
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