Dancing is Great Kids’ Exercise

Music and Movement Helps Brain Development

  When adults turn on any kind of music or sing even off key young children naturally move and sing along. Brain research suggests that music and movement help both sides of the brain learn to work together. First gather all kinds of music, cardboard and plastic containers and paper core rolls, small ball, and wooden. Music activities do not require store bought instruments, specific skills, nor special competence to experience joy. Adults and children can enjoy peppy music in the morning and relaxing soft music at lunch, during car rides, before naps and bedtimes. Some children who have difficulty going to sleep even after their bedtime stories may fall asleep with soft classical music. Children who may not talk a lot yet often will sing words with adults.

Marching Bands and Exercise

John Phillip Sousa Had It Right!! 

 John Phillip Sousa had it right! Sing a march and get moving. Since many people don’t have marching music, go to You Tube and search for your favorite college band. Then make assorted drums from boxes, plastic containers, and wooden spoons and reinforce the them with layers of packing tape.  Listen to the beat and drum together. Boxes of different sizes make different sounds. Drum soft, loud, fast and slow. Then pick up the drums and march around the house. Marching is great exercise. You can play follow the leader, march right, march left, march backwards, and turn around. Young children can make up their own marching routine.

 You can also make a homemade kazoo by folding a piece of wax paper over the tooth edge of a comb and hum through the tissue paper. For a trumpet cover one end of a paper towel roll with waxed paper and secure it with a rubber band.  Punch a row of holes along one side of the roll with a pen tip.  Hum into the open end. To make chimes, tie washers on to a ruler and play with a spoon.

Karaoke Fun

Children love to sing along. 

Make Homemade Instruments 

They learn words very quickly. Songs like “Bingo” drop off letters and keep everyone thinking. Children love the beat of show tunes like the Sound of Music’s “Do Re Mi”, rock, country, jazz, patriotic, Latino, religious songs, or the latest children’s movie tune. If you don’t know the words, do it Elmo’s way—La, La, La, La. Most words are available on line for free though. Google the song title and you’re ready to sing. Your public library often has a good variety of music cd’s and song books. Add some costumes and give each child an opportunity to sing their favorite song. You can record a short movie with your phone to send to relatives who need a little cheering up. 

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

For more go to -  grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30 am and pod casts archived on the site.

Using Technology to Connect with Grandchildren

Children’s technology skills and time on devices can be good 

  Start by asking grandchildren to show you what they do on the computer which varies widely among families and ages. Inquire after you have taken a library computer course so you know what they are talking about and can use some of the vocabulary. Chromebook computers can cost under $200 and teens can set them up once you have the Internet.

Library Tech Classes

  There are so many classes at libraries taught by very patient people. This skill is just another challenge to meet, overcome, and embrace. Besides once grandparents take a class, learn the basics, and take good notes, grandchildren will teach the rest. Warn them ahead of time to be patient teachers. It is their turn.

  What should grandparents learn? How to use the Internet. Once on the Internet librarians will teach how to do some very fascinating searches for information and entertainment.

Keep in Touch

 You can set up and master e-mail.  Many accounts like g-mail are free. Then you can send messages once a week even to your college grandchildren. They will love the friendly words of wisdom, love, and a few bucks by old fashioned mail, too.

  You can learn how to use Face Time to see and hear grandchildren. It is free.

 Your family can also set up a private Facebook group for the immediate family. Keep a notebook for all of your passwords and notes. Let them know you will need help from time to time, fair warning.

  Many people now use Facebook 

Talk While Using Online Games and Devices 

for writing quick notes, clicking thumbs up, and sharing photographs.  Instagram is another place for photos. Let grandchildren know you want to be a part of their lives.  It is a lonely world sometimes if grandparents don’t know some of these basics. In addition to staying in touch with you, they will be staying in touch with cousins and extended families.

  With a little practice you can send out Internet Memes.  These are funny images or short videos like silly animal videos that little grandchildren will enjoy. You’ll never worry about your emails being unread if you send a funny video link.

  Talk with children while they show you how to play some games such as “Draw Something”, “Words with Friends”, “Ticket to Ride”,”Minecraft”, “Carcassonne”,  “Pokémon Go”, Sesame Street  and Lego games on their devices. Sites like Pinterest, Crafter, and You Tube are other sites to share activities and science with children. The khanacademy.org helps with all homework. Librarians will also share the dangers of the Internet’s “wild West”, also a part of technology, unfortunately.

 For more information, read this article summarizing a study following grandchildren and grandparents’ shared use of technology, Connecting Grandparents and Grandkids Through Technology  

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

For more go to -  grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30 am and pod casts archived on the site.

Playing Store and Learning Economics

Teach Personal Finance - A Lifetime Lesson

Playing store with preschoolers teaches personal finance lessons of saving, spending, wait until later, and opportunity cost. These are lifelong lessons that go beyond shopping.

 Turn a shoe box into a cash register. Then add some real or play money, things to buy and sell, small box attached to a string for a scanner, shopping bags, sale signs, and clerk’s name tag. Children can draw signs or make a little newspaper ad. 

Learning Economics

  Practice playing store at home or children’s museum play store. Stuffed animals and dolls can go “shopping” with you and also learn to make wise economic choices. 

You can make rectangles of paper marked with $1 for easy counting and bring a handful of pennies for the register. For store merchandise use Play Dough or real food items, toys, Lego construction, books, dolls, stuffed animals, anything around the house.

  Together put prices on items and display them in columns and rows on a counter top. Sort materials according to categories--certain colored cars go together, etc. Keep it simple. Each item is worth $1 or a few cents to start. Have a conversation about what items will sell the best and why? Conversation is a key ingredient in preparing children to read.

Opportunity Cost

   Now take turns choosing items and checking out. Purposely, have enough money for some items and not enough for others so you are forced to make choices. Play act that you are disappointed you don’t have enough money but handle that disappointment well.  

Take Your Dolls & Stuffed Animals Shopping

Practice saying, “Oh well, maybe later. I will save up my money.” What a useful economic phrase to teach! It’s also a good way to teach preschool children to work through a disappointment without a tantrum.

  Adults are teaching opportunity cost which is choosing one thing between several equally desired ones. This important concept teaches children that sometimes you can’t have everything you want. Sometimes you must give up the opportunity or delay it for another time.

   Think of other real situations to role play. Look at newspaper ads and have a sale. Make some printed signs and drawings to keep every time you play. If there is only one left and it’s very popular, increase the price (supply and demand).

  All of this involves thinking out loud and conversation. Most important, keep the activity fun and short.

Role Play with Real Situations

 When interest wanes, pack up the store for later. The key to preschool care is a variety of short activities varying between active and quiet times with rest and nutritious snacks.

Learning responsible personal finance begins in preschool. Teaching opportunity cost and “maybe later” helps with other experiences in life when children must make difficult choices. 

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

For more go to -  grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30 am and pod casts archived on the site.

Children Love Comfort Foods

Make Bread and Butter with Little House!

Making bread and butter with children brings us back to the times of the Little House chapter books of Laura Ingalls Wilder.   

 Making Butter 

Pour one pint of room temperature whipping cream into a large glass Mason canning jar with a tight lid. Fill only one half of the jar to leave enough room for shaking.

  Place the lid on tightly and take turns shaking for about 15 minutes. In the first few minutes the shaking sound will stop because whipped cream is formed. 

Laura Ingalls Wilder's Tells Her Life

Continue shaking until there is a ball of butter. Pour over a thin meshed strainer and catch the butter milk in a bowl.

  The butterball will remain fresh for 3-5 days if kneaded, rinsed off thoroughly with cold water, lightly salted, and wrapped in plastic in the refrigerator. There are no preservatives.

 Bread in a Bag

Here is an easy bread recipe: 2 cups white flour (a little extra for kneading), 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup hot water, 1 package rapid rise yeast, 3 T (tablespoons)sugar, 3 T nonfat dry milk 1T salt, 3 T vegetable oil, 1 gallon size resealable heavy plastic storage bag, 1bowl, spoon, small greased loaf pan, plastic wrap. 

Wilder's 8-book Series Captures Prairie Life 

  Mix 1 cup white flour, packet of yeast, 3 tablespoons sugar, and 1 cup hot water in the plastic bag. Let most of the air out of the bag, close it, and press down on the bag to mix ingredients.  After about 10 minutes, the mixture will start to bubble as the yeast makes carbon dioxide for a bread with fluffy texture.

  The bag will also expand slightly. Let the mixture bubble.  In a separate bowl, mix 3 T nonfat dry milk, 1 cup whole wheat, 1 T salt (or less), and 3 T oil. Open the bag and add these ingredients.

  Release most of the air out of the bag, seal it closed, and press the bag again to mix everything until smooth. Open the bag and add the other cup of white flour.  Reseal the bag and smoosh the bag with your hand until dough is smooth, about two minutes.

  Take the dough out of the bag, put some flour on your hands, and knead it for another minute on a floured surface. Kneading makes the dough stretchy and creates a nice chewy texture. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Mmmmmmm....many ways to bake breads!

  When the dough looks smooth, stretchy, and doesn’t stick to your hands, put it into a greased loaf pan and cover it loosely with plastic wrap.  Let it rise for about 30 minutes. Remove the plastic wrap and place it in the preheated oven. Bake for about 35 minutes until golden brown and allow to cool before cutting. For more information on Laura Ingalls Wilder see her online Bio: http://shsmo.org/historicmissourians/name/w/wilder/  and her “Little House” book series: http://shsmo.org/historicmissourians/name/w/wilder/#section5

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

For more go to -  grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30 am and pod casts archived on the site.

Helping Children at Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving: teaching children about holidays, seasons, caring

Sometimes young children feel  lost in all the preparations, activity, and loudness of family gatherings.  With a little planning, families can set up a simple way to include children and keep them busy during meal preparation. They can learn about the seasons, holidays, how everyone needs to help, develop thoughtfulness and appreciation.  

Before Thanksgiving gather colored leaves pressed in a book, gourds, or small pumpkins, pinecones, dried corncobs, and fall flower blossoms. Gather materials and place all the things in a basket.  On the day of the dinner, children will pass out items and a name card to each person. 

Family members will have a chance to say something they are thankful for and place a decoration from nature on a tray for a family cornucopia. This will take practice with young children, but the result will make a great family movie

Teaching Thankfulness

  When there are many cousins around, a quiet break helps the day go smoothly. .

 Before dinner some of the older family members can take the younger ones in another room and play a few board games while they chat together and answer some questions. Why do we have a national holiday called Thanksgiving? What are we supposed to do on Thanksgiving besides eat? How did people help you this year? How did you help others? Are there things we could do better? What are we thankful for and what will we say when it is our turn to share our gratitude around the Thanksgiving table? What would a recently deceased family member say?

Talk about growing seasons and history and ...

Changes are Coming

  Also, talk about the seasons, especially the fall and how the things that have been growing all summer are ready to eat. How is nature getting ready for winter? 

Explain how leaves turn colors.  What are animals like squirrels and chipmunks doing to prepare? Do they notice the family pet growing a thicker coat? If older children do not know the answers to these questions they can use a search engine like Google to find the answers in advance. Give children a chance to think, discuss, and practice what they plan to share while giving thanks. 

Give thanks while passing foods

Remember to thank all the helpers!

  Once the family is seated, take a minute or two for each person to mention something they are thankful for and place their decorations in the family centerpiece. This activity can be used for family gatherings any time during the year to 

What are your special family dishes

remind us the meaning of family.

  Children can draw fall pictures for place cards or simple napkin holders Children can also count the number of people and set the table with napkins and silverware.

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

For more go to -  grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30 am and pod casts archived on the site.

  

New Media Use Plan Helps Families

Journal of Pediatrics Guides Parents & Grands

The latest journal of Pediatrics October 2016 (aappublications.org), has released new recommendations for technology use by children. The report “Media and Young Minds” relates how technology can be managed in the home (healthychildren.org/Media Use Plan), the number of suggested hours of screen time, and helpful hints for parental guidance.

Positive Technology

  The report mentions some positive aspects and uses. 

Many Positives

Pediatricians still maintain that children younger than 18 to 24 months, a time of rapid brain development, should not have screen time. However, it is healthy, for families to get together with online resources like Facebook and Skype to chat with relatives and friends. Technology allows far flung families to see each other, communicate, and nurture connections.

Children Should Interact With Apps 

 If parents want to introduce some shows or apps they should watch with the children and be very selective. Even infants exposed to screen media blue light while in the lap show significantly shorter night-time sleep duration than those with no evening screen exposure.  Reading e-Books is different from reading a traditional book with illustrations on an adult’s lap.

   This age is better off on the floor actively playing and talking with family. “Because of their immature symbolic memory and attentional skills, infants and toddlers cannot learn from traditional digital media as they do from interactions with caregivers, and they have difficulty transferring that knowledge to their 3-dimensional experience. The chief factor that facilitates toddlers’ learning from commercial media (starting around 15 months of age) is parents watching with them and reteaching the content,” according to the report. Authors include Dr. Jenny Radesky from the University of Michigan and Dr. Megan Moreno from the Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Age Appropriate Guidelines

The guidelines recommend children ages 2-5 have a one- hour limit of screen time. They again recommend that families watch with the children, talk about what is being seen, and carefully select shows from PBS Kids and the Sesame Street Workshop. Children need to be active, talking, and reading with adults.  There is no substitute for human interaction and relationship for developing a healthy brain and the rest of the body. 

Singing With the App

According to the new report, children flourish during unstructured time.  They need to get outside discovering things in 3- D rather than on a two dimensional screen, crucial for development.   

Doable Reasonable Guidelines

  Pediatricians continue to urge families to include one hour of physical activity, 8-12 hours of sleep, and unplugged family time like meals.

Use Reason and Good Judgement with Media

• Ban screen time one hour before bedtime since noise and light can disrupt sleep.
•  Discourage use of entertainment media during homework time since multitasking interferes with learning. Monitored educational sites can help with homework learning.
• Continue to monitor what kids watch and do on–line.  Discuss on-line bullying, sexting, and other hazards with older children.

Websites Best Apps for Kids & Parents Magazine sites:

http://www.bestappsforkids.com/category/apps-by-age-grade/toddler-apps/ 

http://www.parents.com/fun/entertainment/gadgets/the-best-iphone-apps-for-babies-and-toddlers/?slideId=40807

For more go to -  grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30 am and pod casts archived on the site.

Making Halloween Fun Last

Halloween Is Not Just About Candy

Halloween is not about the candy.  It is about dressing up in costumes and pretending you are your favorite character. It is about using your imagination to scrounge around for all of the parts that make up a whole costume. Halloween night is almost anticlimactic to all of the preparation and anticipation. Children are often sad when they must put away the costumes, light sabers, and crowns.  Why not keep all of Halloween fun around for a while?

   Develop a costume box and let your children’s imagination sore. Add a few dress up clothes or Halloween costumes and they become princesses and Star Wars characters. Halloween time is a great time to look for bargains and ideas to add to a costume box. Cardboard and duct tape are handy to construct inexpensive knight armor, crowns, and safe light sabers. Old sheets and towels are useful for super hero capes.

   Children of all ages love to make a special cozy place

Children Love a Cozy Place to Play Dress Up

 to play dress up. During warm weather kids have fun building forts or setting up tents.  On days when the weather is nasty, the family can help them set up a little box train, castle, tent, or hideaway place inside, and take out a costume box.

Nurture Imagination

  For a quiet activity spread a big sheet over chairs or table. Inside the tent, let your children make a little room with their favorite blanket, pillow, books, toys, crayons, paper and flashlight. Send in a snack like crackers and cheese or Cheerios and climb in, too.  Sometimes little kids can fit into a tunnel simply made with sofa cushions placed against a solid surface.

  For a more active time, use cardboard boxes to make a train, bus, castle or spaceship, whatever they are really into at the moment. You can help them decorate large pieces of cardboard with markers. There are many ideas for cardboard boxes on line at Pinterest.

Dramatic Play

  Support the activity by pretending and carrying on a conversation. Dress up, too, and tell stories. Children’s

Children Love Acting Out Scenes

libraries have many books about princesses, super heroes and other adventure stories.. The Disney book section of the library shelves are a good place to start.The illustrations are beautiful and the well-loved old stories are full of action. Children enjoy acting out those scenes. 

   Imaginative play builds vocabulary, problem solving, and communication skills. Children playing in a fort like area learn to decorate their environment, problem solve, and develop an appreciation for quiet activities.  Reading and dramatic play are more opportunities to turn off technology.  It is very hard for children to use imagination when media is distracting them. 

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

For more science and math STEM adventures go to -  grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30 am and pod casts archived on the site.

Kids Love Getting Pumpkins Early

Pumpkins Smell Like Earth

“Pumpkins smell like earth. They taste like a thousand orange rainbows. They look like a giant golden nugget.”

  When young children get a little help from adults these words have a poetic ring.  Without exception, young children have a poet hiding inside.

  Children start to vibrate with energy and creativity around Halloween so we probably should just get into it early and enjoy the possibilities, too. Waiting until a day before Halloween to buy and carve, misses great opportunities to teach in the family.

Many Pumpkins to Choose

  If possible, visit a place with many pumpkins on display and allow enough time for children to explore, touch, and compare.  Talk about sizes, texture, a wide variety of shapes and misshapes. Which ones are smiling already? Which ones look upset?

Where Can You Find Pumpkins?

  At home, place pumpkins on a table and cover the entire space with paper for writing and drawing. Whole pumpkins work well for sight and sound. Look at all angles and rap on them. Pumpkin pieces and insides are great for smell and touch.  Pumpkin baked goods like pumpkin bread and cookies are mighty fine for taste after the work is finished.

  Help children write words or draw images that represent their feelings. To spark new carving ideas search google images for free pumpkin stencils and templates. Children can combine a few ideas and draw them on the paper.  You are teaching them that planning ahead for any project helps avoid tears and frustration.

Choosing Pumpkins is Exciting!

  As they draw and talk about their pumpkins’ facial expressions and feelings carefully print their words on the table paper. Remind them to look, smell, and touch inside and out.  Encourage them to thump the pumpkin. If you asked a pumpkin a question, what would it say? You can search google for pumpkin jokes and riddles. Then children can change them slightly and make up their own. You can also practice similes, a comparison using like or as. For example, pumpkins are like puffed orange apples.

Write Pumpkin Poetry Together!

Pumpkins for Poetry

  Now read the words and phrases they have said. Arrange them so they sound more fun, poetic, and musical. They can be used as texts or cards with pictures for grandparents and cousins. 

As young authors, children discover the wonder of words through poetry, but this takes a little time. Poetic words paint pictures and stimulate the senses that children use to learn about their world. It is too late Halloween night when the focus is on candy and costumes.

   Writing poetry works well with nearly any ordinary object that can be explored with the senses. Eggs, socks, rocks, toast, a favorite toy, blanket, leaves, and snow are examples to explore.

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos
Sketch: Mark Nowicki

For more science and math STEM adventures go to -  grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30 am and pod casts archived on the site.

Apples are the Stars of Fall

Many Kinds of Apples

  Apples can help teach children to observe, use their senses, make choices and predict. All are skills used in STEAM (science, technology, engineering art, and math). Then discussing food costs is a beginning of teaching economic principles.

Apple Shopping

   At the grocery help children pick out four different kinds of apples. Note their names, farm location and weigh the apples. Which one weighs the most? At the checkout look at the prices to see which apple costs the most. Talk about why some apples might cost more. At home look up where apples are grown and find the places on a map.

Select Apples

  Before working with the apples, teach children to wash apples and hands. Carefully cut the different colored apples in half from the stem through the core. Discuss halves as two equal pieces. Have children predict the apple they think will taste the best.  Then taste pieces of each color. After they decide which apple they like best, discuss words like sweet, sour, and crunchy. Match the words to the different apples.

Use a Cider Press - Make Apple Cider

  Cut the extra apple so the stem is at the top of the first half.  Children are always excited to see the seeds in the center in the shape of a five pointed star.

 Then cut a thin slice from each. Use red, yellow and green poster paint to paint each thin slice and press the painted slices carefully on paper to make star apple prints.

Apple Snacks

  Making cider is a wonderful family activity as you can see from these photos. Don't have a press? Visit a cider mill in your area. 
Apples make a nutritious snacks and Halloween monsters.  Cut very thin wedges and add a little cinnamon for something different. Peel, slice, sprinkle with cinnamon and place in the microwave for a few minutes. Cover with whipped cream.

Add Apples & Grind

  For apples monsters, cut an apple in half then cut a wedge out of the half so as one looks at the half it looks like a mouth. Stuff the mouth with peanut butter or cream cheese. Place a half strawberry for a tongue sticking out. Poke holes for two two eyes and a nose and stick chocolate points or pretzel sticks in the holes.  Pretzels and seeds can also be teeth. Whipped cream can be frothy hair.

Cider is the Juice of Crushed Apples! Enjoy!!!

 Baked apples in a microwave are easy and quick. Children can wash and use a table knife to core a two apples. In a bowl mix two

 tablespoons brown sugar and one teaspoon cinnamon and stuff the center of the apples. Place a teaspoon of butter on top of that mixture. Then adults can microwave cook in a safe dish for about 3 minutes until tender. Cool and test before giving to children. While eating you can tell the Johnny Appleseed story. 

photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

For more science and math STEM adventures go to -  grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30 am and pod casts archived on the site.

Planting Bulbs Fun with Children

  

As You Prepare for Winter -- Plant!!

Preparing for winter is another opportunity to teach young children science, geography, and economics. Families can plant flower bulbs that will seem like magic to little ones and teach valuable skills.

Planting Together

   Explain that you are planting flowers to surprise everyone in the spring.  Walk around the yard and discuss where flower bulbs could be planted based on good soil, water, sunshine and visibility through windows.

   Shop together for bulb varieties like tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, narcissus, crocus, and alliums. Discuss colors and check for healthy and fresh bulbs. Discuss that wild animals like to eat bulbs and flowers. If you have many animals, you might want to stick to daffodils and narcissus. Squirrels and chipmunks may also move bulbs around. 

  Make a big deal of reading the planting directions on the back of the package out loud. Read the steps several times out loud and plan the planting sequence together. 

Follow & Discuss the Directions Fully

 Who will do each step?

   Examine the bulbs and notice texture and size.  Explain there is a small plant inside that stays cool all winter and then will grow when the temperature gets warmer. Where is the pointed side of the bulb that must face up?  What will come from the pointed side? (stem) What will come from the round bottom side? (roots)

  Discuss and create a planting assembly line. Make a single hole for each, large circle, or a trench five inches deep.  With the pointed side up. Sketch a quick map of the flower types and where they are placed. Cover up with soil and give it a few gentle “love pats”.

  When all of the bulbs are planted, water well and cover with mulch, leaves, or both.  Discuss that the soil, leaves, and snow will keep the bulbs warm just like a blanket.

 Teaching Young Gardeners

Draw a Map of Your Ideal Flower Beds

  Gardening teaches children many skills. Young children learn economics by making a planned purchase and checking out prices and quality of their plants.  Adults can show the value of reading directions, writing a list, and following directions. Children can make a 

geographic map to show how beautiful the yard will be. They learn how plants grow and how animals and humans interact in the environment. Children increase science vocabulary and have quality conversations with adults. Your family may want to volunteer for a community or religious beautification project or read library books about plants and children’s gardens.
photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos
For more science and math STEM adventures go to -  grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:30 am and pod casts archived on the site.