Category Archives: Children

Fly, Buzz, and Honk!….Again

Art and Nature will meet once again in a Cambridge open space on Thursday, July 26. Now postponed to Friday, July 27, due to the weather forecast. The third annual Fly, Buzz, and Honk! Festival offers guided nature exploration for children, a pollinator relay game, puppet-making, make-your-own nature journal, National Moth Week activities, and anContinue reading “Fly, Buzz, and Honk!….Again”

Cambridge Wildlife Trading Cards Released

The Cambridge Wildlife Puppetry Project (CWPP) began distributing two new local wildlife cards at the Honk! Parade on October 8, 2017. Raúl Gonzalez III drew  urban raccoons for one of the new cards. Known as Raúl the Third, Gonzalez is the Pura Belpre award-winning illustrator of Lowriders to the Center of the Earth and Lowriders inContinue reading “Cambridge Wildlife Trading Cards Released”

Cambridge’s Baird Creates “Human Nature Dictionary”

Cambridge Resident Freedom Baird’s open-source participatory project, the Human Nature Dictionary, is part of an exhibit running through August 8th at the Massachusetts College of Art. Shocked that the Oxford Junior Dictionary had removed basic vocabulary words related to nature, the artist devised the Human Nature Dictionary as a form of protest. She saw theContinue reading “Cambridge’s Baird Creates “Human Nature Dictionary””

Nature as a Recharge System for Attention

Andrea Faber Taylor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has launched a study of the effects of nature on learning. In this controlled study in three schools, children who spend 100 minutes or more outside every day will be compared to others who spend much less time outside. Research is mounting that green space is not justContinue reading “Nature as a Recharge System for Attention”

Snowfall in the City

When children wake up with the outdoor world coated with even an inch or two of snow, the transformation of their world isn’t partial, as it is for the jaded among the rest of us, who’ve seen hundreds of snowfalls come and go. We have turned into the shovelers, the drivers, the schleppers, the planning-ahead experts.Continue reading “Snowfall in the City”

Participatory Budgeting

The City of Cambridge has launched a Participatory Budgeting Project earmarking $500,000 for citizen-proposed public works. A number of the proposals that have emerged from the process are playground additions or improvements; quite a few suggest traffic-calming and pro-biking infrastructure improvements. I’ve suggested that maximum benefit to the greatest number of children would be the creation ofContinue reading “Participatory Budgeting”

Honk! for Cambridge Wildlife

Fresh Pond Creatures at the Honk! Parade 2014 Join our Fresh Pond Creatures contingent on Sunday, October 12th. This informal Cambridge community group will march in the 9th annual Honk! Parade, a festival of brass bands from all over the United States. All Cambridge families and individuals are welcome to join Fresh Pond Creatures. Help celebrate the ecosystemContinue reading “Honk! for Cambridge Wildlife”

Slow Reading

“Slow reading,” what used to be called just “reading”— does it defeat the purpose of “ambient intelligence?” Is ambient intelligence itself a desirable phase of technology? It’s a moot point, because it’s nigh. I might be spreading the word about screen-free time as a buoyant, pearly treasure in daily life  (not just for children). Time in nature is one flavor of thatContinue reading “Slow Reading”