Too Cold to Play Outside? 10 Ways to Bring Nature Inside for Kids! by Mike Prochaska

“There can never be too much nature inside a classroom. It is the antidote to the fast-paced, stressful world in which many young children live. Equally important, it encourages an appreciation of the natural world on which we depend.” – Condie Ward

Stuck inside because of the temps? Here are some ways to bring nature into the house when it’s too cold to go outside:

• Plant some plants in the house. We grow grass every year in plastic cups. You can also grow vegetables in old egg cartoons. Grass is the easiest to grow without killing it.
• Collect pine cones, seeds, rocks, shells and bring them into the house for sorting and exploring. Paint and use as loose part play. Yes, we have bags of nature all over our house.
• Have a space in your house where your kids can make art out of sticks, rocks, leaves, etc. Nothing is better than giving your kiddos a bunch of nature supplies and glue and seeing what they create! I promise you they will amaze you.
• Teach your kids about your state bird and flower. Look them up on the Internet.
• Hang nature art in your house. We have pictures of waterfalls, mountains and flowers hanging all over our house.
• Make snow ice cream! All kids love ice cream! 
• Feed the birds. Even if you can’t maintain a feeder year round, you can still try your hand at feeding birds in the backyard or park. My kids love feeding the pigeons when we go downtown. 
• Bug boxes are a fantastic way to get a closer look at what’s crawling around. My kids are always finding spiders and stinkbugs in the basement and we observe them before I put them back outside.
• Explore a nature center or zoo!
• We put container of water outside to see how long it takes to freeze!

How do you explore nature with your kids when it's -7 degrees out?