We often go on an outdoor adventure or two on the weekends. But during the week I'm full of excuses. We can go days without spending more than a few moments outdoors. I've decided to reinstate a daily green hour. In his book 'The Green Hour', Todd Christopher suggests that the nature deficit disorder that many children experience today can be alleviated by reclaiming a ‘green hour’ a day for play and discovery in the natural world. ‘A green hour is simply a time for families to unplug, unwind, and recharge as they reconnect to the natural world – and... Read more →

Monday is usually our urban adventure day. But today was busy - so instead we took a moment to wander around nearby streets looking for signs of urban nature. The concept of 'nature' is a little beyond a three year old, so I told Little Eco we were searching for bugs. I love that nature is never too far away, no matter where you are. Yes, I stole some violets out of someones garden. Anyone else willing to fess-up to collecting plants from neighbours gardens? If you're wondering what Little Eco is wearing or what that blonde hair is in... Read more →

We’ve been continuing our urban adventure. Last week’s favourite park was Hollingsford Reserve, Carrington. This park has so much to see and do that we had to visit it two days in a row. There's ... hills to roll down, puddles to splash, boats to row, bridges to cross, views to gaze at, Mangrove seeds to dissect, and lessons to be learnt. The Mangroves were sadly littered with lots and lots of rubbish. We spoke about how litter eventually makes its way down drains and into creeks and waterways and had a chat about what we can do to fix... Read more →

Our two favourite parks from week three of our urban adventure couldn't have been more different to each other. Walsh Point Reserve, Kooragang: This reserve was pretty unusual. We had to drive through the coal loaders and past mountains of wood chips to get there. You can see a pile of wood chips to the right in the photo above. Little Eco took this photo. I'm always amazed at how she manages to get straight horizons. Mine are always crooked!. It's an eery place and I won't be going there again without Daddy Eco. It's in the middle of nowhere... Read more →

I was being a tad unrealistic thinking we could do 24 parks in 24 days. It didn't take me long to realise racing off to a different park each afternoon was just adding another scheduled activity to an already busy scheduled day. So I've backed off to a more realistic rate of exploration. We've been having a lot of fun and have found some great (and not-so great) parks. My favourites this week were: Dip-netting for water bugs at Eucalyptus Circuit Reserve, Warabrook: We were pretty impressed with the freshwater shrimp we found and after having so much fun are... Read more →