And if he’s an eco-friendly kind of guy, he’s also thinking of the birds and bugs that benefit his vegetable garden and how he might enhance their habitat.

Jo wiggles like an earthworm, flutters like a bird and sings E-I-E-I-O as she helps her grandfather (modeled after my own nature-loving dad).  She also shows how to help wildlife through small modifications to a home vegetable or herb garden. For example:

1. Plant a few native plants such as coneflowers to provide nectar for bees and butterflies, seeds for birds and places for beneficial insects to lay eggs.
2. Add a large flat rock on which butterflies can rest.
3. Provide a birdbath.
4. Create a toad home from an old flower pot.
5. Make treats for birds in the winter.

Jo shares these and other related indoor and outdoor activities in the parents’ section in the back of the book. Also, check out Dawn Publication’s downloadable activities.

Do you want to make your own garden a haven for wildlife? Check out National Wildlife Federation’s Certified Wildlife Habitat program.

She claimed a tiny patch of ground in our larger garden, carefully selected just-the-right seedlings from the “plant store” and exuberantly hoed, planted and watered.  The result:  a riotous mix of pink, yellow, orange and red blooms. Zinnias, marigolds and a vibrant Gerber daisy.

This Father’s Day, Dad might love a few flowers. They might show up in a surprise garden created by your kids, or bud from a carefully tended seed in a pot. (See “16 Tips for Wildlife Gardening With Kids”) Or you could learn how to attract butterflies, birds, and other wildlife to your new garden by providing the right habitat.

Great Nature Books to Go With a Garden

Along with the flowers, he might appreciate one or two beautifully photographed nature books.

Author Cris Peterson and photographer David Lundquist create a bouquet for the ears and eyes in Seed, Soil, Sun (Boyds Mills, 2010, ages 4 and up).

Peterson does a fine job of explaining the plant growth cycle in child-friendly language while Lundquist captures the happy glow of youngsters watching earthworms, digging in the dirt and engaged in outdoor activity.

Animal Colors (EarlyLight Books, 2009, ages 4 and up) is a garden of bright critters from around the world.  Author/photographer Beth Fielding includes a succinct factual description for each featured animal, from the tiny red velvet mite to the black-and-white Orca whale.

Be sure to share two cool facts with Dad as the summer approaches.

1. From Seed, Soil, Sun: “More corn seeds are planted each year in the United States than any other kind of seed.”
2. And from Animal Colors: The snowy owl of the chilly Arctic “pants like a dog when hot to cool off.”

Happy Father’s Day!

Hummingbirds: Facts and Folklore from the Americas by Jeanette Larson (Author), Adrienne Yorinks (Illustrator), Charlesbridge Publishing (Publisher)

If April showers bring May flowers, then what do May flowers bring?  Hummingbirds!

One of my favorite Mother’s Day gifts is a red hummingbird feeder. It’s a gift that has kept on giving over the years with every glimpse of the tiny, busy beaks that take a sip.

And this year I have the perfect gift for my mom, another avid hummingbird watcher:  Hummingbirds: Facts and Folklore from the Americas (Charlesbridge, ages 4 and up).  Jeanette Larson and Adrienne Yorinks have compiled a collection of intriguing facts and legends, all beautifully  illustrated with Yorinks’s quilted artwork.  Below is but a “nectar nip” of what the book holds:

• Hummingbirds weigh roughly as much as two pages of notebook paper.
• They have the highest metabolic rate of any warm-blooded vertebrate and feed for about two hours every day.
• An ancient Mayan legend ascribed the hummingbird’s bright colors to the fine gifts it received from other creatures on its wedding day.
• The Aztec people believed that feisty hummingbirds were actually the spirits of fallen warriors.
• Wing beats range from twenty-five to two hundred beats per second.
• Their eggs are about the size of a small jelly bean.

And here’s a fun fact for all you resourceful, recycling moms:  The female hummingbird is an ingenious nest builder, often using whatever is available, including “animal hair, plant fiber, [and] fibers from the roofs of abandoned cars.”

Happy Mother’s Day!

PS: You can find hummingbird feeders in NWF’s catalog — and other fun outdoor accessories! Also, Did you know May is Garden for Wildlife Month? Learn how you can attract birds, butterflies and other beautiful creatures to your yard. deck, or balcony.

Through her rhythmical text, beautiful acrylic paintings and picture glossary, Susan gives youngsters a chance to swoop with the Great Horned Owl, whoop with the crane and learn more about the American robin, toucan and Adelie penguin.

Susan has written a number of nature picture books for kids, most recently Fabulous Fishes.   She traces her interest in birds to a childhood fascination with the “bright bold colors and patterned beaks” of parrots.   Below she kindly shares thoughts on watching birds and creating books.

Q: What was the most enjoyable part of writing the book?  Illustrating it?

A: For writing, I most enjoyed creating the rhyme scheme, using alliteration and selecting just the right pairing of words for each bird to describe its behavior:  ’dancing birds, diving birds,’ for example, and ‘hanging birds, hiding birds.’  I loved doing the painting but it is always a challenge to create art that is both visually appealing and factually accurate.   Sometimes I drew more than 20 sketches for one bird.

Q: What research did you do?

A: I consulted books, magazine articles and online sources.  I also shared the manuscript and pictures with bird experts at the National Museum of Natural History,  the National Zoo, and the Cornell Lab of Orinthology, and they reviewed for accuracy.

Q: Did you see the birds in the book?

A: I tried to see as many as possible.  I visited zoos and examined bird specimens at the National Museum of Natural History.  I also visted the Galapagos Islands, where I saw Blue-footed Boobies and the Great Frigatebird.

Q: How long did the research, writing and illustrating process take?

A: Two years.

Great Horned Owl/ Photo by Digital Vision

Q: Do you have a favorite bird that you really wanted to include?

A: The Great Horned Owl.  The beautiful patterns on its face and wings were wonderful to paint.

Q: Do you like to bird watch?  Do you have any tips for young bird watchers?

A: I encourage kids to go on bird walks with a bird expert.  I do this at the Audubon Naturalist Society, close to my home.  An expert will point out birds you might miss and you’ll learn a lot about them.  And kids might have fun writing about and drawing pictures of birds that interest them.

Q: Are you working on a new book now?

A: On two new books, actually.  I want to introduce children to spots and stripes on a wide variety of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles and insects.  I’ve written both books in rhyme and am currently creating the images for them.  I’m having a great time!

Check out NWF’s Activity Finder, with dozens of fun bird crafts and activities for young ones!

Photo by Photolibrary.com

In spring, to borrow a few poetic phrases from Alfred Lord Tennyson, a young person’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of … kite flying, dirt digging, seed planting and other outdoor activities.

Time with our kids in parks and gardens or on trails reveals a world going green and getting busy. Seeds are sprouting, trees budding, robins hopping,  squirrels frisking.  It’s amazing to visit the same outdoor spot–be it backyard, city park or stretch of trail–and notice the changes.

Planting the Wild Garden by Kathryn O. Galbraith (Peachtree, 2011, ages 4-10) takes a close, delighted look at this abundance.  How, exactly, do seeds scatter and grow in the wild? There’s the oooooo–whishhh of wind spinning seeds across the fields.  The splashing rain washes them to new places.  They cling to the coats of passersby–a rabbit and fox–and fall as these creatures move through the meadow.

Illustrator Wendy Anderson Halperin captures the dynamic quality of natural growth and change through her lively pencil-and-watercolor art.   To show detail as well as action, she uses a mix of  close-ups and larger scenes.  For example, on one double-page spread, there are several small pictures, including one of a cocklebur caught in a fox’s tail.  The largest picture on the page shows reynard slinking towards an alert rabbit.

Thanks to this playful, informative book, you and your kids will know how thistle,  yarrow and Queen Anne’s lace ended up enriching some of your favorite outdoor spots.

P.S. Spring activities are here! Get inspired for outdoor play-time.

Copyright 2011, Photolibrary.com

1.  Grow Your Own: Prepare for spring planting by starting indoors.  All you need are a packet of seeds (flower, tomato, herbs such as chives), a bag of soil, several flower pots and a sunny window.  Your bits of green will soon sprout even as the “wintry mix” continues to fall outdoors.

2.  Go on a Red-and-Green Hunt: On a walk through your neighborhood or hike through the woods, look for flashes of red (male cardinals, holly berries) and green (pine trees, running cedar).  This is a playful, pre-Spring activity.  Be on the watch for the small, shy leaves of the first crocus.

3.  Pick up a copy of Girls Gone Green by Lynn Hirshfield (Puffin, 2010, ages 9 and up): Author Hirshfield has gathered information on dozens of environmental projects  founded and run by girls and young women all over the country. Their ideas may jump start a family project or inspire your children to act upon a concern or to initiate an activity on their own.  The girls (and even a few green-conscious young celebrities such as actress Ellen Page and singer/songwriter Michelle Branch) offer advice in getting started and share helpful resources and websites.

A sampling:

• In California, Adrienne Boukis, 13, designed a reusable lunch bag that she now uses as a fundraiser for worthy causes.
• In Texas, second grader  Stephanie Cohen created pins and collected signatures to help raise awareness of the plight of the endangered manatee.  Now at the age of 16, through the national nonprofit she founded, Kids Making a Difference, Stephanie brings together and helps inform young people desirous of having a positive impact on the world.
• Elizabeth Severino, 18, spearheads efforts to clean up the Bronx River in New York.
• Mollie Passacantando, 10, of Virginia, advocates for polar bears and honeybees through her blog, protest rallies and letter campaigns.

A big green Valentine to these girls and all other kids (and to your family, too) who may be making a difference in big and small ways. As Mollie says, “If someone tells you that you’re too young … or that you can’t do anything to help the planet, prove them wrong.  I did.”

More Valentine’s Day Fun:

• Animal Mates Crossword: Kids will love this Valentine’s Day crossword puzzle.
• Kid-Friendly Nature Crafts: Show love for the people—and birds—in your life with bird- and mouse-themed Valentine’s crafts.
• Animal Hearts: From hummingbirds to cheetahs, some animals really do have heart.
• Animal Valentines: Trickery, hermaphroditism and scented dung: For these species, courtship is hardly a long walk on the beach.
• Seabird Love: Read how seabirds send “love letters” to their potential mates.

Getting outside is a great way to soothe the revved-up holiday spirit. A stroll through the neighborhood or  a long pause at the bird feeder can de-stress cranky kid and parent alike.  My favorite time of the day is taking our dog for a run in a nearby park.  The grass has yellowed, the leafless trees gone gray.  The natural world around us has settled into its winter quiet, and I can feel myself easing into its  slower, gentler rhythms.

Thanks to Walden Then & Now (Charlesbridge, ages 3 and up), your family can take a relaxing walk around Henry David Thoreau’s Massachusetts pond.  Author/illustrator Michael McCurdy introduces each letter of the alphabet with a short rhyme about Thoreau’s activities and wild neighbors during his two years there.  Little ones will love the playful poems, but  older kids and adults will appreciate additional short descriptions of the cabin making, ant watching and fishing that filled the American naturalist’s days. We learn about a mischievous loon, thumping hare, and pond ice used to keep food from spoiling.

If you’re looking for a gift that might continue to give throughout the year, Walden Then & Now is a lovely choice.  The book’s thick, creamy pages and McCurdy’s stunning wood engravings pay tribute to Thoreau’s own attention to  craft and natural beauty more than 150 years ago.

As we journey through the solstice darkness and into a new year (and paraphrasing slightly from Thoreau’s Walden), here’s wishing you and your children “pasture enough for [your] imagination[s].”

What’s your post-Thanksgiving dinner ritual? Do you try to get the kids outside to blow off some steam, shuffle through fallen leaves or gather pine cones for holiday decorations?

We try to do all three while celebrating at my parents’ home.  Walking around the country place where my six siblings and I grew up, I marvel each Thanksgiving at my dad’s stewardship of the land.  There’s the pond that his grandkids now like to explore, the organic garden plot, the windbreak of towering pines we planted as seedlings.

Thanksgiving might be the perfect time to thank the natural world by doing a “giving back” family project. You might brainstorm with your kids and come up with something that speaks to everyone’s interests.  The project might be one time (planting a native shrub), seasonal (ensuring a winter water source for backyard birds) or longer (regularly picking up trash in a local park or along a trail).

Celebrating that giving-back spirit is Earth Heroes: Champions of Wild Animals (Earth Heroes Series) (Dawn, 2010, ages 8 and up), the third and final book in the nonfiction Earth Heroes series.  Wife-and-husband team Carol and Bruce Malnor have authored dynamic portraits of eight wildlife advocates.

Your whole family will enjoy learning about chimp ambassador Jane Goodall, ant expert Edward O. Wilson and wolf conservationist Ronald Lawrence.  These carefully researched mini-biographies are fascinating—and show how an interest sparked in childhood often flames into lifework.

One of the most intriguing portraits is of personable Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling (1876-1962), who as a teen loved working on his uncle’s Michigan farm and watching ducks on the millpond.  He grew up to be a cartoonist, conservationist, duck painter and co-founder and first president of the General Wildlife Federation (now the National Wildlife Federation).

Period photos and black-and-white artwork by Anisa Claire Hovemann add visual details.  Hovemann manages to capture vividly both the realistic appearance and the lively spirit of the ducks, bison, elephants and other wildlife that so entranced these naturalists and scientists.

And then on December 21–Winter Solstice–everything shifts. Slowly, slowly the light begins to return.

Right now, the natural world is austerely beautiful. The colors are muted, the air still, the trees almost skeletal. Why not celebrate the Solstice this month with an outdoor romp? You and your kids might watch that evening as the world moves from twilight to shadow to darkness–and then light candles or beam flashlights to mark the turn (and return) of the light.

Across cultures, across time, Winter Solstice has exerted a mysterious pull. The ancients heaped twigs on the fire, created torches, and chanted. They hoped to keep the dark at bay and entice the sun to return. I was reminded of this recently on an evening stroll with my 11-year-old daughter. As our familiar neighborhood slipped into darkness and the last fall leaves rustled underfoot, small bits of artificial and natural light began to appear. They decorated porches, filled windows and star-speckled the sky.

I Love the Night (Brown Dog, 2004, ages 1 to 5) by Dar Hosta is the perfect book to prepare for Solstice–and bedtime. Though it is not set in the winter, the book captures the beauty and sense of magic that infuses this darkest time of the year. As her crickets, octopus and raccoon remind us, night is the “perfectly perfect time for becoming still and quiet.” Hosta adorns her lullabye with collages in soothing shades of midnight blue, cocoa brown, pale lavender and pearly white. On the page, the shapes of the animals and the surrounding leaves and grass loom large, much like friendly shadows.

As the seasons turn and the year comes to a close, Hosta’s words have special meaning. Solstice might be just the right time for having a “nocturnal adventure” and then “making up a good dream.” Wishing you and your family a holiday full of good dreams and playful Green Hours.

Mary Quattlebaum is the author of 15 award-winning children’s books, including Jackson Jones and the Puddle of Thorns (Random House) and two chapter-book sequels, all set in a city community garden. Check www.maryquattlebaum.com for activities connected with Mary’s books.

Natural spaces offer quiet and sanctuary–and that seems especially important as kids get older. The tween and teen years fill with homework, structured activities, cell phones, computers, chatty friends and, yes, stress. And young people this age are thinking, “What will I be when I grow up? What choices will define my life?”

The Frog Scientist (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009, ages 9 to 14) tells the true story of one young man whose curiosity about the natural world fueled his career. Dr. Tyrone Hayes recalls: “My neighborhood was near a swamp full of frogs, snapping turtles, and snakes. My interest in them started when I was four or five. I tell kids, if there is something you like doing, stick with it!”

Hayes is an engaging, likable man, given to practical jokes and passionate about his research. A scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, he is part of a worldwide scientific inquiry into the deformities and diminishing numbers of frogs. Through Pamela Turner’s lively, informative text and Andy Comins’s dynamic color photographs, readers can go on a frog-catching field trip with Hayes and his graduate students and observe their painstaking work in the lab. This book is marvelous, offering a good sense of the scientific process and the life path of one particular scientist.

As for favorite books from childhood, Hayes is shown reading What Is a Frog? (a gift from his mom) to his own children. And Young Kim-Parker, a graduate student, mentions her childhood love of tadpoles and of Arnold Lobel’s classic Frog and Toad series.

Mary Quattlebaum is the author of 15 award-winning children’s books, including Jackson Jones and the Puddle of Thorns (Random House) and two chapter-book sequels, all set in a city community garden. Check www.maryquattlebaum.com for activities connected with Mary’s books.