Nature Tots continues in 2020

child putting item on felt board

Nature stories, live animals, outdoor play — Nature Tots is a hit program at the Dickinson County Nature Center that will return Jan. 8 for the 2020 season. “I think this program has been so well attended because it offers activities families can do together,” said Bryanna Kuhlman, environmental education coordinator. “It also gives families Read More »

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Celebrate winter with a craft stick snowflake

popsicle snowflake

During the holiday break, my mother-in-law was putting her former-teacher skills into action. After a Christmas cookie decorating contest for the family in which she gave out awards such as “Most symmetrical tree” and “Most wordy,” she broke out a snowflake craft for her three granddaughters to work on while their father was out grilling Read More »

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How to make your own hatching dinosaur egg

broken bath bomb eggs

Bryanna and Ashley had been working hard making hatching dinosaur eggs for Nature Tots and had tried a couple of recipes to get the desired texture. I went to the kitchen at the Dickinson County Nature Center and picked up their egg creations. One felt quite firm, and I was impressed. I picked it up Read More »

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My Giving Tree craft

Crafts don’t always come together the way you think they will. I had a brilliant idea this morning to make place cards with leaf etchings on them, and I tried it out. Yikes. Ugly. If you come up with something pretty with that idea, let me know. So instead, I decided to post how to Read More »

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A twist on the classic snowflake craft

fake snowflake on window

Ugh. That’s what many of us think when we look outside at this time of year. It’s long enough into winter that we’re all tired of the cold, but not far enough into winter that we have hope of spring around the corner. This is the time of year we have to be intentional about Read More »

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Make maple taffy with snow!

taffy in snow

Sometimes we forget how much fun snow can be when we’re inundated with it during the wintertime. During this month’s Nature Tots program we wanted to remind people the joys of snow, and to conclude the event we even made some maple syrup snow taffy. It’s a pretty easy process to do even at home. Read More »

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Craft of the week: Paw Prints

person using ink stamp pad to create fingerprint image

Baby, it’s cold outside. That usually means that people stay inside, but it doesn’t mean that you only have to do indoorsy things! Today’s Nature Tots focused on paw prints, and toddlers and their families joined us for a story, an animal track scavenger hunt, touch bins and a paw print craft. For our craft, Read More »

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Craft of the week: Turtle Prints

finger paint bottles

  For Nature Tots last week, the theme was Turtle Power! To celebrate our reptile friends, we decorated our own turtle shells using our thumbprints, and this is a great and easy activity you can do with your little ones at home. Start out by drawing a large turtle on your sheet of paper. (Watch: Read More »

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