Happy Spring Everyone!! (Or Fall for those in the Southern Hemisphere!)
Wherever you are on this beautiful planet it’s time to celebrate the diversity and nature which lives here. There has been much talk of late as to global warming, nature deficit disorder, and many other topics which suggest that we are becoming completely disconnected from our life source “The Planet.”
The best way to feel connected to this planet is to experience it, and I’m going to give everyone a chance to do just that. I’ve put together a collection of my favorite nature writers, crafters, and gardeners. There is something in this list for everyone in your family, school, and community at large. It is my sincerest wish that you create many happy outdoor moments and also to be inspired to find many more ways in which you can experience nature throughout the seasons.
In celebration of our planet, one lucky participant will win the following:
From author Jennifer Wood
- I Love Dirt:52 Activities to Help You and Your Kids Discover the Wonders of Nature
I Love Dirt! By Jennifer Wood
- Let’s Go Outside: Outdoor Activities and Projects to Get You and Your Kids Closer to Nature
Let's Go Outside by Jennifer Wood
From Author Richard Louv:
- Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder
Last Child In The Woods
- The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder
The Nature Principle
From Joseph Bharat Cornell:
- Sharing Nature With Children 20th Anniversary Edition
Sharing Nature With Children
From Fiona Danks and Jo Schofield
- Nature’s Playground: Activities, Crafts, and Games to Encourage Children to Get Outdoors
Nature's Playground
- Go Wild!: 101 Things to Do Outdoors Before You Grow UP.
Go Wild!
- Make it Wild!: 101 Things to Make and do Outdoors
Make It Wild!
- Run Wild: Outdoor Games and Adventures
- The Stick Book: Loads of Things You can Make or Do With a Stick
From Sharon Lovejoy
- Sunflower Houses: Inspiration from the Garden- A Book for Children and their Grown-ups
- Hollyhock Days” Adventures for the Young at Heart
- Roots, Shoots, Buckets, & Boots: Gardening Together with Children
- Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars: Grandma’s bag of Tricks
Excited? AWESOME! This giveaway will run from April 3rd through April 19th. A winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter at 11:59 pm, on April 20th 2012, and will have 48 hours to claim this Motherload of wonderful books!
To enter please leave a comment, and follow us on Facebook. For an extra chance to win subscribe to our blog in your favorite reader. One special little perk is that you can add an extra chance to win daily if you tweet about us.
OK, it’s time to go outside now. Like my mother always use to say, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.”
Have a great day everyone!!
Oh, this is incredible! I would LOVE to get my hands on these books!
This would be a wonderful prize. I love your blog!!!
Amazing as always! I own some of them but give these books as gifts all the time! How I would LOVE to win this giveaway!
Thanks for the opportunity!
Molly
PS We LOVE the Fox Diaries! What a wonderful book! Thanks for writing it!
OK, Valarie, I’ve seen a LOT of giveaways, but this is one I would LOVE to win. Thanks a bunch!
Books + Outdoors + Kids = Awesome! Your giveaway is totally amazing…so many fantastic reads I could share with my little guy. Thanks!
Love it! I already have like half of these but would love to give them as gifts!!
I like to sit/stand still and wait for nature to show itself.
We love to sit in our hammock or the treehouse and just observe. Another joy is playing the creek and looking for animals in the water. Salamanders and crayfish are favorites
Thanks for the chance at such a generous giveaway!
What an amazing giveaway! I like to take walks with my daughter and marvel at how she views the world around her.
Wowsers! What a giveaway! Some of these books I haven’t heard of, so I am excited to check them out! Thanks as always for amazing giveaways!
I love to go outside with my son and smell the fresh air, catch bugs and investigate them!
Thanks for the amazing giveaway! I love books and so does my son!
I tweeted about the giveaway, but I don’t think the right thing came up. It said about winning the 30 Dr. Seuss book from a while back. I wasn’t sure what to do?
https://twitter.com/#!/kellybb31/status/187331052115726337
If I don’t win, I will be going out to buy many, if not everyone, of these books for our family!
Wow, what a fantastic giveaway! I’d love to share these with my kids and a few of my friends. We are total nature nuts here, and we love to be outside.
And I’m back to say what we like to do outside! Run, play with puddles, sticks, pick dandelions, find small animals and birds, and explore whatever is growing in different times of the year.
In.cred.ible! Thankyou! Oh, I hope I win!!
Love the book Last Child in the Woods. Many of these books are on my wish list. I hope I win!!
We too love nature, and what a collection of books for one lucky blog reader. I hope it’s me
Just read the question…
We love to jump in puddles and look at insects and spiders when we are outside!
I like to go hiking.
I have just started paying extra attention to making sure I get my son, who has aspergers, outside every day. These books would be so fantastic for us!
When I was a little girl, I’d go hiking with my dad. I would pay attention to each sense. I’d notice the different shapes of leaves and rocks. We’d look for animal tracks and hunt for blue bellied lizards. We’d listen to the sound of the breeze through the trees, bird calls and the rustling in the bushes. I’d smell the scent of the earth and plants, feel the sun on my skin. We’d pick wild anise to chew on as we walked. I guess my favorite thing now is to just inhale deeply and pay attention when I’m out in nature.
I love walking in the great outdoors. The only thing that stops me are storms.
I have no problems getting my child outside, it is harder to get her inside, especially when it is rainy
We are always open to new ideas 
Our my daughter’s favorite outdoorsy activity is building fairy houses. We have quite a few hideaways in the yard and have made lots in the parks as well. At other times she looks for signs of fairies. I love looking at the beauty – used to do a lot of macro photography and I love observing still.
Play in the dirt (aka – Gardening).
Great giveway!
We like to garden,find special places to just sit and enjoy nature,watch the frogs jumping in the creek,skip stones, make things from nature finds.This year I am going to introduce the kids to making fairy houses from nature supplies.Thanks for the chance to win!
We LOVE to spend time outside!! This would really help us find new and exciting things to do! Our garden is almost planted and I have fairy houses planned for this year.
I’d love to have these and share them with my like-minded friends!
Gardening, bouncing on the trampoline, watching the cats bask in the sun. We would love to win these!
Letting nature lead the way. Appreciating the many colours, textures, and scents of nature. Experiencing the elements.
Such a brilliant giveaway. Thank you.
Oh, how I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to win these books!!! This is an amazing giveaway. Thank you so much!!
I love looking at the clouds.
look at the stars
Today it was digging for worms. My little guy was SO TIRED. The only way I could wake him up was to ask him to go dig worms with me. It worked!
Amazing giveaway! Thank you for the chance – we are itching to learn more things to do with our two energetic boys in the Great Outdoors!
We love to make mud soup – stones, sticks, leaves and all!
I love to go for walks outside, especially “nature” walks with the kids. I also love to just sit outside and take it in. This is an awesome giveaway! thanks for the opportunity to win!
I have never really been an outdoorsy person, other than tanning.
But lately, I have gotten into planting flowers and such to decorate my patio. And really just spending time outside, being in the fresh air.
What an AMAZING giveaway! *fingers crossed*
I like to lay in the grass and watch clouds… or chase my littles :p
Me! Pick me!
Unfortunately, the urban Middle East isn’t the best place for kids to explore nature, but we are going to try to make more of an effort to take trips to encourage more.
Oh, and I get emails with the new posts. That means I’m subscribed right?
What great resources!
We like to hike in the woods!
Listen and look, nature is the best teacher for life!
You know how well these would go down at our house! What a great way to celebrate spring!
What a beautiful selection to celebrate the AMAZING planet earth! I would love these for my family!
We love to go for walks, looking for animal tracks & picking up pretty rocks along the way.
The spring weather here in FL has been absolutely perfect for outside activities! I’m going to pass these books along to my school’s media specialist. She’s hoping to get some $$ from our school’s PTO to buy books. I ALWAYS share your lists and emails w/her! Thanks and good luck everybody!
That’s a terrific bunch of books! I would love to be able to use these in the classroom.
Thanks for the giveaway, it would be a treat to win!
generous and wonderful offer.
What an amazing collection of books. I couldn’t help but enter…. I am so glad to have found Jo Schofield & Fiona Danks as well…. those books look very interesting. I’ll be sharing this with my readers to Valarie!
Their books are incredible and I know they will become favorites at your house. They are big hits over here. Happy Playing Outside Stephinie.
Great giveaway!!
What an amazing collection of books! I only have two and would be so excited to read the rest!!!!
oops…I didn’t say what I like to do outside, there are so many things..garden, swing with my children, draw with chalk, explore, bird watch, play in the sand, read a book, swim, kayak…the list goes on and on!
it depends on the weather and how I feel. sometimes I just sit and watch the children frolic. Sometimes I work in the gardens. Sometimes I play fetch with the dog. We enjoy going on walks at my parents’ wood. We’ve just begun keeping nature journals. we just enjoy the outdoors.
Woohoo! 14 books! Awesome!
To answer your question….I like to be inside more than outside unless it is winter. So if I’m outside in the winter, I want to play in the snow!!!!
I love to plant seeds and anxiously watch them grow!
Wow, wow, wow! With every new giveaway you host I think “it cannot get better!” – and here we are yet – another “cannot get better” giveaway!!!!! Thanks!
And when we go outside – I like to go into the forest with my little one and introduce her to the wonders of nature…show her every little bug we meet, show her the beauty of the trees…and make some dirt muffins with her
What a wonderful giveaway! Thank you for the opportunity!
Love the selection, and would love to have and share these!
I like hiking.
Wow! Such a great giveaway! I like to explore & look for insects, animals & plants I can marvel at. Thanks!
Oh my! What a wonderful collections of books! We are avid book lovers and dirt worshippers. We would love to win. Thank you x
Oh my goodness this giveaway is my dream list come true-
I have borrowed several of the books from the library but to have them at home- that would be amazing!
I follow via FB
I tweeted about this today via @byladyren
Awesome! I’m a facebook fan.
Tweeted!
these books look awesome, I recognize many of the m from my Amazon wish list, lol. Fav thing is to explore, find bugs, wildlife plants & marvel!
A wonderful giveaway! I know our oldest outdoor girl here would be inspired by these reads as well.
The outdoor play treasury of books! Oh my goodness. So many of these books are ones I’ve pined for. We love outdoor play and nature. A little giddy with excitement.
Great giveaway!! I love everything about nature…taking walks, bird watching, etc.!!!
bl3982@yahoo.com
What an amazing giveaway! I love the quote “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just unsuitable clothing” Along those lines anyway! Just some of the things we love is to go out when it’s pouring and puddle jump! On the beach explore the life brimming in rock pools and in our garden quietly watch the birds gather around our bird feeder. We would love to explore the ideas in these books..fingers crossed:)
What a wonderful giveaway! I love the quote “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just unsuitable clothing” Along those lines anyway! Just some of the things we love is to go out when it’s pouring and puddle jump! On the beach explore the life brimming in rock pools and in our garden quietly watch the birds gather around our bird feeder. We would love to explore the ideas in these books..fingers crossed:)