Self-guided hikes are a great way to keep your family active outdoors and engaged in nature! They’re also excellent ways to support learning via community-based educational resources, including land trusts & native species!
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Tag Archives: Nature Based Learning
25 Self-Guided Hikes in Western MA to Support Place-Based Learning
Here is a list of self-guided hikes to do with your family or on your own. To support place-based learning, before you head out, conduct an online search about the natural and human history of some of these community-based educational resources. Bring …
Summer Camping Adventures Promote Nature-Based Play and Learning
Camping is one of the most classic outdoor adventures of childhood, and thanks to the wealth of state parks and forests found locally, there are endless camping adventures to be had in western Massachusetts! From exposing young campers to sleeping …
Hilltown Families on Mass Appeal: Learning through the Lens of Spring
Hilltown Families and Mass Appeal (a weekday, hour-long lifestyle program on NBC) have teamed up to offer a live monthly segment on WWLP 22News! Each month, community-based education specialist and Hilltown Families’ Founder, Sienna Wildfield, joins Mass Appeal hosts to talk about ways to engage in your community while supporting the interests and education of your children (and yourselves!).This monthly segment continued on Monday, April 29, 2019 with Sienna and Danny talking about seasonal patterns, annual events, and national observations as a resource for supporting education and values through community engagement in May.
Learning Landscape for September: A Transition Between Seasons Brings a Colorful Table
Every month, Hilltown Families features a new Learning Landscape, which aims to inspire learning along with a common theme easily spotted in our surroundings that month. The hope is to bring a little bit of the outdoors inside for inspection, dissection, identification, creative play, art projects, and lots of other educational activities. September has brought […]
State Forests and Parks: Treasure for all to Enjoy
So much fun for so little money. It’s as simple as that. We are so lucky to live in a state dotted with an abundance of well maintained state forests and parks. Affordable programs are put in place for us to get as much out of them as possible. *Hint, …
Nature Table for October
October is a bright month, and the nature treasures of mid-fall are plentiful. Similar to September’s offerings, collections this month in “Nature Tables” have included lots of mushrooms, seeds, and colorful leaves – all indicators that though tempera…
Nature Table for September
September’s chilly mornings have arrived, bringing with them the first natural indicators of fall. The back-to-school month’s treasures reveal an emerging rainbow of color amongst the summer’s sea of green, as well as the harvest of foods of all kinds…
Parenting Green: Winter Curiosity & Outdoor Play
“I am always amazed at how the kids tend to be the ones to notice the pulse of our natural world through their curiosity,” writes Angie this month in ‘Parenting Green.’ What are some of the ways your family stays connected to nature when the winter wind and snow makes you feel like it’s not worth the fight to get bundled up?
Let’s Play: Sunflower & Popcorn Houses
Families in the Dirt Snow pants, boots and mittens be gone! It’s time for sunny afternoons and mud pies after a spring rain. Outdoor clean up. Digging. Rakes. Water. Hoses. Sticks. Rocks. Shovels. Mud. Now that the younger ones are completely engrossed in dirt play, encourage the older kids to put down their devices and […]