Green Hour

Of course I'm enchanted with this whole Green Hour program.

It's a program sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation to encourage outdoor play for kids -- suggesting that every kid get at least one "green hour" each day. I like the delineation... that the soccer field is NOT a green hour location, but the edge of the soccer field IS... anywhere you can dig up worms, basically.

They've even paired up with an organization called NatureFind in order to help people find worm-diggin' places. (In another life, I'm going to come back as a vermiculturist.)

I want to participate in this -- it counteracts the numbing effects of Gymboree, which I've always found to be disturbingly clean and safe.

When I was a kid, we really just ran out into the woods until we got bloody noses, broken legs and/or pinworms. And we LIKED it that way. And I'm sure our moms liked it that way too -- we'd just take off for points unknown and show up at dinnertime. Dang! What I could save on babysitters!

Anyway, Green Hour is cool. Our first project, inspired by their program, is a rock collection for Chebbles. She's been collecting rocks from people's yards and parking lots for a few weeks now, so we're going to make it official. I briefly fantasized about creating a labelled shelved rock collection paradise in a shadowbox, but then I realized that the collector is TWO. So a plastic bowl is probably our best bet.

OK, off to pick plums with The Chebs and celebrate Green Hour together.