Nature Net News
Your portal for nature tips
& tricks for exploring nature with your kids
August 2010
Rivers
"Rivers are
places that renew our spirit, connect us with our past, and link us
directly with the flow and rhythm of the natural world."
Ted Turner
Dear Reader, When I was a young girl, I remember my father taking me to a river. Years later, I can still recall the sound of the rushing waters, the taste of the river mist and the leaping fish that almost looked as if they were flying. The river has always been magical in my eyes. Over the years the river bank hosted a multitude of adventures. From playing detective and finding that a raccoon had washed his dinner here last night, to being a princess and talking to my river dragon only I could hear, the river was one of my best friends. Every child should experience a river in his or her life. Check out one of Wisconsin's wonderful rivers mentioned in this newsletter, and you, too, may find magic of your own! Enjoy! Kathe & Sarah |
There is no classification system for rivers. If it's a body of water flowing in one direction, it can be a river, stream, or creek.
The best way to skip a stone is to position it so that it hits the water at an angle of 20 degrees, according to this study.
What to Do This Month:
Go to the Wisconsin Dells and take a ride down the Wisconsin River in the infamous Ducks.
Fish at the famous Black Earth Creek.
Go canoeing or kayaking. Find fun rivers anywhere with this map!
Tricks of the Trail for Parents:
Rushin' Rivers
Make sure while walking along the riverbank that your children don't slip in! To do this, make sure your tots stay at least a foot or more away from the water's edge. Walk hand in hand with a tight grip on those little ones.
Instant Outdoor Expert:
River Terminology
Delta - fan-shaped area at the mouth of a river (where seas are relatively calm).
Discharge - the amount of water flowing past a location in a stream/river in a certain amount of time (usually expressed in liters per second or gallons per minute).
Floodplain - area formed by fine sediments spreading out in the drainage basin (see also: watershed) on either side of the channel of a river as a result of the river's periodic tendency to overflow.
Mouth-where a river empties itself, usually into a lake or ocean.
Watershed - a place where water drains or runs off to a single place like a river; also called a drainage area.
Featured Nature Net Sites
Nature Craft
Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center
Since 1941,
Upham Woods
has been a place where people gather to explore and experience the natural world. Through Upham Woods' educational programming, youth obtain a unique view on how Wisconsin has changed ecologically and culturally. Youth are encouraged to explore Wisconsin's past to discover valuable lessons that will enable each of us to better plan for the future of Wisconsin and the world.
Also check out the Madison Children's Museum at their Grand Reopening on August 14. MCM’s new home, located at 100 N. Hamilton Street on Madison’s Capitol Square, has more than three times the space of the museum’s previous facility, with an additional two floors for future expansion. Now including on-site parking, family bathrooms, increased stroller parking and a café to enhance the visitor experience.
Make an underwater world!
What you need: shoe box, construction paper,
string, hole puncher, scissors, markers, glue, tape, crayons, anything
else you can think of that could help make your underwater world.
1. Cut out shapes from construction paper for fish, plants and other underwater creatures (like crawdads, tadpoles, frogs, snails) and decorate them with markers.
2. Arrange in the shoe box like a diorama using the hole punches and string to make fishes appear to "swim" and small folded strips of paper to make other underwater creatures and plants pop up. Use your creativity!
3. Show off your underwater world!
Suggested Reading:
"Paddle to the Sea" by Holling C. Holling (all ages)
"A River Ran Wild" by Lynne Cherry (all ages)
"Across the
Stream" by Mirra Ginsburg (preschool)
"River"
by Debbie Atwell (4-8)
"Where the River Begins" by Thomas Locker (4-8)
"What Lives in Streams and Rivers?" by Oona Gaarder-Juntti
(4-8)
"River of Life" by Debbie S. Miller (4-8)
"Salmon Stream" by Carol
Reed-Jones (4-8)
"The Big Rivers: The Missouri, the Mississippi, and the Ohio"
by Bruce Hiscock (4-12)
"Journey to the River Sea" by
Eva Ibbotson (9-12)
"Minn of the Mississippi" by Holling C. Holling (9+)
"Rivers & Lakes" by Neil Morris (teen)
