Come one, come all to celebrate the Winter Solstice at Hidden Valley Nature Center! Over the last few months the nights have been getting longer and longer. We settle into the darkness earlier each evening and awaken when the sky is still black. On December 21st the winter solstice marks the longest night of the year and the official start of winter, after which the days will gradually get longer.
Winter Solstice has been celebrated around the world for thousands of years with fires, singing, lantern light and shared food. This year join us around a community fire at HVNC. We’ll warm our bodies with wassail and sugar baked apples. Raise our voices in song and enjoy a solstice story. Build peanut butter pine cones to decorate a solstice tree and create spiral art with bird seed for the wild critters to enjoy. Join a loved one or friend to walk the trails reflecting on the exit of Autumn and the entrance of the colder months of winter then return to the fire’s warmth as we burn the annual yule log.
Everyone is welcome! Dress warm in colorful wools and fleeces, adorn yourselves in festive scarves and hats to brighten the shortest day of the year. Bring your mother and father, your children and grandchildren. Take the hand of your best friend or neighbor and lead them to this winter solstice celebration. Whatever the weather we will welcome in the winter together!
A note to educators
There is immense value in getting students outside, even for short amounts of time, to explore the natural world. Research is continuing to show that taking kids outdoors benefits social-emotional learning and leads to greater focus when students return to the classroom. For many teachers, this may seem daunting for a plethora of reasons from short class blocks, behavioral concerns, ticks, access to trails, and the perceived difficulty of meeting learning goals in an unconventional setting. Teachers may also be new to learning about the ecology of their setting. This Naturalist Workshop Series is designed to help address the concerns and challenges of taking students outside and grow your comfort level facilitating class learning goals within and beyond the playground.
Each program will provide an opportunity to observe an educator teaching to a group of students. We will provide supplemental materials for teachers to bring back to school, content you can use with students, and time at the end to ask questions and brainstorm ways you can transfer the lesson to your school's unique setting.
We hope you will step outside with us and bring what you experience back to your schools!