Kids In Nature

1. Put out a bird feeder. Maintaining a bird feeder is an entertaining and relatively easy way to get to know some of the species that regularly nest in our state. Most hardware stores have all the supplies you will need.
2. Watch for boxelder bugs on warm days until April.
3. Make a tree-bark rubbing. Bark is the protective outer layer of a tree trunk. There are many different textures. To make the rubbing, take a white sheet of paper and a dark crayon or a pencil. While holding the paper against the tree, rub the crayon back and forth across the paper and watch the bark appear.
4. Take a walk in your neighborhood to see if you can spot a bright red male northern cardinal.
5. Look for animal tracks in the snow. See if you can identify the animal that made them.
6. Look for the full moon on Feb. 25.
7. Look high in the trees to see if you can spot a squirrel leaf nest.

Kids in Nature Photo Contest!

Break out those cameras and send us your best images of you and your family enjoying the outdoors for our new photo contest. Once again, we will be accepting entries via the online photo sharing service, Flickr.

If you are not a member of Flickr, it is easy and free to join. Once you are a member, just navigate to our kids in nature group page: flickr.com/groups/mdc-kids-in-nature and submit your photos. MDC staff will select a winner every month and display it on our website. All of the monthly winners will appear in the January 2014 issue of the magazine.