I got an iphone just before Christmas.  I love it… mostly because it works all the time.  But as an added bonus, it turns out iphones are like swiss army knives where you get to choose the tools and gadgets it has.  (Bejeweled, anyone?)  I’ve been looking at outdoor apps a lot (I got an app store gift certificate for Valentine’s Day) and thought I’d share with you the myriad choices available to the nature-lover… I’ve included both those useful to the iphone-folk as well as the droid-folk. Of course, I put several under each numeral; these apps achieve the same end-goal, but go about it slightly differently.  I’m all about providing options! (more…)

We got the DVD Critter Quest at the library last week. I liked  it for three reasons.

1. It’s a nature video for kids that as far as I can tell is actually accurate.
2. It’s geared towards children, so while there is a cheese factor, it’s no overly obnoxious.
3. It talk about critters that kids can actually observe in their own backyards or even in cities.
4. Ari’s been spitting out bug facts all day.

Just today this DVD caused us to have the following conversations:

Ari: Mom. What do slugs do when they are scared?
Me: Ummm, I don’t know. I think maybe they pull in their antennae.
Ari: Nope, your wrong. They curl up in a ball.

I had no idea this was a quiz, and was equally caught off-guard a few hours later.

Ari: Mom, what’s a pitfall trap?
Me: (really excited because I knew this one) It’s when you dig a hole in the ground, then put a bowl in it, when the bugs crawl along the ground they fall in and you…
Ari: (cutting me off) Nope, you use a jar, not a bowl.

I love being called out on a minor technicality by a 4 year old. Still the DVD obviously got him thinking. I can’t wait for the bugs to start coming out (did I really just say that?) so Ari can make and try out a bona fied pitfall trap of his own.