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Quote of the Week
"Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky."
-Rabindranath Tagore
Why Getting Your Kid's Head In The Clouds Is A Good Thing
Need an activity for the kids to do while you’re on your next video call? Send them outside to watch the clouds.
[...] Cloud watching actually has lots of benefits for children. Of course, being able to spot and understand the different types of clouds is a fun, accessible way to teach kids valuable science skills—and maybe even how to predict the weather. It fosters observation skills and creativity as well.
But skimming the skies can also be healthy for kids’ mental health, something experts say children need especially now as they deal with the stress and tension from the pandemic.
“Their sympathetic nervous system—that fight or flight or freeze mode—is on all the time,” says Megan Tudor, assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of California Davis MIND Institute. “We have to give children a chance to turn it off, to just relax. And cloud watching is perfect for that.” Read more in this week's featured article from National Geographic magazine.
Reading Corner
 Title: The Cloud Spinner
By: Michael Catchpool
Recommended Ages: 5-8
"Who wouldn’t want a scarf “soft as a mouse’s touch and warm as roasted chestnuts”? That’s just the type of special garment crafted by the titular cloud spinner, a boy who transforms clouds into elegant threads in Catchpool’s ecological fable. When a greedy king spies the cloud spinner’s wonderful crimson and gold scarf, he orders the boy to fashion him an extra-long scarf—and cloaks and dresses for the queen and princess. Though the boy insists such abundance is not needed, recalling his mother’s philosophy, “Enough is enough and not one stitch more,” he complies. As a result, the entire kingdom learns what it means to lose such a valuable resource as the clouds, until the quiet and observant princess comes to the rescue...[...]" --Publisher's Weekly
Recommended by Kindful Kids Editors
Be The Change
Watch this wonderful video that brings to life Wendell Berry's poem "The Peace of Wild Things" after spending some time cloud-gazing. How did you relate to the poem? How does cloud-gazing allow you to "rest in the grace of the world"?
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