All this week we have been encouraging our readers to experience the great outdoors.  And I can hear your question now.. “But Hens – what can we do on stormy days?”  Yes, I know exactly what you mean… those days when it’s fun to stay inside and just enjoy time with each other.  This summer, our family discovered a board game that’s multi-generational, teaches about the great outdoors and best of all, it’s a lot of fun.  Are you ready to CAMP?  Read the rest of this post...

My memories of National Geographic start as a small child. The photos were captivating, and throughout school the stories became resources for book reports, speeches or art projects. When I went to college and worked in the library (it was much cooler than you think!), I came across old leather hardbound volumes from the early 1900s (think Teddy Roosevelt hunting Tigers in India). Now, as a dad, one of our favorite travel activities is to get some room service at the end of a fun day and watch National Geographic specials. They love it as much as me, so of course the kids also receive National Geographic Kids.  Read the rest of this post...

Here at the Five Hens, we have a list of blogs we personally enjoy listed in our side bar. The very first entry (and a favorite of mine) is Cake Wrecks, which I recently did a review of. The blog is so popular that this year the author, Jen Yates, published a Cake Wrecks book. She graciously sent me a copy to review, and I’ve been laughing and passing it around since it arrived in the mail.  Read the rest of this post...

Ahh, science. Here at our house, we are quite comfortable with our geekiness and make an effort to pass it along to the kids. While it’s easy to talk about things like littering while on a walk or the birds that visit the backyard, the subject of energy takes some creativity. The people at OWI have been building solar powered toys since 1980, and their easy to build kit gave us the perfect opportunity to talk about energy sources and renewable vs. non-renewable energy, right in our own kitchen. OWI sent the Five Hens a Robotikit 6 in 1 Educational Solar Kit (retail price $19.95) to try out, and the Little Red family was lucky enough to play with it.  Read the rest of this post...