Happy Summer Solstice!

With our summer camps in full swing, we have been in summer mode at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center for a few weeks, but today is actually the first true day of summer! 

Happy Summer Solstice!!!

Here are some fun facts about the Summer Solstice and an activity to help you and your youngster celebrate the longest day of the year!

Wild, Wild, Sunflower Child!

Put those blooming summer flowers (or weeds!) to good use with this fun craft.  Popular in Russian (called venki, the Russian word for wreath), these flower headdresses can be made with daisies, Queen Anne's lace, dandelions or whatever long-stemmed flowers are in bloom! 

Materials

• Long-stemmed blooming wildflowers

Instructions

1. To start, hold your longest stem in your left hand. With your right hand, bend a second stem around the first as shown.
   
2. Loop the end of the second stem up and around itself, as shown, so it ends up parallel to the first stem.
   
3. Pinching these two stems together with your left hand, repeat the process with a third stem. This will anchor the second stem to the first. Continue adding stems in this manner until the venok is long enough to fit around your child's head, then weave or tie the two ends together.
   

 * If your youngster enjoys this activity, have them check out our camp, Wild, Wild Sunflower Child for ages 7-10. There is still plenty of room available!

All About Summer Solstice:

• Solstice derives from a combination of Latin words meaning "sun" + "to stand still." As the days lengthen, the sun rises higher and higher until it seems to stand still in the sky.
  
• As a major celestial event, the Summer Solstice results in the longest day and the shortest night of the year.
  
• The Northern Hemisphere celebrates in June, but the people on the Southern half of the earth have their longest summer day in December.
  
• Pagans called the Midsummer moon the "Honey Moon" for the mead made from fermented honey that was part of wedding ceremonies performed at the Summer Solstice.
  
  
• Ancient Pagans celebrated Midsummer with bonfires, when couples would leap through the flames, believing their crops would grow as high as the couples were able to jump.
  
  
• Midsummer was thought to be a time of magic, when evil spirits were said to appear. To thwart them, Pagans often wore protective garlands of herbs and flowers. One of the most powerful of them was a plant called 'chase-devil', which is known today as St. John's Wort and still used by modern herbalists as a mood stabilizer.