Bridge to hidden park + Tiny Hikes return
Bridge to hidden park + Tiny Hikes return
Prime fall weather for playing outdoors
I’m excited about this week’s newsletters because OC Tiny Hikes is back this week! We collectively took a break for the heat of August and September — and now I’m back and looking forward to scouting, writing up, and sending out those weekly mini trail guides again.
If you are getting this email — then you are getting the FREE version of the weekly newsletter. The mini trail guide add-on/upgrade is a PAID subscription ($5/month or $39/year) that is sent separately from this FREE one. Don’t worry, this FREE one isn’t going away.
This FREE newsletter focuses on park tips and play trips. That paid upgrade brings you a separate email with a mini trail guide designed for making nature connections on short & sweet family walks together. It’s more nature-y and exploring-trails than the regular newsletter and it takes a lot of time for me to create, especially on a WEEKLY basis!
I don’t make it a hard sell! I figure you’ll know if you are looking for something like tiny-hike-mini-trail-guides in your life. I enjoy creating them and I appreciate the support you provide me through paid subscriptions so I can keep doing this thing that helps get kids playing outdoors and makes life a little easier and lighter as caregivers during heavy times.
Have fun, play often!
Michele
As a friendly reminder, make sure you ALWAYS check official sources when you are heading out to any of the locations I share. These are merely suggestions. Only you know what works for your family. Plus, your experience may not be the same as mine — and there can be changes to the hours or unforeseen circumstances or conditions at the suggested locations.
Featured: Sunset Ridge Park in Newport Beach
This playground is NOT new — and it’s honestly one of my favorites in OC (I know I say that about all of them). It feels new, though, because there hasn’t been any place to park for the past 1+ years because they have been working on the parking lot and constructing the pedestrian bridge over Superior at Coast Highway.
I call it a “hidden park” because you wouldn’t even know there was a playground here if you haven’t visited before!
I kept checking to see when the bridge would be done and just happened to drive under the bridge on Tuesday after a doc appointment out there at Hoag (FAR from my home)! And the ribbon cutting official opening was happening RIGHT as I drove by. So I popped over early Wednesday morning to collect info to share with you!
Here’s the video I shared on Instagram.
PLAY (with 3 Play Ideas): Sticks
This is the section of the newsletter where we talk about PLAY each week. I might share a video, an article, a book, or something inspiring. Just trying to help keep you empowered to prioritize play to benefit development and preserve childhood!
This week I’m combining the normal 3 play ideas section with this PLAY inpsiration section!
Did you know “Stick” was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong: National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York as one of the most popular childhood toys?
Alicia Highland, M.Ed., of Tiny Green Learning on Instagram reminded me of my love for sticks as part of play in her Reel about Stick Play that I shared in my Stories this week.
Then I thought, “Hey, I have some blog posts about this, too!” So enjoy these 3 play ideas (2 on the blog and 1 with another, more famous stick game)!
The Stick Game
This one is about a game that happened organically one day while walking on a trail with my kids . . .
Pretend Play: Stuff to Build
This one is just as fun and doesn’t require as much caregiver participation. You can just start it off and the kids will run with it as their imaginations take off. Try to keep all your adult ideas out of it and back away a bit once they get involved in the play themselves.
Playing Poohsticks (From Winnie the Pooh)
“And that was the beginning of the game called Poohsticks, which Pooh invented, and which he and his friends used to play on the edge of the Forest.” - AA Milne, The House At Pooh Corner
Did you know you can visit the actual bridge where Christopher Robin learned to play this game in the UK? So cool! I loved this article about the game and the bridges with some amazing photos. Have you ever played? Now I want to go on a trip to just visit all the bridges and play! Fun fact: My husband is a huge Winnie the Pooh fan and even has a tattoo of Eeyore on his upper arm. So we’ve played this game every chance we get with/without kids.
Do you have a playing-with-sticks story? I’d love to hear it!
Play News
I have this family fall traditions post which includes each of the weekends in October. This is the second weekend!
So this weekend is the 1st weekend of Fall-O-Ween at Heritage Hill Historic Park in Lake Forest (try Sunday evening for less crowds?).
And it’s also the Environmental Nature Center Fall Faire on October 13th in Newport Beach. Check out this map of their Nature Craft Crawl! (If you are a member of ENC ($60 for family membership), you could get exclusive access on October 11th — without the crowds).
Prehistoric OC at Clark Regional Park on Oct 12th
This is NOT on my traditions list because it didn’t happen for a bit but it’s back this year — and it is REALLY cool! It traditionally takes place in October because it: “Honors Indigenous Peoples’ Day October 14, the National Park Service's National Fossil Day October 16, the Archaeological Institute of America’s International Archaeology Day October 19, and California Archaeology Month.” Here is the flyer for the event that’s happening from 10am-3pm on Saturday, October 12th. This is an amazing interpretive center to visit on any day and you’ll love the park, too.
FYI about Pretend City
The museum is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays in October. (They were telling me that crowds were low on Tuesdays during summer since they are normally closed that day — and they are back to being closed that day!).
Also, I mention their Costume Week $2 admission discount at the door, but I was closely reading their October email and just be aware that the discount is not valid on weekends. Only on Oct 23rd-25th and again on Oct 30th and 31st.
Finally, just a reminder that SOME Thursdays are “Grandparent Thursdays” when you can get a $5 discount per grandparent when tickets are purchased at the door.
Welcome back, Tiny Hikers! I wish I could thank you all in person for sticking with your subscription during the summer pause! It is finally starting to feel like SoCal hiking weather again. Subscriptions have officially been UN-paused and now new subscribers are able to sign up.
Each week, I put a little teaser at the bottom of the regular emails to build the anticipation of the trail guide to follow. I will schedule this week’s trail guide to send early on Friday morning this week, in case you (as a new subscriber) want to sign up tonight!
Tiny Hikes Teaser: This week’s Tiny Hike will take you into secluded canyons with views above and below. Birds like the California Scrub-Jay thrive and chatter along the flat trails. This will be Mini Trail Guide #43!
Learn everything you need to know about the upgraded subscription to get your mini trail guides by going to the About OC Tiny Hikes page via this button:
Already a subscriber? Encourage your friends to sign up!