Nature Apps for Summer Family Fun

by Michelle on June 15, 2012

The following post is from Michelle of Mommy Misadventures:

source: pfly

source: pfly

Summer is here, time to get out and about and enjoy the warm summer weather with the family! There’s a ton of great apps out there to help you enjoy the great outdoors and here are just a few of my favorites.

Geocaching (iOS & Android)

Price: $9.99

source: Groundspeak

If you’ve never been geocaching before, think of it like a GPS powered treasure hunt. Geocachers hide a small container called a “cache” in various places for other geocachers to find. Each container has a log book and low-value trinkets. You sign your name in the log book and off you go. Geocaching is fun for the entire family! (I know more than a few homeschoolers that love to geocache while on their weekly nature walks.)

These official geocaching apps from Groundspeak not only contain info and GPS coordinates for various caches but can help you find them and electronically log your finds!

Project Noah (iOS & Android)

Price: FREE

source: Project Noah

If you love going on nature walks, load up Project Noah! Created in 2010 as an experiment to blend mobile, location based technology with a love of nature and wildlife. It worked and Project Noah is now a fully funded project with the support from the National Geographic society. With Noah, you can take pictures of local flora and fauna, and share them with the community. You can join Missions to help document particular types of organisms and can even send in shots of things that you come across that you can’t identify. It’s a wonderful, community sourced tool for a real life learning.

iBird (iOS & Android)

Price: Varies (Free to $19.99)

Source:ibird

Do your kids love looking at birds? My little one sure does and she loves to ask about what kinds of birds we’re looking at. The great thing is that this app has all the answers about birds when I don’t! Available for both iOS and Android devices, iBird allows you to identify birds and hear their songs. There are free versions of the app for amateur birders but as you get more advanced, premium versions of the app are also available.

Starmap

Price: $11.99 – $18.99

Source:iTunes App Store

Is there anything better on a clear summer evening than looking up at the stargazing? I think not! A few weekends ago, my friend loaded up Star Map on her iPhone. I cannot even begin to tell you how enthralled my daughter was to know which constellations where what. It’s like a planetarium in your pocket!

One of the things I adore about this app are the star maps. We live in a suburban area with a lot of ambient light so it was hard to see some of the stars, even late at night. But StarMap helped us really identify what we’re looking at. While pricey app, it is well worth it for the functionality and information.

What are some of your favorite nature apps for enjoying the great outdoors?

Michelle Mista is an IT professional, writer and blogger with a love for all kinds of technology. She writes about tech tips and trends for work at home professionals on her portfolio blog and muses about motherhood at Mommy Misadventures. She is on the constant quest to balance life, work and geekery.

Tagged as: apps, for kids, iphone

  • Angela

    I love this post! I would add tea tree oil to the boiling water/steam. I am a huge fan of tea trea oil and have used it for cleaning wounds, clearing acne, and in steam to inhale, all for the antibacterial properties. It has cleared up sinus infections and acute bronchitis for me. Also, my family and I have 1tsp of raw honey every day for it’s medicinal properties, to help ward off potential viruses and infections. :-)

  • Stacy

    I have been plagued by sinus infections my whole life.  Like you, I had always used antibiotics.  I hated it.  I find that the one thing that works for me naturally, is my water pick.  I can’t use a neti-pot because my sinuses are usually so blocked that the neti-pot is worthless.  I bought a special attachment for my water pick.  I add a teaspoon of salt to warm water and shoot it up my nose.  I hate the feeling but I do it three times a day for about a week, and it always clears it up.  I know this is going to sound gross, but it breaks up the mucus and relieves the pressure, and the bacteria hate the salt.  Plus I do drink warm liquids (I prefer chicken soup as I don’t care much for tea).  Hot showers too.  But the water pick has been my saving grace.

  • Dwaina

    I also have struggled with chronic sinus infections since early adulthood (I am 49) and now am finding sinus headaches to be more of a problem that congestion.  I have found that sleeping with a cool mist humidifier every night (we live in a very dry climate) and irrigating my sinuses every morning (not just when I am sick) has made a HUGE difference in preventing SI.  I use the irrigation system – same brand as the Neti-pot but the one that you squeeze to run the water through (can’t remember what it is called)… I HATE anything in my nose ordinarily and after I got through the initial fear that I was going to drown myself right there at the kitchen sink, I really “like” it… well, I like the results.  (I still kind of have to get psyched up to do it each morning!)  I just use the Dr. Neill pre-packaged things in (warmed) distilled water but I have thought of switching to salt and Melaleuca tea tree oil.  idk about running the tea tree oil through my nose?!?  any thoughts anyone?!

  • Brittany

    This post came at a PERFECT time :) We’re all fighting colds and I have had mine (and bronchitis) for two weeks now. Unfortunately, I’m on an immuno-suppressant due to Lupus so I can’t do the elderberry stuff :( We did do the garlic/honey thing this morning…I was expecting it to taste bad…I was pleasantly surprised :) However, it did leave us with an upset tummy for about 10 mins. Next time we’ll chase it with a big glass of water.

  • Esther

    Hi Mandi, have you ever heard of the “Master Tonic”? While I find the instruction of starting the tonic on the New Moon and straining/bottling it on the Full Moon a bit questionable (it may just have been a way to remember how long to let it brew for), it does seem to be a great infection fighter. Many great comments, too! I haven’t had the guts to make it, but perhaps as fall approaches… http://heal-thyself.ning.com/profiles/blogs/master-tonic-101

  • Lori

    I like to dice up a few cloves of garlis and add them to boiling water before I do the towel draped head over a pot steam treatment.

  • Lori

    garlic that is…

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