What is the Junior Earth Mage Program?

The Junior Earth Mage Program is a collection of crafts, activities, and adventures that encourage young people to get outdoors and explore nature. It is designed to be fun, but also to be a teaching tool that helps participants develop a love and respect for nature, for what children learn to love and respect they grow up wanting to protect.

The program helps young people develop the three guiding principles for being an Earth Mage:

1. Learning to see the wonder and magic in nature, not just in the magnificent, but also in the very small and humble;
2. Learning to tread quietly and softly upon the earth, and to use all five senses to absorb nature’s very essence into the depth of their soul; and
3. Learning that to take a journey into the great outdoors means coming back changed.

Wild Child Anthology 
Call for Submissions Extended
Open for submissions July 1, 2010 -January 15, 2011
Children and teens to age 17

Vanilla Heart Publishing, through the VHP imprint, Evergreen Books, 
is issuing a call for nature writing by and for children and teens.  The works 
may address any aspect of nature from a tiny meadow flower to a towering 
mountaintop and all the creatures that inhabit the wild places in our world. 
From seashore to sandy desert, from a cool green forest to the shimmering 
light through towering trees, our world is filled with wild places and delights 
that children often see with a clear eye and open heart, and those are 
the very things we want to publish. Click Here for More Information...

The National Children's Forest

(from their fabulous website - NationalForestAssociation.org)

The National Children’s Forest is 3,400 acres of forest nestled in the San Bernardino Mountains.  This popular recreation site attracts visitors from Southern California, and around the world.

This spectacular area boasts some of the most beautiful backcountry in the San Bernardino Mountains, which includes chaparral, yellow pine forest, and lush riparian zones.  The Children’s Forest was created in the wake of the 1970 Bear Fire; the area was replanted with trees bearing the names of children.  In 1993, the first trail was established by a work group of children from around the country.  This ¾ -mile Interpretive Trail at the top of Keller Peak Road can still be hiked today.  Newly constructed in 200, the Children’s Forest also boasts one of the most popular hiking trails in the San Bernardino National Forest – the 4.5-mile Exploration Trail.

Along with recreation opportunities, Children’s Forest hosts a Visitor Information Center, an Environmental Education Program, and a Youth Leadership Volunteer Program, and an active reforestation program.  Children’s Forest is a place where children learn how to become stewards of the land through education and opportunities.  Our professional staff naturalists and youth volunteers provide quality programs to visitors, school children, and for the forest.