Haverford College Arboretum 4/5/2013

Haverford College was very fun.  It was a beautiful spring day!  I was so hot I had to take my coat off and was still hot.  It is really amazing to see all those shoots and buds coming out of the ground.  I took a ton of pictures!  I put a lot of them on the slide show.  Unfortunately, I was unable to put all of them on so here is the link for the rest of them: Haverford Pictures 2

Many of you did the nature scavenger hunt.  How was that?  Was it fun?  How many different living things did you find?  Grace S. pointed out a birds nest to me.  She was trying to figure out if it was an old nest or a new one.

Speaking of nests here is a cool recipe from Clubhouse Jr. Magazine to make your own nest:

Gather (to make nests)

2 large biscuits of shredded wheat

1/3 cup shredded coconut1 tablespoon brown sugar1/4 cup butter, meltedpaper muffin cups


Go
1. Crumble shredded wheat into a medium-sized bowl.
2. Stir in coconut and sugar.
3. Ask Mom or Dad to drizzle mixture with melted butter. Then mix with fork.
4. Line six muffin cups with foil.
5. Divide mixture between cups. With the back of a teaspoon, press mixture into the bottoms and sides of lined cups to form nests.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned and crisp.
7. After pan has cooled, remove nests from cups by lifting out foil and carefully peeling foil off nests.


Gather (to make bird)
red grapes
toothpicks
1/4 cup vanilla yogurt
small green grapes
blueberries (optional)

Go
1. Wash and dry strawberries with stems. The green leaves will become the tail feathers.
2. For the bird’s head, push a toothpick through a red grape, so 1/4 inch sticks out for the bird’s beak.
3. Attach the grape “head” near the tip of the strawberry by poking the longer end of the toothpick into the berry.
4. Ask Mom or Dad to make a slit on each side of the strawberry to form bird wings. Cut the slits at an angle, cutting toward the bird’s head. Slightly separate the wings from the body.
5. Line bird’s nest with 1 teaspoon vanilla yogurt.
6. Place bird in nest. Add a few small green grapes or blueberries for eggs.
7. Enjoy your treat before the birdie flies away!

Great Time Lapse Videos

 

Our family was doing nature study last week and wanted to see if we could find a good time lapse video of a tree bud.  While searching for this we came across some amazing time lapse videos.  One (my favorite) is of an acorn transforming over eight months into a small tree with five leaves.  It really shows you how things work!  You don't always get to see flowers open up.  It is such a tedious process that one day you see a bud and the next day you see a flower.  A great way to see the changes in a flower is buy a bunch of roses or other flower that has some closed buds.  Every day take a picture of the flower.  You might not realize the differences in the flower when just looking at it but you will see the changes through the picture. Take a look at the picture above.  It is really cool to see how the flower changes!

Here is the link to the time lapse videos:  Nature Study -Time Lapse Playlist

Happy Easter!

Happy late Easter to everybody!
Look at the little surprise Ashley found on her Easter egg while doing an Easter hunt!
What do you think it is? Is it a bug, a slug, a snail?  Tell me in the comment box below! Click on the picture to make it bigger!

Spring!

Crocuses in the Snow!

Have you noticed some buds coming out?  Maybe you saw some crocus leaves shooting out of the ground?  I have been seeing signs of spring all over the place!  I know its still cold but if we have a couple of warm days in a row some of the bushes might start to bloom!  I am excited about spring and I bet you are too.  There are so many cool new things that you can discover.  To help you discover all the wonderful things about spring you can make a list in your nature journal with the date that you saw the first crocuses, first buds on trees, first flowers, etc.  You can come up with other firsts too.  Make a list of the first smells or tastes.  Come up with a bunch of ideas and you can share them at our next gathering.  Have Fun!!

Nature Collection

If you want to see this picture up close just click on it.  It will get bigger.

Lisa M. shared her collection with us.  Isn't it cool!  You can make one just like it a home. Just get a bowl or container and start filing it with natural specimens.  You can put rocks, nests (uninhabited), feathers, leaves, seed pods, and anything else you find!