Spring Series #10 - Ants

Outdoor Hour Challenge - Spring Series #10 - Ants

ANTS! ANTS! ANTS!
We spent part of a morning reading from our nature guides and from the Handbook of Nature Study. The kids also worked on their nature journals. We have had many ant sightings over the last couple weeks.

This past week there were a couple swarms of ants in our yard-
We have also been finding Carpenter Ants in our yard-
On a walk we found some red ants-
On a different walk we stopped to feed some ducks first - I love how "feeding the ducks" also means cramming as much popcorn as possible in their own mouths :)

After the ducks we continued our search for ants and found these brown ants.

Getting a closer look-

Journal pages - I printed off a chart of the ant life cycle and a diagram of the ant's anatomy for them to put into their journals.

N's-

A's-

Then we found this lovely Carpenter Ant in our house - the summer invasions have begun!!

Spring Series #9 - Earthworms

Outdoor Hour Challenge - Spring Series #9 - Invertebrates Study: Earthworms

We have had so much fun this week catching up with the challenges. We really love doing these and I've decided we are going to come up with a way for us to spend more time on Nature Study next year. There are lots of challenges that we haven't done yet (10-43), so maybe we'll make a long-term catching up project out of them.

Over the holiday weekend my girls and I went for a walk in Idaho while it was raining. They were amazed at the number of worms on the sidewalk and tried rescuing them for a while (tossing them into the grass so they wouldn't end up dried out on the sidewalk), but soon realized there were just too many. For the younger two it was the first time they dared to touch and hold worms - they were very brave!

Today we visited Squirmin' Herman and then headed to our backyard to make a Worm Jar. We layered dirt, sand, and uncooked oatmeal - oh the questions!! Why sand? I thought worms don't like sand! Why oatmeal? Will they really eat it? What if it dries out?

Then it was time to dig!! We found almost all the worms in the part of our yard that was still really wet from the sprinklers and in the shade. I don't know if this really makes a difference, but we talked about how it might.

The first worm we found - we tried to identify all the different parts.

We found two worms in the process of mating. Nothing like first-hand experience to really cement what you read about!

Lots of different sizes!

My daughter put this tiny one on her finger.

Inside we filled out the first notebook page I found in Homeschool Creations Earthworm Challenge post - Thank you for sharing!

And then we made a dark paper cover to put on our jar and placed it on the counter where it will spend the next couple weeks.

We had so much fun being outside and learning about these favorite creatures. We do love the Outdoor Hour Challenges - Thank you so much Barb!!!

Spring Series #8 - Reptiles: Snakes

Outdoor Hour Challenge - Spring Series #8 - Reptiles: Snakes

This morning we discussed several snakes that are found in our area - we used the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Reptile page. I also learned that there are 6 different species of rattlesnakes in Utah - I love learning new things! Then we focused on Garter snakes and I read from the Handbook of Nature Study. My kids have seen live garter snakes in our neighborhood a few times (which I didn't know about until they shared their stories with me this morning :) ). Afterwards we headed to a local pet store to look at their snakes. In addition to several other breeds, we were excited to see a garter snake.

When we came home I had the kids narrate their experiences to me and I wrote this in their nature journals. They chose to color pictures instead of drawing their own, so we printed some out from Enchanted Learning-Snakes. I was a little disappointed at how the pictures are so much alike, and not really like the individual species, but they worked.

N picked the Bull Snake.

A picked the rattlesnake

We also watched part of a video about Garter Snakes I remembered seeing on PBS - Parental Warning: the first 2 minutes are about the garter snakes hibernating together and swarming out in the spring, however, be aware that the remainder of the video is about their mating habits. It shows a live birth around 4:15.

Spring Series #7 - Mammal Study: Cats

Outdoor Hour Challenges - Spring Series #7 - Mammal Study: Cats

Even though I grew up with cats, I am now horribly allergic. We spent Memorial Day weekend at my parents' home, who have 2 cats. But my allergies make it hard enough to stay there without intentionally searching for the cats, who are usually hiding from my kids and our dog anyways.

Over the weekend we had some new neighbors move into the empty house behind us. For a day or so I could hear a kitten in their backyard meowing, but I thought it was trying to get used to a new home or they wanted it to stay outside. To my surprise, and the surprise of my new neighbors who don't have any pets, they found 4 kittens several weeks old in the backyard - the mom is a stray. A couple of them had fallen into a window well, resulting in the meowing for help. Another neighbor was able to take them until they can be adopted into families and she let us come visit.

While I did wish very much that we could take one of these sweet kittens home with us, after about 15 minutes I needed to leave and go home and change all my clothes and wash up really good. Its very sad :(

At home my older kids did a page in their nature journal and I shared some parts I had highlighted in the Handbook of Nature Study on cats.

Other recent outdoor adventures:

We have had several sightings of a male Lazuli Bunting on our back porch. We hope to get a picture soon.

Many of the flowers in our yard are starting to bloom - the Columbine plants are especially beautiful and vibrant.

In Idaho we spent some time at the river feeding the birds.

The wildflowers on a nearby trail are starting to bloom - the kids are always so happy to see the daisies!

With the new season we also get to see some not-so-welcome guests returning, including the black widows.

Spring Series #6 - Apple Trees

Outdoor Hour Challenges - Spring Series #6 - Apple Trees

We have been dealing with a medical situation concerning our 3 year old, O, which you can read about on our family blog if you are intererested. Unfortunately, this means the end of our school year was interrupted - I've spent 2 or 3 days a week at the hospital and the days at home I've been trying to catch up on home-stuff. But because it is Spring there are lots of wonderful things happening all around us, and now that it looks like we will have a break between appointments we are catching up with the Spring Series challenges.

With this Apple Tree challenge we did a condensed version - we found some apple trees at a home improvement store :). Even though I had read through the Handbook of Nature Study Apple Tree section, with my kids I stuck to the suggested observations in the challenge post and had them do a picture for their nature journals.

Some of the exciting things that have been happening in our own neighborhood:

The black-chinned hummingbirds have returned. We could hear them flying around for a few days before we took the hint and put up our feeder. We have seen several males competing for the feeder and chasing each other away. If we are sitting on the deck and holding very still, they will come drink from the feeder.
On our neighbor's deck we have an American Robin couple who look to be starting a family. They built their nest on an outdoor speaker. We were all worried about how stable this location would be, but it has weathered several windy storms this week and even a snow storm this morning. It was exciting for my kids to watch as the nest was being built and then to stay on the look out for the eggs. We haven't seen the eggs - I don't think we are close enough. However, we have spotted the male and female changing places as they take turns sitting on the nest..
We spotted this bird of prey and were amazed to identify it as a Turkey Vulture. We have seen it on several different days - soaring above us on the look out for a tasty meal.

Spring Series #5 - Cattails

Outdoor Hour Challenge - Spring Series #5 - Cattails

Autumn Cattail Study

Winter Cattail Study

We headed to the park where we have observed cattails. A couple years ago this was more pond and lots less cattails, but the water level has dropped and is now covered with cattails.
We were a little disappointed not to find any new growth . . .
Until we found this little guy. We were very careful not to damage it as it was the only new one we could find.

We pulled up an old one to examine - leaves seem to be growing opposite, but it was hard to tell.

The roots

The head

We were delighted to observe and listen to a number of red-winged blackbirds. Their calls were very beautiful and different sounding from the other birds we usually listen to. This is the best picture I came home with - they didn't think posing for my camera was very important.

Of course the kids had lots of fun playing too!