"For the Birds" update, again...

Our bird chart is growing like crazy!

We have seen so many different species, in all sorts of places, around our house!

Here are FIVE Turkey Vultures we saw over the weekend, down the street from our house! We pulled over and got out of the car to check out one that we saw on a tree by the road... Within in minutes, one-by-one, multiple Turkey Vultures joined the party for a total of FIVE in one tree!

As I was minding my own business and updating the blog this afternoon, I was treated to a little show from TWO Pileated Woodpeckers! They have been around our house for a good month now. We often hear them both calling and pecking, but it was so neat to observe them in action right outside my window.

Worm Excursion!

"Rain, rain, go away...", but not today!!!

What a great day for a worm excursion!

Sometimes the best lessons and activities come when you least expect them! On our regular adventure to the mailbox this afternoon we were pleasantly surprised by a HUGE earthworm crossing the driveway. What started as a few questions from my daughter, led to a fun adventure in the rain!

There were so many questions coming from both of us...

• How does it move?
• Where's the mouth?
• Where does it go to the bathroom?
• What is it doing?
• Why did it scrunch up and stop moving after we tried to touch it?

We observed the worm for a bit and brainstormed all sorts of ideas about where it was going, what it was doing, etc. We then proceeded out to the mailbox and came up with some other ideas and questions, such as... "I wonder if there are more worms out and about right now?"

For quite some time we sloshed down the driveway, across the lawn, near the woods, and over to the freshly rototilled garden looking for more worms. We didn't find many more, but one special worm was enough to open up a can of worms of excitement to learn something new!

(Here's an Earthworm crash-course and a great site for kids.)

Here are some directions we may go in from here...

• Make dirt cake! (Three versions of this recipe can be found on allrecipes.com.) Using the edible experiment, discuss layers of the dirt, places worms may go, how worms help plant roots in soil, etc.
• Label worm body parts! (Use a gummy worm and toothpick flags to label all the parts to the worm.)
• Learn all about animal adaptation! (How do different animals move, protect themselves from predators, eat food, and survive?)
• Ecosystems! (What roles to the animals and plants in an ecosystem play? How do worms help and ecosystem?)

If you're looking for educational, hands-on fun, visit "Discovery Hour"! (http://discoveryhour.blogspot.com/)

The most recent "Discovery Hour" was all about seeds and growing plants! Not only did we come home with our own planted seeds, it opened up a whole bunch of extension activities at home!




Here are some sunflowers sprouting (less than a week after planting at "Discovery Hour")!

After placing our planted seeds in the sun at home, we were inspired to plant some more things. My daughter and I found a spinach container to use as a mini-greenhouse and bought some watermelon seeds to plant. We heard about this idea at "Discovery Hour" as well. Not only is the re-using of the plastic container so Earth-friendly, but it is a great way to have a contained growing environment for little ones to explore with!

Here's a peek in our mini-greenhouse today! Something is sprouting and it's big news around here!
(I'll let my daughter figure out that it's not watermelon yet at a later point,
but to see something growing in there already is just amazing!)

Here's a peek at our indoor extravaganza of plants!
We have sprouts from the Daisy pot, watermelon greenhouse,
and the sunflower newspaper pot!

The connections and extensions seem infinite...

• plant life cycle
• requirements for plant growth
• water cycle (mini-greenhouse has all phases!)
• environmental factors, affects, etc. on plant growth
• ecosystems
• seed/plant components

Happy spring, everyone! Enjoy all the beauty and opportunities of this wonderful time of year!

Plant the Seed!

Together, my family planted seeds for what we hope will be our luscious, productive, green garden. We had so much fun sitting around our kitchen table getting our hands dirty.  What better way to stay grounded than sticking your hands in some earth?!
With planting seeds, there are endless possibilities for learning.  From sorting to labeling to observing things grow the lessons abound.  Like seeds and plants, children grow better the more we nuture them.  Hopefully, some of the ideas/activities/lessons below will  help your children blossom!

Conversation Starters:
-Why are all the seeds different shapes/sizes/colors?
-Predict how long it will take each type of seed sown to grow into a plant.
-How long do you think it will take a plant to flower and then fruit?
-What's needed to help a plant grow?
-What could be detrimental to the growth of a plant?

Activities/Lessons:
-(For the wee ones)  Sort seeds by shape/size/type and count how many of each.
-Guess what each seed will grow into.
-Act like a growing seed:  Starting curled on the ground, using your body show me how a plant grows.
-Keep a photo journal:  Take a photo of seed before planting, once planted, and through each stage of growth.
-Tell the story of a seed: Make a homemade book illustrating the stages of growth.
-If preparing a garden:  Count rocks removed from the soil.  List insects seen.  Measure the width and length of garden.  We measuered the length and width of our garden below with our daughters.

-Once garden fruits:  Count what's collected.  Examine what grew successfully and what did not and hypothesize why.
-If not able to prepare an outdoor garden:  Create a window garden.  You can use an old egg carton, old boot, old soup can, or just about any container to grow something on your window sill.  Below, you can see some of our tomato seeds planted in an old egg carton are growing.

-Plant a seed in a glass jar so child can observe roots growing as well as plant.
-Child can learn months and make observations if charting how seeds/plants grow.  Check out our "GROW WATCH" chart below.

-If not already composting, start!  Children can watch things decompose and be used again to help the garden grow.   My daughters enjoy taking turns spinning our compost barrel shown below.

-BEST OF ALL:  Children can take part in and witness the cycle of life!

Useful and Enjoyable  Garden Literature:

Plant Secrets, by Emily Goodman
Good for any school-age child, this book illustrates the stages of growth:  first seed, then plant, then flower, then fruit.  A wide variety of differnt plants are discussed.

Eddie's Garden and How to Make Things Grow, by Sarah Garland
Another great book for school-aged children, this book follows "Eddie" as he prepares his garden, plants seeds, nurtures them, watches them grow, and eventually enjoys the fruits of his labor.  In addition, there is a planting guide with useful tips in the back of the book.

A Green, Green Garden, by Mercer Mayer
Emergent readers will enjoy this story as they follow "Little Critter" as he learns that planting a garden is a lot of fun and a lot of work.  He also learns that as a result of all of his hard work, there's something for him to enjoy: a green, green garden!

REMINDER:  Earth Day is April 20th and Arbor Day is April 27th.  Do your part and help the planet; if you can't plant a tree on Arbor Day then plant a seed!

For Earth Day, check out these books for little ones:

I Can Save The Earth!  One Little Monster Learns to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, by Allison Inches

The Berenstain Bears Don't Pollute (Anymore), by Stan and Jan Berenstain

Grover's 10 Ways to Help Our Wonderful World, by Anna Ross

How to Help the Earth - by the Lorax, by Tish Rabe

It's Earth Day!, by Mercer Mayer


For Arbor Day, check out these books for kids:

We Planted a Tree, by Diane Muldrow

Trees, by Lisa Jane Gillespie

You can visit websites to find out more about trees:  go to the Usborne Quicklinks Website at http://www.usborne-quicklinks.com/ then type the keywords "beginners trees".


Besides the books mentioned above, many more for you to explore can be found by checking out what we've got listed under "Suggested Reading" .


In the words of the great Eric Clapton, "Let it blossom, let it grow..."!