Happy Winter Solstice

3 o'Clock Shadow

Nature doesn’t recognize all of the holidays and celebrations that happen at this time of year, but it does notice the winter solstice.  On Sunday, December 21, nature will experience the shortest day of the year and the longest night in the Northern Hemisphere.  It sounds like a sad time for those of us, like me, who enjoy the daylight hours and the ability to get out and enjoy nature.  I have to remind myself that the next day will be a little longer.  So even though the 21^st is a little short, I can still celebrate nature.  Your children can too!

Something fun to do on the day of the winter solstice is to mark your child’s shadow at noon.  Because the sun is at its lowest point in the sky on the winter solstice (due to the tilt in the Earth’s axis), shadows are their longest on this day at 12:00pm in the Northern Hemisphere.  What you can do is find a sunny spot in your yard and place a nice, flat stone on the ground.  Have your child stand on the stone and mark where his or her shadow ends with a stake, stick, garden decoration, etc. (something that you can leave in the ground for months).  It will be a fun place in your yard for your child to visit when playing outside to check where and how long his or her shadow is throughout the year.  If you have a nice garden area for this activity and want to leave it up year-round, you will want to redo the activity every winter solstice as your child grows.  You can make it a tradition to help your child celebrate nature!  And it’s one more way to help children notice the natural changes/cycles of the world around them.

I’d also like to advocate that you do something for nature this winter solstice!  At my daughter’s age, we simply filled our bird feeders, hugged a few trees, and explored our yard looking for signs of winter.  We’re taking small steps for now as my daughter begins to think of ways she can help wildlife at this time of year.  What will you and your children do for nature this weekend? 

Wishing Stars

Homemade Stars

I remember the first time I saw a meteor shower.  I was a few years older than my daughter is now.  At the time, I didn’t know anything about meteor showers.  I just thought of stars as something mysterious that listened to and granted the most heart-felt wishes.  As poem goes, “I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.”   When I was young, I made many wishes on the first star I saw at night (which I now realize was most likely the planet, Venus).  I also knew to wish upon falling stars, but had never seen one until an end of summer slumber party at a friend’s house many years ago (during a meteor shower). 

Of course during sleepovers, children don’t really sleep; so a few of my friends and I were looking out a window very early in the morning when we saw the first one.  We couldn’t believe our eyes!  We knew falling stars were rare, but within a minute, we saw another one, and another one, and…  We spent the next several hours surveying the night sky.  We saw so many falling stars, we lost track of how many.  We ran out of wishes to wish!  It seemed like a truly magical night.  I just knew I was going to get my greatest wish (I had wished for a horse!)!  I learned years later that the slumber party must have been on the night of the Perseid meteor shower in August. 

My daughter is too young to stay awake and watch a meteor shower, but if you are interested and have a child a little older than mine, one of the more prolific meteor showers of the year will be best viewed this Saturday evening around 9:00 or 10:00pm.  The Geminid meteor shower (named because it radiates from the Gemini constellation) should produce around 120 meteors an hour falling from the sky.  It is the best meteor shower for younger children since most showers are best viewed after midnight, while this one is best viewed before midnight.  I can’t wait to enjoy this magical evening with my daughter in another year or two.  After all, I did get my wish a few years after my first experience with “falling stars.” 

While I don’t want to keep my daughter up too late, I can still help encourage her excitement and wonder for stars by telling stories about the constellations.  And now that it gets dark so early, we can spend some time outside telling tales and looking at the stars before her bedtime.  You can too!  To start, find the Gemini constellation (where the meteor shower will appear to originate) by first locating the Orion constellation.  Orion is the constellation with the brightest star in the night sky.  It will be in the East.  You’ll recognize it by the three bright stars that make up Orion’s belt.  Just west of Orion and a little closer to the horizon is the Gemini constellation.  It’s easy to identify by the two bright stars that represent the heads of the twins.  These twins are known as Castor and Pollux from Greek mythology.  They were very close brothers who were known to help sailors find their way across the seas, and according to myth, they even saved shipwrecked sailors. 

Explain to your child that a long time ago, people noticed patterns in the stars that didn’t change (whereas the moon and planets move through an orbit, changing their positions throughout the night).  These patterns were named from the stories they told.  Ask your child if he or she can see shapes in the stars too.  They don’t have to conform to known constellations.  Just let your child use his or her imagination.

Since I like to combine hands-on activities with nature education, my daughter and I made our own constellations.  It’s easy!  Find a small lamp with a lamp shade.  Take a few pieces of black construction paper and wrap it around the lamp shade.  Tape as many pieces of paper together as you need to cover the shade.  Then, take the paper off the lamp and untape one side.  Flatten the paper out on a table and let your child make stars in groups or clusters using a white crayon.  Your child can make them into patterns or outlines of objects.  The nice thing is, it doesn’t have to be perfect!  After your child is done, place the paper on a towel and use a push pin to make holes where each star is located.  After you are done, tape the paper around the lamp again and turn out all the lights in the room except for the lamp.  Then, let your child name the constellations.  It’s that easy! 

Enjoy the light show, whether it’s from inside or outside your house!

Step 1:  Cover Lamp Shade with
Black Construction Paper
 

Step 2:  Color Stars

 

Step 3:  After using a Push Pin to Poke through Stars,
Tape Paper over Lamp Shade

For the Love of Owls

Cute owl craft!

From a very young age, my daughter has had a special love for owls.  She is drawn to toy owls, stuffed animal owls, books about owls, owls on clothing, you name it!  She loves owls.  She even has a bike helmet with owls on it and an owl night light.  Maybe it’s because of their big eyes or their sweet round faces and fluffy feathers.  But most likely, it’s because of our neighborhood barred owl (Strix varia) family. 

One of our neighborhood owls likes to sit on the pine tree outside my daughter’s bedroom window in the late evening where it makes its well known call, “Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all.”  After a night of calls, my daughter wakes excited about the owl that visited her window.  One morning, when we were leaving early to go somewhere, we got a chance to see my daughter’s window visitor resting on another tree in our front yard.  (Barred owls are one of the few owls that may be seen during the day.)  That sighting and the occasional window visit have made owls an important animal in my daughter’s life.

For a few months now, the owls have been quiet in our neighborhood; but just last night, my daughter received a visit from one of them, hooting right outside her window.  And I’m guessing it’s just the first visit of many this month.  In December, barred owls (and great horned owls, Bubo virginianus) begin their courtship behaviors, meaning we can expect a lot of vocalizing.  And we are excited for our late night serenades from our neighborhood barred owls!

If you are lucky enough to hear either the barred owl or the great horned owl, you probably won’t hear the other species.  Great horned owls are predators of the barred owl, so if a barred owl hears a nearby great horned owl, the barred owl will seek another area to call home.  Once these owls move into a territory, they generally stay in that area for the rest of their lives.  And yes, they do mate for life.  So if you are lucky enough to hear a pair of owls in your neighborhood, they really are your neighborhood owls.  (They tend to live where there are large trees near fresh water.)  Get to know your neighborhood owls and enjoy them as my family does.

To help celebrate the season and to decorate our house, my daughter and I made pinecone owls.  They are a cute, decorative craft that you and your child can complete in an hour or two block of time for older children, or over a couple of days for preschoolers (after some prep work for you the night before).  Here’s what you’ll need:

·       6 – 12 pine cones

·       Cotton balls

·       Clothing dye in your choice of owl-color

·       Craft feathers to match owl-color

·       Googly eyes

·       Pipe cleaners for beaks

·       Glue

·       Toothpicks

I died cotton balls a tan to light brown color a day or two before so that they could dry thoroughly, bought some pinecones, and gathered my crafting supplies (craft glue, googly eyes, a tan pipe cleaner, toothpicks, and brown feathers).  We stretched out and pulled apart the cotton balls into small, fluffy tufts and then stuffed them between the pine cone scales.  Using a toothpick, we were able to stuff the pine cone full of cotton leaving only the tips of each cone scale visible.  This took some time and patience (something that can be difficult for young children), so we took a few days to do it.  Once her owl was stuffed, my daughter picked out eyes and feathers (for the wings).  I cut about an inch of pipe cleaner and bent it into a “V” shape (for the mouth) and helped my daughter glue all of the pieces on each owl (see photos).

Although it took a few days, we now have our very own family of pine cone owls to sit amongst our holiday decorations.  And they look nicer than the usual construction paper / paper plate crafts made in school.  With patience and time, this is a fun craft for preschool through elementary age children.  And it’s a great way to pay homage to the real owls in your neighborhood while encouraging the innate love of nature in your child!

Stuffing cotton in a pine cone.

Using a toothpick to stuff the pine cone.

Gluing the eyes.

Adding feathers.

Pine cone owl family.

Having a conversation with the new owls.  (The owl with the attached
string will be an ornament for our Christmas tree.)

 

Snowbirds are Here!



Making treats for snowbirds.

I’m starting to see snowbirds again, and I’m not talking about people from up north who have winter homes in Florida.  I mean the actual birds that migrate to Florida when the weather turns cold where their summer homes are located. 

Just last week, I saw a very noticeable, American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos).  They are bigger than our year-round native brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis).  Although they usually tend to favor coastal shallow marshes for their winter homes, my family is lucky enough to live within a short drive to a few small, shallow lakes that seem to attract a growing number of them every winter.  The location must remind them of their habitat up north.

Another snowbird who is more common in backyards this time of year is the yellow-rumped warbler (Setophaga coronata).  Again last week, I noticed small groups of them darting from trees to bushes to the ground, hanging around in our local suburbs.  While they are in our area during the winter, they are attracted to many of our bushes with winter fruits and berries.  If you have the right plants in your backyard, you’ll see these gregarious birds often.  A favorite bush of theirs is the wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera), which provides an edible waxy fruit all winter long for them.

There are many other snowbirds here too, making Florida one of the best places to bird watch during this time of year.  Some additional Florida wintering birds include ruby-crowned kinglets (Regulus calendula), Eastern phoebes (Sayornis phoebe), American robins (Turdus migratorius), cedar waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum), palm warblers (Setophaga palmarum), and gray catbirds (Dumetella carolinensis).  If your child is interested in birds, you might want to start an annual tradition with him or her of joining in the Annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count, which takes place from December 14, 2014 to January 5, 2015.  For more information, check out http://birds.audubon.org/christmas-bird-count.  Children of any age who love birds will enjoy helping you spot them for the count.

To start getting your child interested in bird watching, you can attract birds to your backyard by feeding them.  It’s always good to have a permanent feeder located in your yard to keep birds around all year long; but during the winter, additional feeders are important to help birds increase their body fat to keep them warmer during the cold winter months.  To help birds with this, they often change their diets to more fatty foods.  This is a perfect opportunity to have your child help you make special bird feeders ideal for the winter. 

There are all kinds of creations that you and your child can make to help feed birds.  A simple bird feeder to make uses peanut butter spread on pinecones and rolled in bird seed.  Unfortunately, that keeps many children with nut allergies from feeding birds, but allergies shouldn’t prevent feeding and developing a love of wild birds!    



Adding bird seed to
suet-covered bagels.

Although my daughter doesn’t show any signs of allergies, we decided to make some nut free bird feeders today.  We used whole wheat bagels cut in half and threaded a long string through the hole.  My daughter helped me spread berry suet on each bagel, which you can buy at many pet stores or even grocery stores.  I then poured bird seed (nut-free) and small raisins into a bowl and had my daughter dip each suet covered bagel into the bowl so the seeds stuck to the suet.  Then we took them outside and hung them on several trees at different heights.



Hanging snowbird treats.

Unfortunately, any commercial bird seed, even if it does not have nuts in it, is likely made in a factory that makes other seed mixes with nuts, so there is the possibility of cross contamination.  However, even with severe nut allergies, you can still make a similar treat for birds in your home.  There are several recipes online describing how to make suet, which is basically beef fat.  Then you can add your own ingredients for taste from home-grown seed and fruit yielding plants or purchase seeds and fruits from manufacturers who specifically market to people with nut allergies.  

With or without nut allergies, everyone can landscape for birds by planting seed and berry producing plants, bushes, and trees, such as wax myrtle, American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), and dahoon holly (Ilex cassine).  Before long, these snowbirds will be enjoying your yard and bringing a smile to your child’s face. 

With Thanksgiving a day away, I am thankful for my family and the love we share of nature.  As well, I am thankful for the little birds that visit my yard and bring happiness and excitement to my home.  We hope they eat as well as my family will.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Bird treats hung around the yard.

Expedition ABCs

Loving Expedition ABCs

With the weather so nice here in Florida, my daughter and I just want to spend as much time outside as we can.  Today, we decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood and work on our ABC’s.  Our goal was to try to find an object (preferably in nature) that begins with each letter of the alphabet.  Before we embarked on our alphabet expedition, I wrote each letter of the alphabet down in a notebook that we took with us to keep track of our goal.  My daughter was in charge of keeping track of letters that we needed to find, and I wrote down each object that we found next to its beginning letter.  Since the weather was cooler causing fewer animals to be found, it was more difficult to come across objects in nature starting with every letter of the alphabet.  Therefore, we allowed some items that were not natural; as long as they were found outside.  During our walk, any objects that were new to her, I explained, as well as expanded on information for items that interested her.

This is what we found:

A – acorn

Discovering beautyberries

B – beautyberry bush, birds, butterfly

C – car

D – dragonfly

E – earth

F – flower, fern

G – garden, grass

H – hole (dug by an animal)

I – insect

J –

K –

L – leaves

M – mammal, mushroom

N – nest, nuts

O – orange tree with oranges

"Where'd the pinecone come from?"

P – pinecone from a pine tree

Q –

R – rock

S – sand, squirrels, stick

T – tree

U –

V – vultures, vine

W – water, wasp

X – xeriscape

Y – yard

Z –

In charge of finding objects in nature

As you can see, we didn’t find all of the letters of the alphabet (and I was really disappointed we didn’t see a zebra longwing butterfly), but my daughter welcomed our walk with an educational purpose since it related to what she has been learning in preschool.  She enthusiastically took the notebook and started searching for objects as soon as we were outside.  During our walk, she learned new words such as Xeriscaping (which will probably be my go to “X” word during future walks).  Hopefully someday soon, after she’s heard the word several times and understands its meaning, she’ll be able to help me create a drought tolerant, Florida friendly garden for her to play in.  We also concentrated on the meaning of the word “yard.”  As a two year old, she doesn’t quite understand the concept of land ownership, so distinguishing one yard from another was a great exercise, as well as learning that she shouldn’t walk in other people’s yards unless she is invited.  She also discovered the many beautyberry bushes that are full of bright purple berries this time of year.  She hadn’t seen that color in nature on something that wasn’t a flower before.  We talked about how the berries are food for birds and small mammals.  And yes, mammals were on our list, although we only saw people, dogs, and squirrels during this walk.  We discussed how hair is a characteristic of mammals, which means we are mammals too.  As an added benefit to finding objects that begin with each letter of the alphabet, we also got to work on the sounds each letter makes all the while adding new words that were connected to tangible objects for her to store in her memory files of alphabet words.

Trying to write down one of her findings

As my daughter gets older and the seasons change, we’ll find other letters and new words during our ABC nature walks.  This can also become more of a game when the ABC’s are second nature to her as she begins to read and write (who can spot the most objects that begin with each letter of the alphabet?).  And each walk may be different as my daughter learns and notices new things in the neighborhood. 

This ABC nature walk can easily be adapted to any child’s age, so get out into your neighborhood and explore the ABC’s in nature.  Not only will your child grow his or her vocabulary, but he or she will also find something new, connect it with what is being learned in school, and develop a love of nature in a fun and energetic way.

Story Time - Leaf Man

“Story Time” will be a recurring feature on Mommy Nature, introducing children’s books with a nature theme.  Watch for them to help expand your child’s library.

Story Time – Leaf Man, written by Lois Ehlert

I borrowed some new (for us) books from the library the other day.  It’s always a fun occasion to search for books that can be more than just stories at bedtime, and I found a gem of a creative book for fall.  Leaf Man is a simple story about fall leaves in the shape of a man who is blown away past other animals and landscapes made out of leaves.  Each page is no more than a sentence long at most, but what makes this book special are the artistic leaf collages on each page and its use of imagination of where the leaf man might go.

Each turn of the page with my daughter was an exhilarating search for the artistic outline of the animal or plant displayed.  I’d question her, “Do you see it?”  She’d excitedly answer, “There, there!”  The end of the book states that only the wind knows where the leaf man will go.  After reading the book, my daughter and I made up a story together of where the wind might have blown the leaf man around our yard.  Then we walked around outside looking for the leaf man.  Alas, we live in Florida and very few leaves have turned color and fallen out of our trees yet this year; so regrettably, we couldn’t find him.  But that’s okay, the journey is more important than the destination, and our fun with this book was not over yet.

Leaf Man is almost begging for children to come up with their own designs to create plants and animals out of leaves.  However, my daughter is only two; so, her creativity and eye/hand coordination make this a little more complicated than it would be for an older child.  Luckily, there are a few very simple butterfly collages that would be easy for almost any age to construct.  The butterflies in the book were made from only two or three leaves (one for the body and a big leaf or two small, similar looking leaves for the wings).  Then we went on a hunt around our yard for leaves of all shapes and sizes.  I checked over each leaf we collected to make sure there were no bugs or leaves that were too dry and brittle.  Once we had enough variety to choose from for our collage, we brought the leaves into the house to make our picture.  We spread out the leaves on our table and organized a few that would look good together.  Then I placed a sheet of contact paper, sticky side up, in front of my daughter so she could put the leaves together (wings first, then the body of the butterfly on top).  After she was done, I placed another sheet of contact paper, sticky side down, on top of her art project and sealed the leaves inside.  This project was almost effortless and fun for my two year old, but can easily be transformed into a more challenging and creative art project for older children.  If you don’t have contact paper, you can use two sheets of wax paper, and then iron them (no steam) between a couple of towels to melt the wax so the sheets stick to one another.

If you are lucky enough to live up north where you have a wider variety of fall leaves on the ground, your children just might be able to find a leaf man in your backyard.  Or at least they will have plenty of leaves to watch and see where the wind takes them after reading this creative and enjoyable book.  It’s a fun read for children with big imaginations and who love to pretend as my daughter does.  It’s amazing how one simple book can inspire so many activities!

Please let me know if you’ve come across a gem of a story for children about nature.  You’re welcome to tell me a little about the book and why you like it.  Books are always a favorite for young children; and I, like many of you, am always looking for the perfect addition for my daughter’s bookshelf. 

Toddlers Taking Pictures

Do you know of a good, toddler friendly, camera?  Now that Halloween is over and Christmas is just around the corner, I’m working on a wish list for what to give my two year old for Christmas.  Since we live in the age of camera phones, I’m always taking pictures of her, so she understands what pictures are.  And on a few occasions, she’s snatched my phone to take her own pictures.  Of course her pictures are not exactly quality work, but she enjoys it (as do I).  But I don’t feel comfortable lending her my phone to explore her visionary creations in photography on her own.  So I’m in search of the perfect toddler camera that takes good pictures, is durable, and easy to use.  I know there are a number of them on the market; therefore, if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear your experiences with them.

Now, you may ask why I am inquiring about a camera on a blog about nature.  Well, my daughter’s interest in taking pictures reminded me of an article (DeMarie, 2001) I read for my Master’s Thesis.  It was about an experiment to see how preschoolers viewed a visit to a zoo using disposable cameras.  Before the zoo trip, each child was interviewed to see how much exposure they’d had to the zoo and similar outings.  Then each was given a camera to use during a visit to a local zoo and instructed on how to use it.  They were told to take pictures of whatever they wanted.  The idea was that the children would take pictures of things that they found important or interesting to them as preschoolers.

The outcome was that the majority of the children took pictures of what was familiar to them, and not necessarily animals at the zoo.  Many of the preschoolers had little to no experience at a zoo; as a result, they took pictures of the sidewalk, clouds, chipmunks, and body parts of other children or animals.  One child, who had visited zoos the most (ten times) took significantly more pictures of zoo animals than the other children.  The conclusion the author drew was that for the majority of preschoolers, a trip to the zoo is somewhat of a wasted effort.  She concluded that preschoolers will get the same benefit from a walk around their school.  However, she does mention several caveats to her study such as the distance from of the school to the zoo making for a long field trip day, the subject for the preschoolers to learn was too broad, and cameras may not have been the best measure of what preschoolers learned.

As a non-formal educator who has worked in similar institutions, however, I didn’t (and still don’t) agree that the author’s conclusion was justified based upon the data presented.  Rather, I fixated on the fact that the zoo visit was not supplemented with an age appropriate, educational component presented by knowledgeable staff or even an enthusiastic parent.  In the study, the zoo was essentially just a generic setting, with no mention of any educators teaching the children about the animals at the zoo.  One child named several rules of how he should behave at the zoo as what he had learned, indicating the impact of conduct instruction.  None of the children mentioned any facts about the animals, making me question whether any information about the zoo animals was even discussed.  (In a future post, I will concentrate on the proper way to introduce zoo animals to a preschooler.)

Taking a child on these types of outings can be very important to continuing education of the natural world, and every child has to start somewhere.  I don’t believe there is an age that is too young.  Whether it’s a zoo, nature center, or aquarium, they all provide a safe place for young children to be introduced to and begin their love of the natural world.  Since many children are not able to go to these places for a variety of reasons, schools do a huge service to their communities by introducing children to wildlife through field trips to these institutions.  Yes, a lot can be learned by taking a walk around the block and that should be taught too; but when children visit a reputable wildlife institution, they learn, and each visit builds on the previous one.  These are places where the love of wildlife and nature begins.

In light of that, this study made me think it would be interesting to see what my daughter would take pictures of during one of our walks in nature.  In addition, I’m interested to see how her pictures will change as she learns and discovers more about the world around us.  If you have a children’s camera or are maybe thinking about getting one for your child, I’m sure I will post future pictures that my daughter takes for upcoming discussions, and invite you to post some of yours too.  I will keep you posted on my little, nature-loving photographer, and will continue to research camera options.

 

Reference

DeMarie, D., 2001. A trip to the zoo: children's words and photographs, Early Childhood Research & Practice, Spring 2001 3(1) [online] Champaign, Illinois [cited 11 Feb. 2005]. Available from World Wide Web: (http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/index.html)

Camouflage and Toddlers

Playing the Camouflage Game.

Last week, I came across another post (http://www.boredpanda.com/camouflage-owl-photography/) of stunning photography showing how well owls are camouflaged in their natural habitats.  It reminded me of how much I used to love teaching the subject of camouflage to elementary school children.  There are so many fun, hands-on activities you can do with this subject, let alone search and find the animal in an endless supply of pictures in magazines, books, and on the internet.  So I started thinking, why not teach my 2 ½ year old about camouflage.  She loves to play games and look for hidden items in her look and find picture books.  More importantly, she loves owls and would be amazed at the pictures of owls looking like the trees, rocks, or snow where they live. 

I decided to start with a fun game to get her thinking about the importance of colors and how they can help something get noticed (or not).  The game also gets her outside thinking about colors in nature.  First, I took a variety pack of pipe cleaners and separated out two of every color (there were ten colors, red, yellow, white, black, orange, blue, pink, green, brown, and tan).  Then I cut each pipe cleaner into four, near equal parts.  Outside, I designated an area (about five feet squared) and randomly spread the cut pipe cleaners over that area on the ground. 

Found two pipe cleaners!

About five feet away from the designated area, I had my daughter stand with a paper plate and listen to instructions for the game.  I decided to do a practice run just to make sure she knew what to do.  I had her place the plate on the ground where she stood.  I told her that when I said “go,” she should run to the designated area and find two pipe cleaners, put one in each hand, and run back to place each of them on the paper plate. Then, I explained, that she was to do it again until I said stop.  For the dry run, I let her find about half of the pipe cleaners while I kept an eye on how long it took her to collect them.  After she was done, we spread the pipe cleaners she had collected within the designated area to play again.  I did have to remind her throughout the game to be fast and to grab the first colors she saw (not to look for any particular color). 



Comparing collected pipe cleaners
with those not found in time.

For the “official” game, I reminded her to collect as many pipe cleaners as she could, two at a time, before she heard the buzzer.  I set a timer based on my guess of how long it would take from the practice run to make sure she would be able to collect about half of the pipe cleaners (it’s important to not give enough time to collect them all).  After the “official” run of the game, we took another paper plate marked, “Not found in time” and collected the rest of the pipe cleaners from the designated area.  Then I had her sort the colors on each plate.  I asked her if there were any colors on one plate that weren’t on the other.  Then we talked about how some colors are easier or more difficult to see in the grass and dirt where we played.  When a color is more difficult to see, it is called camouflage.  This is a very basic definition, but it’s one my and your preschooler will understand. 

Afterwards, we looked at those beautiful owl pictures.  It was a game too; my daughter loved looking for each of them! 

Even though this camouflage lesson was relatively simple, my daughter was completely engaged and learned while having fun.  It was a perfect introduction to a fascinating topic with a game that I’m sure she will want to play again and again.

*As a side note, you may want to mark off your designated area for the pipe cleaners with a rope or tape around the border.  The brown pipe cleaners were so well camouflaged, we had a difficult time finding all of them and lost track of where our designated area was supposed to be!

Imagining the Moon

I’m excited about the full moon on Thursday, November 6!  The weather is finally nice and cool here in Florida, and because of Daylight Savings Time, we have more time to spend outside gazing at the moon in the evening before bedtime.  You see, my daughter has had a fascination with the moon since she could talk.  In fact, it was one of her first words.  Maybe the moon appeals to her because we have several moon-related storybooks that I read to her before she goes to bed, or maybe she has a natural curiosity for what’s up in the sky.  Either way, she gets very excited when she sees the moon and disappointed when she doesn’t.  We have to say the moon is resting or playing peek-a-boo behind the clouds when she can’t find it.  Nevertheless, if we are outside day or night, I can guarantee that my daughter has searched the sky for the moon.

For months now, my daughter has been talking about going to the moon.  She’s even going to take her friends there with her in a rocket ship or two.  I think she’s going to take her mommy and daddy too.  She’s tried to jump there, but says, “It’s too far away.”  And she loves it when her daddy and I make up stories about her going to the moon and everything she will find there.  I often wonder if Neil Armstrong and other astronauts had similar thoughts as children.  Yet, it seems the moon has captivated people since ancient history.  There are many myths about the moon, ranging from it being a god or goddess to the story of the man in the moon.  There’s folklore about the moon’s effects on fertility as well as a belief that one feels more pain during a full moon.  Ancient cultures built pyramids and temples to honor the moon.  Even in pop culture today, everyone knows about werewolves during a full moon. 

The word lunacy is derived from the Roman goddess Luna and is often used to describe the strange way animals behave during a full moon.  However, if you take a closer look at these animals, you’ll find that their behaviors are really quite practical.  Some animals tend to be more active during a full moon while others are less active.  A full moon creates a very bright night sky.  If an animal relies on sight to hunt, all of a sudden during a full moon, the prey becomes a lot easier to see.  For example, nightjars are much more productive at catching insects during a full moon.  Likewise, some nocturnal primates will actually shift to a diurnal schedule during the new moon phase (when the moon is not illuminated by the sun) because they are better at catching food when there is light to help them see.  Since bats do not rely on sight to hunt, they actually decrease their activity during full moons because they are more likely to be seen by predators.  The full moon affects animals in other ways too.  The brighter the moon, the easier it is for baby sea turtles to follow it (or its reflection) into the water after hatching.  Unfortunately, a full moon also brings out more people to the beach, which can deter adult sea turtles from coming on shore to lay their eggs.  Even corals in the ocean pay attention to the moon’s phases.  At certain times during the year under a full moon, many corals spawn.  This synchronized release of eggs and sperm ensures greater success for future generations of coral.  Even your pet dog or cat may linger outside longer during a full moon.  Both animals require some light to see, and when the moon provides that, evening walks become more enjoyable.

To help nurture my daughter’s desire to go to the moon, we often talk about how she is going to get there, what she might find, as well as that she needs to learn from her teachers and do well in school to learn enough to go to the moon one day.  Of course taking a class in astrophysics is a long way off; but at her age, I decided we can work on her imagination.  I drew a large round circle on a piece of paper.  I told her it was the moon.  I asked her to use her imagination and tell me what she might find on the moon.  At 2 ½, she isn’t much of an artist.  So I thought I would help her by drawing whatever she said she might find on the moon.  Her eyes sparkled as I drew the things she described.  I could see she was excited about seeing her imagination develop on paper.  This is a fun and simple activity that you can do with whatever interests your child that may not be tangible.  You don’t have to be an artist either.  It will just make your child so proud that you can help put items from his or her imagination on paper.  So gaze at the moon and let your child’s imagination expand!

My Little Butterfly

About a month ago, I asked my daughter what she wanted to be for Halloween.  I made a few suggestions starting with popular princesses, a few traditional Halloween costumes for little ones, and then I mentioned a few animals.  My little nature lover’s eyes lit up when I suggested a butterfly.  That’s what she wanted to be; and before I even started looking at costumes, my daughter began telling everyone what she was going to be for Halloween.  There was no changing her mind.  So I had to immediately set out in search of the perfect butterfly costume.  There were a lot to choose from, but I found a beautiful monarch butterfly costume.  We’ve worn it a few times already to various Halloween events, and she loves it!  The funny thing about the costume is that she can’t wear the wings in the car or in large crowds; so when we take off the wings, she happily says she’s a caterpillar.  I also found a toy replica of the life cycle of the monarch for her.  Now she reenacts The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle using her new toys.  I’m so proud of my little butterfly.

There are many animals that have strange life cycles, where the animal hatches out of an egg looking one way and then metamorphoses into a completely different looking animal as an adult, most notably frogs and butterflies.  But the monarch’s life cycle is unique among animals that go through metamorphosis in that it migrates long distances.  The unusual part of this migration is that butterflies don’t have long life spans.  Therefore, to complete the monarch’s migration, it takes about four generations of butterflies, with the fourth generation doing most of the traveling.   So there is more to the monarch butterfly, the king of butterflies, than just a single life cycle.

Generally, monarchs mate and lay eggs on milkweed in March and April somewhere in the US and Canada.  It takes a few days for the caterpillars to hatch from their eggs.  Then, their priority is to eat the milkweed plant and grow bigger for about two weeks.  Next they build their chrysalis around their bodies and metamorphose into butterflies in about ten days.  When their pupa stage inside the chrysalis is over, they emerge as adult butterflies.  They live for two to six more weeks drinking nectar, mating, and laying eggs.  The cycle starts all over again in May and June, July and August, and again in September and October.  But the final life cycle of the year is different.  When they emerge from their chrysalis as adult butterflies, they are not able to mate and the cooler weather acts as a signal, telling them it’s time to migrate to a warmer climate.  They do not survive in cold weather.  During the month of October, monarchs all over the US and Canada start their migration south to Mexico and Southern California.  They hibernate on the same trees every year in large numbers.  Milkweed does not grow where the monarchs hibernate; so when the weather warms up, they again head north.  Once they arrive where there is milkweed, they are able to mate again and lay eggs in March and April to start the cycle again.

My little monarch butterfly might not understand the generations of life cycles and the monarch’s amazing migration just yet.  But she does understand a single life cycle and is already an advocate for these amazing creatures.  I just love my daughter’s enthusiasm and adoration for nature!  Did your child/children dress in a costume inspired by nature for Halloween?  I would love to see them.  Feel free to share your pictures or stories by posting them to this article.

Halloween Nature Scavenger Hunt

 

I love celebrating Halloween!  But as a mother of a 2 ½ year old, I have to be careful how I celebrate and how much exposure to spooky costumes and decorations my child can endure.  Otherwise, I’ll be in for some long nights well after Halloween.  Therefore, around my house, I have decorations and books of ghosts, pumpkins, and bats that are all very cute to help ease her into Halloween.  However, I can’t control what my child might find in the neighborhood where we will be trick or treating.  So I decided to take my daughter on a Halloween nature scavenger hunt in my neighborhood before the big day to get her a little prepared for some of the more scary looking decorations she might encounter.  You can too!

The idea is to teach our children about the real things found in nature that are used in spooky decorations so our children are not as afraid of them.  For the scavenger hunt, you’ll need to design an activity sheet with pictures of things found in nature that are often depicted in Halloween decorations (examples may include owls, bugs, snakes, lizards, toads, snails, slugs, spider webs, bats, black birds, black cats, pumpkins, dormant trees, the moon, dead leaves, etc.).  Think about the area where you live and what kinds of things you may find in nature at this time of year and collect pictures of those items onto a sheet or two of paper.  Then go on a walk around the neighborhood to find them. 

Let your child know that he or she may not find all of the items pictured on the scavenger hunt activity sheet, but that they are all things that can naturally be found around the neighborhood.  You may want to bring a walking stick or just a strong stick with you that you can use as a pointer, but let your child know it is only to be used for pointing and not for touching animals.  The stick is also for the parent to use to gently move plants, logs, or rocks to assist you in looking for animals.  Just make sure that anything moved during your walk is gently placed back where you found it.  And please follow instructions from my October 5, 2014 post, “Rules of the Nature Trail” concerning the touching of animals.

Your child will probably notice many of the Halloween decorations in your neighbors’ yards while on your walk.  Remind your child that decorations are for pretend and for fun (it’s also good to see the scary decorations during the daytime) and feel free to focus on decorations that are like the real things you are searching for during your scavenger hunt.  Once you start finding items, observe them and talk a little about each one.  For example, look at a tree with no leaves.  It looks spooky because it doesn’t look alive with color, but it is alive (it’s just “resting” at this time of year) and will grow many new leaves in the spring.  Under the same tree, you’ll probably find a lot of brown, dried leaves that fell off of the tree.  They seem spooky because again they are not alive with color, and they make a crunching sound when you step on them.  Allow your child to walk around in the leaves to hear the crunching sound.  That sound can also be scary because it may mean that something is walking around near you.  At night, you might not be able to see what that something is; but most likely, it’s just a woodland animal or even a pet dog or cat in the neighborhood.

Most of the animals featured in Halloween decorations are used because they are not much like us, automatically making them creepy and less endearing to children.  This includes many scaly reptiles, warty toads, and creepy crawly bugs.  Children can be taught, however, that just because they aren’t like us, that shouldn’t automatically make them scary.  Differences are good!  For example, a snake’s scales help it move since it doesn’t have legs, and they are protection from sharp sticks and rocks on the ground where it moves.  Likewise, a toad’s warty skin gives it protection from the harsh sun and from predators.  They do not give people warts!  As for bugs, most of them get a bad reputation because of a small number of bugs that bite or sting, have venom, or can even spread diseases.  But there are many more beneficial and harmless bugs that need our support such as the dragonfly, butterfly, European honey bee, praying mantis, ladybug, and millipede, just to name a few.  Other creepy crawlies include slugs, snails, and worms, which are completely harmless unless they are eating away your garden.  But in small numbers, they actually aid in natural decomposition and seed germination, which can be good for your garden.  These creepy crawlies are also slimy, and therefore considered icky by many people.  But that slime is important to protect their bodies and keep them moist.  Then there is the most common creepy crawly Halloween decoration of them all, the spider.  Yes, all spiders have venom, making them seem very scary.  However, very few have venom strong enough to harm humans.  A spider’s venom is primarily used to help it digest food.  And if you don’t like creepy crawly bugs, spiders along with many other animals featured in Halloween decorations do a good job of controlling bug populations.

Other animals found as Halloween decorations include about anything with black fur, feathers, or scales.  But black coloration in animals is an adaptation that allows them to better hide, or at least not be seen easily at night.  Otherwise, they are not really different from their more colorful cousins.  A black cat is not any more dangerous than a brown tabby.  In fact, in the US, black snakes are all non venomous, making them less dangerous than some of the more colorful snakes.  It is true that big black birds such as crows, ravens, and vultures seem to be attracted to dead animals, but they are scavengers.  That’s what they eat.  They are part of nature’s cleanup crew.

You don’t need to discuss each item you find along your walk in depth.  Pay attention to your child.  He or she will let you know what is scary to them.  Help your child see the importance in what he or she thinks is scary.  Children don’t have to like everything in nature; they just need to understand it a little better.  Hopefully this Halloween nature scavenger hunt will provide your child with the knowledge needed to make Halloween a little less scary and a lot more fun!