This is going to be a jam-packed summer of nature study using the challenges and the newsletter suggestions. Our family is looking forward to spending time outdoors together as we focus on the various aspects of summer nature study...including a trip to the ocean and to a local pond. I encourage all to join in and learn more about your local nature habitat as well as those you may encounter during your summer travels.
More Nature Study Book #4
Summer Sizzle
Yellow Jackets and Mud Daubers Insect Study
Inside Preparation Work
- Read pages 378-384 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lessons 94 and 95). Learn the life story and the habits of each of these insects. Glean a few ideas from the lesson suggestions to apply in your study for this challenge.
- Preparatory video : YouTube on Yellow Jacket Stings
- Previous summer insect challenges: Mosquitoes, Moths and Fireflies, and Crickets, Grasshoppers, and Katydids.
- Spend some time outdoors this week looking for summer insects. If you spot a mud dauber, the Handbook of Nature Study says the “purpose of this study is to watch the mud daubers while building their nests and capturing their prey.” The Handbook of Nature Study also suggests watching a yellow jacket eat from a dish of sweetened fruit placed outdoors.
- If you spot any insects during your outdoor time, make careful observations of their movements, behavior, and appearance.
- Advanced Study: What is attracting your yellow jackets? Use your observation skills and record in your nature journal anything you find that attracts yellow jackets to your home.
- Record in your nature journal any summer insects you observed during your outdoor time. If you observe a yellow jacket or a mud dauber, record your insect in your nature journal. Ebook users: You can use the notebook page provided. You may wish to keep a running list of insects for the whole summer in your journal as well.
- Compare the yellow jacket and the mud dauber. Ebook Users: Optional coloring pages for the yellow jacket.
- Advanced Study: Conduct additional research on the insect order– hymenoptera. Use a field guide and complete two additional nature journal entries for insects in this order found in your backyard or local area.
- Western Yellow Jacket information from University of California
- Printable yellow jacket information sheet
- Bees, Wasps, and Ants of North America—excellent images and information
- Bee and Wasp Up-Close—just as a reference
All the summer challenges for 2012 are included in the new More Nature Study Book #4 Summer Sizzle ebook. The challenges in the ebook are the same challenges that will post every Friday here on my blog. If you want to follow along with notebook pages and coloring pages, click over and learn more about the ebook.
