2011 Winter Series #8 One Small Square and Winter Wednesday #7 Winter Insects

***Winter Series #8 One Small Square-Winter 
(You can also read my Squidoo Lens: Square Foot Nature Study.)

***Winter Wednesday #7 Winter Insect Study
A couple of extra links for winter insects:
Where Do Insects Go In Winter?
Where Have All The Bugs Gone?

FYI: You can download from Scribd all the regular insect challenges in a pdf document if your child is interested in learning more about this topic: OHC 22-28 Insects.

If you are currently experiencing lots of snow (like we are), perhaps today is not the day to do this challenge. Pick one of the other challenges from the winter series: Filter snow, melt snow, look for animal tracks, observe some birds, or notice tree silhouettes.

There are plenty of challenges that you could try or do again this week if you can't do the small square or get outside to look for insects. I look forward to reading about your family's nature study this week. I am so enjoying glimpsing into your winter world and all of the bird study entries from last weekend.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

My Thoughts on Purchasing Discover Nature in Winter - Ebook Version Available

I am writing this because I have had so many emails about the frustration of not being able to find this book for purchase at a reasonable price. I understand that you would like to own a copy of this wonderful book but I would never encourage you to pay more than about $20 for it. This book is a valuable reference but it is NOT worth the prices that I see used around the internet. Honestly $58 and $80 were the two cheapest copies I could find this morning.

I did however find that you can purchase this as an ebook through Powell's Books from Google Ebooks.
http://www.powells.com/biblio/95-3330000125360-0
I am assuming it is the same book that I have but in ebook format. It has the same number of pages and the same copyright date.

I knew the availability of this book was an issue and that is why I rewrote the Winter Wednesday challenges for the current ebook. I wanted to write them in such a way that you did not absolutely need the Discover Nature in Winter book to participate. Of course there is a wealth of information in the book that is not discussed in the Winter Wednesday ebook but you will still have a great winter nature study experience if all you do is follow the instructions and links in the fresh challenges.

Even the original challenges were written for families to complete without the book. Every challenge has a section that says that it is for families who do not have access to the book.

So you have a few choices:

• Purchase the ebook and print it yourself or read it from your computer. 
• Work through the challenges without owning the book and enjoy the suggestions given in the challenges.
• Hold out for a used reasonably priced book.

I hope this helps you make an informed decision about the Discover Nature in Winter book.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom



You can read all about this new ebook in this ENTRY.

2011 Winter Series Outdoor Hour Challenge #1 Cattails and Winter Wednesday #1 World of Color

Cattails from Our Snowshoe Hike January 6, 2011

I have been trying my best to figure out how to link us all up with our winter nature study. I think every Friday I will just list the corresponding Winter Series Challenge and the Winter Wednesday Challenge all in one post. There will be a Mr. Linky spot for you to post links for either one so others can stop by and see your winter nature study.

Here are the links to this week's challenges:
Winter Series Challenge #1 - Winter Cattail Study

Winter Wednesday #1 - Winter World of Color

Please feel free to complete one or both of the challenges as you have the opportunity. We would all enjoy seeing your entries and even if it is at a later date, please come back to this entry and add your link.

It was brought to my attention that I did not mention that you can purchase a set of thirteen custom notebooking pages to go along with your Winter Series Challenges if you decide not to purchase the book. The pages are available for $2.95. See this ENTRY for more information. These are the same notebook pages included in the Winter Series ebook.

As you can see from the photo above, we were able to go out for a winter snowshoe hike and we found some cattails to observe. I will posting our Winter Cattail entry and our Winter Colors entry over the weekend. It was *wonderful* to get back outdoors with some purpose. I really am looking forward to spending the next few months sharing our adventures and reading about yours.

I am sending out a really big thank you to all of you who have commented and sent sweet notes about your nature study and how much you are looking forward to finding some interesting things to learn about this winter. It means a lot to me to know I am helping other families.

Have a great week!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Preparing For December: Nature Study

Today's post is a mix of ideas and reminders.

In anticipation of turning the calendar to a new month, I am making up my to-do lists and preparing my new 2011 calendar for its binder. (If you are looking for a wonderful organizational tool/planner/calendar, you might want to check out Mom's Tool Belt.)



Here are a few nature study related things I added to my calendar:
1. Make some of these birdfeeders for our backyard.
2. Work on the plans for our new flower garden....color, color, color.
3. Finish identifying and recording my Yosemite wildflowers from last summer and put them on my Yosemite Wildflower blog.
4. Keep track of where the sun rises and sets in December along with my son's astronomy course.
5. Go snowshoeing with my husband, at least once.


I added on my Outdoor Hour Challenge goals for December:
1. Finish updating the Winter Nature Study ebook from last year and build my Winter Series Squidoo page for extra items. (I am updating the calendar dates and the broken links on last year's Winter ebook.)
2. Finish the notebooking pages for the Winter Wednesday series...I decided this would give us something new to use for our winter nature study even if we had already completed this series before. You can see some of the new resources on my Winter Wednesday Squidoo page that I am working on as well.

Big Reminder!

Today (11/30/10) is the deadline for posting your November World links in Mr. Linky for the last Autumn Series challenge before the drawing for the giveaway tomorrow. If you do not have a blog but would like to enter the drawing after completing your November World nature study, you can email me a little note about your outdoor time and I will enter you into the drawing...make sure I get your email today. Send to: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com

Also, Many of you may not be aware of some of my additional resources related to nature study so I will link them here for you to take a look at when you have a minute.

Drawing With Children-Nature Journal Style: Complete plans for working through this book and relating it to your nature study.
Nature Journals: Some simple ideas for nature journals and some helpful links.
Harmony Art Mom: If you would like to see all the resources I have written for Squidoo, you can look on this page.

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Winter Series #9 Mammals

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Winter Series #9
Mammals in Winter

Many mammals are nocturnal and you will rarely spot them to observe up close. Some mammals hibernate in the winter and they are not easily observed either. Many more mammals are just plain shy and rarely show their faces. Reading about them and learning their behaviors will help you find and observe them in the wild if you are diligent...it may not be this week or this year but you will be ready if you do the study ahead of time.

Any study of mammals can be done with what you have on hand. Do you have a pet dog, cat, mouse, or rat? Do you have a relative or neighbor that has a dog or cat they will let you observe? How about visiting a pet store? Be creative. If you would like additional information on what a mammal is so you can share with your children, here is a link to a general definition as well as links to various mammals and their photos.
Mammals

For this challenge, you can use the Handbook of Nature Study to pick a mammal to study this winter or you can use the Discover Nature in Winter book to read about mammals and then use the information there to look for animal tracks during your outdoor time. Either way will give your family a great study of a mammal.

Inside Preparation Work
If you are using the Discover Nature in Winter book:
Read chapter nine in Discover Nature in Winter. Mammals in general tend to be shy of humans. In the winter, it is even more difficult to observe mammals. The chapter suggests looking for signs of mammals instead like tracks and scat. Highlight ideas for your family to try this week while you are outdoors and looking for mammals.

Our family is going to review the chart showing different animal tracks on page 182 and 183. We might try sketching some of the tracks into our nature journal as a reference for future outdoor time. In our area, we often come across animal scat as we hike and we are going to familiarize ourselves with the various kinds of scat by studying the illustrations in this chapter.

Without the Discover Nature in Winter book:
You can still look up some animal tracks online using this link:
Animal Tracks at Beartracker

Outdoor Hour Time
This week the challenge is to get outdoors and look for signs of animals. You can look for tracks, scat, holes, scratches, hair, or other things that mammals leave behind. Remember to make your nature study time like an investigation.

Follow-Up Activity:
1. Keep a record of animal tracks you have observed in the snow or mud. Record your findings in your nature journal along with a drawing, the date, the weather, the time of day, and the type of animal if you have identified it at this time. You can use the Winter Series notebook page, pages from the sidebar of the Handbook of Nature Study blog, or your own blank journal.
2. Compare a dog’s and a cat’s footprints in the snow or mud.
3. Research an animal that hibernates and record what you learn in your nature notebook. You can also sketch your animal and what its tracks look like.


If you would like all the Winter Series Challenges in one book, I have an ebook gathered for you to purchase for your convenience. The ebook also contains art and music appreciation plans for the winter months as well. Please see this entry for more details:
Winter Nature Study Ebook Now for Sale. You can also purchase just a set of custom notebook page for the Winter Series Challenges by following the link above.

Make sure to come back and enter your blog entry for this challenge in Mr. Linky.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Winter Mix and Match Nature Study

This post is a mix and match post with lots of different interesting things we are studying. I am trying to get through all the photos I have taken in the last month to close off our winter studies before spring comes.


I brought in some branches of various trees and bushes in January and we have been watching them as they unfold. This is such an easy project that I encourage you to give it a try. Any woody plant will work and we are trying some new ones this year.

Here are some instructions you might want to read: Bursting Blooms


This is the sweet gum as it starts to unfold. Edit to add that this is a maple and not a sweet gum.

Now this is my mystery tree branch (perhaps a Quaking Aspen) that I brought home from my romp up in the mountains. The branch was broken off on the trail and I decided it might be interesting to bring it home and see if it would sprout leaves. It had buds at first and then the buds burst open to reveal these catkins.



The catkins then dropped off and the leaves are now sprouting bright spring green leaves and I am still not 100% sure this is a Quaking aspen branch.


This is the forsythia bush twig that I brought in and it is so pretty in yellow. I must be tired of the winter drabs because this yellow really cheers me up.


These are just two things that have been sitting on the nature shelf that someone brought in to look at and study. We haven't had time to really research them much, but they are interesting none the less. The crepe myrtle bush has some interesting seeds and the pods have become really hard as they dry. The seed pod from the trumpet vine is filled with thousands of seeds with wings. They are amazing actually.

Now for a few outdoor things that I would like to share.


This buckeye seed has broken open and sent out a pinkish root. They are striking to see as we walk along the trail.


The acorns are doing the same thing right now as well. This black oak acorn has sprouted.


Here is another photo of an acorn sending down a root. Amazing to see in real life. Just think, a gigantic tree can grow from just this little acorn and one little sprout.


One last photo with some manzanita that is ready to bloom. I love the delicate pink buds that will soon be blooming all along our walking trail.

I think that catches me up with photos from the camera. We are trying to keep up our daily walks and I am feeling the change of the seasons coming. The air is different.

I encourage you to try the Bursting Blooms activity with your kids and to get outside for a few minutes this week to enjoy the day.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Outdoor Hour Challenge-Winter Series #2 Winter Tree Study

This week we will continue our year-long tree study. This is our third year going through the seasons with a tree and it is such an easy way to call attention to a nature study subject right in your own yard or neighborhood.

You can also begin your study with this challenge if you are just joining us.






Outdoor Hour Challenge
Winter Series #2
Winter Tree Study

Inside Preparation Work:
Now that winter is upon us, let’s take this week and observe the tree we chose last autumn to study during each of the four seasons. This week you will use the suggestions on pages 624-625 of the Handbook of Nature Study to make general winter observations of your tree. You may wish to read through the suggested ideas for studying your tree before heading outdoors so you will have those in mind. If you started a year-long tree study a few months ago during the Autumn Series of challenges, you may want to pull out your nature journal and refresh your memory about your particular tree. Hopefully when you go outdoors you will observe some big changes.

Also, if you have the Discover Nature in Winter book, turn to pages 76-81 for valuable information on branch patterns, tree silhouettes, twigs, and seed containers.

Outdoor Hour Time:
Take your 10-15 minute outdoor time to study your tree. If you are just starting out with a tree study, pick a tree from your yard that you can watch through all four seasons. Have your children make as many observations as possible, perhaps comparing the appearance to how it was during autumn. Another way to record your tree changes is to take photographs in every season. This makes for a very easy nature journal entry once you get back indoors. If your weather is too cold or snowy to go outdoors, you can pick a tree to observe from your window or you can bring in a twig or cone to study from your tree instead.

Simple Suggestions for Winter Tree Study:
1. Pick a tree in your yard or on your street and view its branch patterns and silhouette.
2. Find a tree that has lost its leaves and sketch its shape in your nature journal. This activity can be done from a window if your weather is too cold or snowy.
3. Collect some seeds from trees that may still be left over from last season. Look for sweet gum, locust, yellow poplar, ash, mimosa, or sycamore.
4. Collect twigs from different trees and compare them.

Follow-Up Activity:
After your outdoor time, complete a nature journal entry. If you purchased the Winter Nature Study ebook you will have a custom notebook page or there are several free alternatives by using a general notebook page from the sidebar of my blog, the original Seasonal Tree notebook page, or your own blank journal. You can take photos of your tree to put in your nature journal as well. The Handbook of Nature Study suggests sketching your tree to show its shape as it stands bare. File your nature journal page as a record of the season.

Additional Project:
Anna Botsford Comstock in the Handbook of Nature Study suggests on page 624 to take a twig from your tree in February and look at it carefully. She suggests placing the twig in a vase of water and then leaving it in a warm, light place and see what happens to the buds.


If you would like all the Winter Series Challenges in one book, I have an ebook gathered for you to purchase for your convenience. The ebook also contains art and music appreciation plans for the winter months as well. Please see this entry for more details:
Winter Nature Study Ebook Now for Sale. You can also purchase just a set of custom notebook page for the Winter Series Challenges by following the link above.

Make sure to come back and enter your blog entry for this challenge in Mr. Linky. I know that some of you had great cattail entries that you have not posted on Mr. Linky yet and I would love to have you share them with the other families. Please pop over to the cattail entry and post your links. Thanks so much for your participation.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Discover Nature in Winter Series and the New Winter Series Challenges Update

As a result of the sidebar poll, I will be pulling together a series of Winter Challenges in the same style as the Autumn Series. I am excited with this new format and I am really glad that you all are finding it helpful too. It keeps things fresh. I have been inspired by what you all have shared in the Autumn Series this time around.

I know there are many of you who started off strong and have now tapered off with the autumn challenges, but there is no time limit and you can complete any of the challenges at any time and post a link.

I encourage you all to at least complete the Cattail Challenge, the Autumn Tree Study, and the Autumn Weather Study if possible so you can participate in the coming seasons as well.



I wanted to make available in a easy to use way the series of Winter Wednesday challenges that I posted last year that go along with the Discover Nature in Winter book. I have posted them on the right sidebar of the blog and they will remain there for you to use as you wish. If you need some additional inspiration, please click the Mr. Linky links for each Winter Wednesday post to see how other families completed the challenges.

I will post the first new Winter Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges on January 1st and they will continue for ten weeks.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Winter Wednesday-Our Final Study: Mammals

Here we are at the last chapter in the Discover Nature in Winter book. This was such a great idea for making the past nine weeks of winter nature study more interesting. I know that our family thoroughly enjoyed using the book to spark some new ideas for nature study. Reading the links for each week has helped us to learn more about how other parts of the country experience winter as well.

Now that spring is right around the corner, we will be interested to compare our nature walks with those we took during the winter months. I want to thank everyone that participated and supported Winter Wednesday over the last nine weeks. It has been a pleasure to host this series of entries and as always, I think I received more back than I gave.

So now for our final chapter's activities! If you have been following along with the Outdoor Hour Challenges, you will have had plenty of opportunity to study this week's subject of mammals.

Winter Wednesday
Week 9 Winter Mammals

1. Read chapter nine in Discover Nature in Winter. Mammals in general tend to be shy of humans. In the winter, it is even more difficult to observe mammals. The chapter suggests looking for signs of mammals instead like tracks and scat. Highlight ideas for your family to try this week while you are outdoors and looking for mammals.

2. Our family is going to review the chart showing different animal tracks on page 182 and 183. We might try sketching some of the tracks into our nature journal as a reference for future outdoor time. In our area, we often come across animal scat as we hike and we are going to familiarize ourselves with the various kinds of scat by studying the illustrations in this chapter.

3. After you complete your winter nature study activity this week, make sure to complete a blog entry and then share it on Mr. Linky.

For families wanting to participate that do not have the Discover Winter in Nature book, I will list a few simple nature study ideas that you can try with your family.
1. Keep a record of animal tracks you have observed in the snow or mud. Record your findings in your nature journal along with a drawing, the date, the weather, the time of day, and the type of animal if you have identified it at this time.
2. Compare a dog’s and a cat’s footprints in the snow or mud.
3. Research an animal that hibernates and record what you learn in your nature notebook. You can also sketch your animal and what its tracks look like.

Here is a link that will help you out with animal tracks:
Animal Tracks at Beartracker
I think this is a fantastic online resource for nature study!



You might want to pull your copy of Fun With Nature out and read over the chapter titled: "Rabbits, Squirrels, and Chipmunks" and also "Tracks, Scats, and Signs". I know a lot of us have this terrific resource on our shelves and we are not using it as much as we should.

Birds in the Winter: Our Winter Wednesday Bird Style

We recently participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count and even though this is our third year participating, we still found it a thrilling activity. The whole family participated at some point over the weekend and although it was a very snowy weekend, we saw some amazing birds. This was a great way to learn about our winter birds and we took the opportunity to combine the Bird Count with Winter Wednesday.

The point that sticks out to me this year is that we had no trouble identifying any of the birds that we observed. We have built up over the last three years the ability to quickly name any bird that happens into our yard or to our feeders. I think that is amazing!

Here is our list of birds that we saw over the weekend:
White-breasted nuthatch
Spotted towhee
California towhee
Cedar waxwing
Western Scrub-jay
Oak titmouse
House sparrows
House finches
Black-eyed juncos
American robins
American crows
Anna’s hummingbird
White-crowned sparrows
Canadian geese

We decided to learn more about the White-breasted nuthatch since it was one of the birds mentioned in the Discover Nature in Winter chapter notes. We have a pair of these that frequent our feeders on a daily basis. They are such perky little birds and have such an interesting sound. They are very acrobatic and entertain us when they climb down the tree trunks head first.


We started off with a coloring page from the Cornell University website found at this link:
Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and National Audubon Society
Previously, I had printed out the table of contents and it hangs on the wall near our bird viewing window. When we observe a new bird, we check the list and see if there is a coloring page for that particular bird. Then I print just that page out for those that want one for their nature journal.

We also looked the white-breasted nuthatch up in our field guide and on the All About Birds website.

I was interested in learning more about the Cedar waxwing birds that we saw in our trees during the Bird Count. We counted 61 of them at one time! This was the most we had ever seen all in one flock. They were eating the berries/nuts out of the pistache tree.

I used a coloring sheet from the Cornell book as well and then I looked information up in our field guide and at All About Birds. I learned the meaning of the word "frugivore".

We also learned what is meant by the term "field marks".









We also found these feathers in our backyard this week and we haven't been able to figure out who they belong to yet.

There is always something new to research and learn right from our own backyard. :)

Barb-Harmony Art Mom
Who is now very close to catching up on her Winter Wednesday and Outdoor Hour Challenge posts!!!

Even More Lovely Than I Imagined: Winter Weeds

We really enjoyed our Discover Nature in Winter reading in the chapter about winter weeds. It is a totally new topic of nature study for us. I feel like we are just getting our feet wet this year and as the years go by, we will be able to observe more subjects. I gathered a few of our photos from recent walks here at the beginning of the entry.

The one thing that the boys noticed about the winter weeds that we observed is that during this season it is not the flower we are looking at but rather the seeds.

We discussed how the seeds were important at this time of year as food for many of the animals that inhabit the area. We also talked about how the rain and the snow knocks the weeds over and as they lay on the ground, they are dispersing their seeds in that way as well.

I hope that we remember to look at these particular plants in the summer to compare the differences. It would make a great nature journal entry.

These last photos are from yesterday's family hike. We took a couple of hours to hike along the American River which was just roaring! It was the first time that all six of us were out on the trail together in a very long time.I told my husband as we hiked along that it was great to have us all spending time in the fresh air and I relished the conversations and relationships that the kids have with one another.


Here are a few of the weeds we saw as we hiked along.



I love this plant...it reminds me of beach grass.



It was such a great afternoon and as always, with any trip to the river, there was eventually rock skipping....so many lovely rocks to choose from.

How about a wildflower photo from the day?

I love a good purple wildflower photo. :)

One last treat from the day.....

A pair of hawks soaring over the pines......you must click this one to really see them.

I am so glad that I organized the Winter Wednesday activities. It has given our family a new perspective on the winter season and another reason to get outside and enjoy the day together.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Winter Wednesday:Insects.....Really, Insects

Winter Wednesday
Week 7 Insects

1. Read chapter seven in Discover Nature in Winter. Make note of any ideas for observing insects that would apply to your area. The purpose of this chapter is to make you aware of the various places that insects over winter: as fertilized eggs, as larvae, a few as pupae, and a few that hibernate. This chapter has lots of great illustrations showing what insects in winter may look like during the various stages. I highly recommend sharing these illustrations with your children.

2. Our family is going to look for and record any over wintering insects we can find using the instructions on pages 140-141. We will be making a chart like the one on page 141 for our nature journal. We will also be on the look out for galls and taking photographs for our nature journal. See pages 142-143 for more information.

3. After you complete your winter nature study activity this week, make sure to complete a blog entry and then share it on Mr. Linky.

For families wanting to participate that do not have the Discover Winter in Nature book, I will list a few simple nature study ideas that you can try with your family.

1. This might be the perfect time to learn the life cycle of a common insect such as the monarch butterfly or a dragonfly.
2. Look for signs of insects: on bare tree branches, under rocks, on the backside of leaves, on or under a fallen log, in a woodpile, in the soil.

Winter Wednesday: Winter Weeds

Winter Wednesday
Week 6 Winter Weeds

1. Read chapter six in Discover Nature in Winter. For wildflower lovers, this is a fantastic and interesting chapter. As your read through the pages, highlight or mark in the margins the plants that you are already aware of that grown in your area. Queen Anne’s Lace, goldenrod, yarrow, mustard, mullein, and many more are illustrated in this chapter. It might be fun to use the illustrations as the basis for some nature journal entries as well. There is also a whole glossary of botanical terms that are explained and illustrated on pages 106-108.

2. Our family is going to use the chapter illustrations as well as the section, “Clues to Identification”, to find some winter weeds in our area. We have already gathered a few winter weeds to display in a vase on our nature table.

“ From October to April, the dried flower stalks, withered leaves, and seedpods give some clues as to the plants’ identity. “

3. After you complete your winter nature study activity this week, make sure to complete a blog entry and then share it on Mr. Linky. It should be interesting to see each family's collection of seeds and weeds. If you do not have a blog, I would love to hear about your Winter Wednesday studies in the comments section. I love to hear what you are up to!

For families wanting to participate that do not have the Discover Winter in Nature book, I will list a few simple nature study ideas that you can try with your family.
1. Collect a variety of seeds from weeds in your local area and sketch them in your nature journal.
2. Gather a few varieties of weeds and display them in a vase.


Have a great Winter Wednesday....or Thursday or Friday or whatever day.

Morning Tree Silhouettes: Our Ongoing Tree Study

We have been watching and observing all the different shapes of tree silhouettes we have in our neighborhood. We are all pointing out different shapes and patterns and I can honestly say we are loving our winter trees.

This morning we were looking out and noticed that our trees were filled with American robins. I counted sixteen of them at one time in the trees along the side of our house.


The sunrise was just so pink and pretty and then the birds with their dark silhouettes....I couldn't resist trying to get a photo or two or three. If you click to enlarge and look closely, you will see several bird sitting on branches.


The robins were fat and sassy as they perched in the tree branches.

All of the photos above were taken within minutes of each other and you can see the sky and the light changed so fast.

Here is my son's tree silhouette of the walnut tree in our backyard.

I always think of his sketching as sort of gesture drawing. He has such a unique style all to himself.

Great study this week.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom