Cotton Study: Our Family Outdoor Hour Challenge

The boys were not too excited about this study when we started but I persevered. We decided that we would read the pages in the Handbook of Nature Study together and then see what we find interesting about cotton plants. The whole discussion about cotton led to a thorough discussion about the role of cotton and slavery which I loved because it shows how nature study can be so much more than just nature study. We can draw in art, history, geography, culture, and traditions.

We checked our clothing that we had on and of course we all had something made of cotton. My pants were a cotton/linen blend and my shirt was 100% cotton. The boys each had on cotton blend shorts and 100% cotton t-shirts. A little awareness goes a long way and we were soon finding lots of things made of cotton around the house. :)

Looking at cotton with a magnifying lens was interesting and they quickly sketched the view on their notebook page for their nature journal.

We would love to grow cotton here just for fun but I don't think we have the right kind of climate. We remembered that we had seen some cotton plants when we visited Atlanta, GA at the living history museum....now that was some hot weather when we were there! Too humid for us West Coasters.

Our actual outdoor time was spent in the garden again. Here are some things we found interesting.

Green beans with their pretty purple blossoms.


Tomato blossoms still coming on the plants.


Garlic chives we need to trim....the flowers are pretty though.


Bells of Ireland in Amanda's box. This is a new plant for our garden and it really is pretty.

So even though our inside preparation work started off a little slow, we really did enjoy learning about cotton and cotton plants. Our outdoor time was the highlight of the day and having a small garden to tend and nurture is a blessing and a refuge to us all.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Outdoor Hour Challenge- Crop Plants: Cotton

Now we are working totally out of my area of expertise. I have never grown cotton or seen it growing so we will be learning together. :)

Teri at Confessions of a FiberDrunk has been very helpful in my pre-study of cotton for this challenge. She actually grows cotton for the fiber to make into yarn. I have really enjoyed reading her blog and getting to know the process of growing cotton at home.

You might try reading these entries to get a better idea of how it all works.
Yarn Farming
Transplanting Cotton
My Cotton Harvest 2008
She also has a flickr photoset that you might be interested in viewing:
Homegrown Cotton

Thanks Teri for sharing your entries for those of us who have no knowledge of how to grow cotton.


Outdoor Hour Challenge
Crop Plants #4
Cotton

Inside Preparation Work
1. Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 604-608. The lesson on the cotton plant in the HNS is loaded with information about a plant that many of us have never grown or seen in person. Make sure to view the photo on page 606 and the diagram on page 607 with your children. See the links at the bottom of this challenge for websites that sell cotton bolls and cotton seeds if you wish to go more in depth with this challenge and study of cotton.

2. For this challenge it may be interesting to go through your closets and drawers and find clothing items that are made of 100% cotton. Bed linens are sometimes made of 100% cotton as well. Be creative.

Outdoor Time
3. As a family, spend 10-15 minutes outdoors. This would be a great time to check up on any crop plants that you have been growing in the garden. If you don’t have any crop plants growing, spend your time observing your own backyard and seeking a subject that interests your children. Perhaps you could bring along your magnifying glass and inspect leaves or flowers or insects. Enjoy this time together and remember that the most important part of any Outdoor Hour Challenge is the time spent outdoors as a family.

Follow-Up Activity
4. Allow time for discussion and a nature journal entry after your outdoor time. Follow up any interest in subjects you observed during your outdoor time either in the Handbook of Nature Study or in a field guide. You could also check past Outdoor Hour Challenge topics to see if we have studied your subject in the past.

5. One idea for cotton observation and then a nature journal is to use cotton balls or cotton fabric and view them with a magnifying lens. You can compare both the cotton ball and the cotton fabric and then sketch your observations in a nature journal entry. (If you purchased the Crop Plants notebook pages, there is a place on the cotton page to record your sketches.)

For future reference:
Here is a link to a website where you can purchase cotton bolls for observation.
http://cottonclouds.com/shopping/product_info.asp?id=542

Here is a link to a website that sells cotton seeds if you would like to grow your own cotton to observe.
http://www.southernexposure.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=COTT

Here is a link to a coloring book about cotton: Wonderful World of Cotton


New for this series of challenges are custom made notebook pages for each crop plant we will study. I have designed simple to use pages that will complement each challenge and will be an easy way to start a nature journal. Each of the eight notebook pages is in full color, but they are just as great in black and white. These notebook pages can be purchased for $2.50.

SAMPLE

You can complete the challenges without the notebook pages or you can use Tina's notebook pages linked below.

Thanks to Tina at Jetihoja Academy for her wonderful Outdoor Hour Challenge notebook pages.
Outdoor Hour Challenge Notebooking pages

Barb-Harmony Art Mom