2011 Winter Series Outdoor Hour Challenge #6 Salt Study and Winter Wednesday #6 Winter Weeds

Winter Weeds- Look for seeds, pods, or dried flowers.

This week's combination of challenges will give you two very different subjects to consider.

Winter Series #6 Salt Study
Winter Wednesday #6 Winter Weeds

                                                ***The salt experiments are a fun way to learn about an everyday subject that all of us have in our homes. You might find the pages in the Handbook of Nature Study an interesting read as part of this challenge.

***Winter weeds are one of my favorite winter nature study subjects. If you would like to participate, here are a few suggestions from the challenge
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.
3. Pick a weed you know you have and print out a coloring page for your nature journal. 


Don't forget you can click over to my winter pages on Squidoo too for some winter nature study ideas.
Winter Series
Winter Wednesday


My daughter has graciously made available her Salt Study Lapbook pdf to go along with this challenge. Please click over to her blog at Hearts and Trees to read more about it!

Winter Series: Our Salt Study

Outdoor Hour Challenges-Winter Series #6: Salt Study

We completed the salt crystal experiment described in the Handbook of Nature Study. I think it took our water about a week to evaporate enough that we had crystals on our paper. Reading other families' experiences with this activity I was interested in the fact that some of their water evaporated overnight or within a day or two! We must have a very humid environment compared to others.

We also completed all the experiments in Amanda's Hearts and Trees Salt Lapbook....let's admit it. We were her guinea pigs for all the experiments. :)


We completed the experiment to find out which melts faster-ice with or without salt.


We were totally amazed at the differences in the different freezing points of various salt/water solutions.


And the most long lasting activity was growing salt crystals on a string, with really beautiful results.

We are going to copy some of the other families who conducted the salt crystal activity with various kinds of salts. I think this would be a great way to wrap up our study of salts and to have some more fun in the kitchen together.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Salt Study Lapbook PDF available

My daughter Amanda has made her Salt Study Lapbook PDF available as a separate download this week. Please pop over to her blog to read all about it. This is a perfect addition to last week's Salt Study for the Outdoor Hour Challenge for families that want to go deeper into a study of salt and its properties.

Outdoor Hour Challenge-Winter Series #6 Salt Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Winter Series #6
Salt

For this challenge we will be doing something a little different. How would you like to grow your very own crystals to observe? You can make our own crystals by dissolving salt in water and then letting it sit in a saucer in your very own windowsill.

Inside Preparation Work:
Read pages 753-754 in the Handbook of Nature Study. These pages give you a quick study of this common substance that we use daily. Be sure to read through the lesson starting on page 753 that outlines an easy to complete activity to make salt crystals to observe using regular table salt and water. Get your crystals growing and then take your outdoor time. I would suggest putting the saucer in a warm windowsill where it will not be moved.

Outdoor Hour Time:
Spend 15-20 minutes outdoors this week in your own backyard carefully looking for something that interests you. Relaxed nature study outside your own backyard can be surprisingly fun since you let your children lead your adventure.

Something you might like to try if you have freezing temperatures in your area is to conduct an experiment where you try to freeze salt water outdoors in your own backyard. Take two pie pans. Fill one with tap water and one with saltwater. Compare the time it takes for each to freeze.

Follow-Up Activity:
Keep close watch on your salt crystals growing in your saucer. Use the notebook page from your Winter Series ebook or a blank page in your nature journal to record your crystal’s growth. You can use a hand lens to observe the crystal's shapes more closely and then record their appearance in your nature journal.



It took about six days before we actually began to see some salt crystals form in our saucer. They are fairly small but with a magnifying glass we could see their shapes easily. We found it easier to observe the crystals if you put them on a dark surface.

I know there are lots of fancy salt experiments out there, but I like to keep things simple. This simple salt and water on a saucer experiment is easy enough for any family to complete with children of any age.


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.


Edit to add 2/23/10: My daughter has graciously made available her Salt Study Lapbook pdf to go along with this challenge. Please click over to her blog at Hearts and Trees to read more about it!

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

Barb-Harmony Art Mom



We read this book from the library and found it very interesting. Love the illustrations as well!