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.

Winter Creative Nature Study

I knew it would happen at some point. I have started to get email telling me that you can't do the week's challenge because you have too much snow or it is too cold.

I know that the conditions in parts of the country are not ideal for many of the particular challenges I have posted in this series. Please try to remember that I write the challenges weeks ahead of time and that there are many, many participants from all over the world. I can't tailor every challenge to every location.

Please know that you are not left high and dry.

On the Handbook of Nature Study blog, in the right sidebar, there are literally dozens of Outdoor Hour Challenges to choose from. Please feel free to pick and choose and adapt any challenge that will give you some inspiration for your weekly nature study. If you get my blog entries as email, you will need to click over to the blog to see the long list of challenges on the sidebar. There is no particular time limit on any of the challenges and you may use them at any time and post on Mr. Linky and/or submit your entry to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival.

The complete Winter Wednesday Series from last year is listed on the sidebar. Even if you don't have the Discover Nature in Winter book, I provide in each challenge a simple activity for you to try.

Winter Wednesday #1: Finding Winter Colors
Winter Wednesday #2: Filtering Snow and Measuring Melted Snow
Winter Wednesday #3: Observe the winter night sky
Winter Wednesday #4 and #5: Tree observations-which can even be done from a window
Winter Wednesday #8: Watch birds from your window.
Winter Wednesday #9: Look for mammal tracks in the snow.

Remember as always that a successful Outdoor Hour Challenge is just to spend some time each week outside. It can be just a few minutes when the weather breaks and you can bundle up and take a stomp in the snow. There does not need to be anything more than getting outside if that is all that is going to happen this week. The aim of the Outdoor Hour Challenge is to challenge you to spend a few minutes with your children outside to see what you can see. If is a mountain of snow, great. If it is a frozen world, great. That is winter nature study in much of the world and it can be a beautiful experience.

I know the frustration of getting little ones all dressed in coats, hats, mittens, and boots only to have them want to come right back inside, but it is worth the effort. My children remember fondly the days we suited up for an outdoor trek after a big snow. They remember the hot cocoa afterward as well. It is not all about formal nature study.

It is about building relationships with the world outdoors and with each other.

If you need additional inspiration, stay tuned for Monday's Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. You are going to be so encouraged to try some winter nature study after seeing all the great examples from families who live all over the world.

Colors of Winter: Green and Red this Time

We decided to repeat last year's Winter Wednesday #1 Challenge on a recent hike. We had planned on leaving in the early afternoon but it actually started to rain so we postponed it a few hours.

The rain stopped eventually and it was amazing how beautiful everything was as we hiked along the trail.

The colors were vivid and we noticed a few outstanding things to share.


Beautiful green moss on the tree trunk.


Bright red berries on bushes along the way.


Manzanita wood is so vividly red after it gets wet.

Here was last year's entry for Winter Wednesday #1: Color Walk.

Please feel free to complete any of last year's challenges for Winter Wednesday and then post a link to share your family's experiences. The Winter Wednesday Challenges are listed on the right sidebar of this blog under the Outdoor Hour Challenges. They feature the book Discover Nature in Winter.

Edit to add: It looks like Amazon.com does not have any reasonably priced used copies of this book available but it looks like as of right now, Barnes and Noble has three used copies at a reasonable price. You can read parts of this book on Google Books.

Winter Cattails-Surprised Again!

We started our cattail study last fall with this entry: Cattails in Autumn.

We had two locations to visit for this study....one within walking distance and another up on our regular walking trail on the other side of town.

Here are the cattails near our house.

Our cattails are starting to look a little ragged. The water that was there in the fall has now completely dried up. The stalks of the cattails are dry, stiff, and hard. The leaves are stiff as well.


Here is our cattail area that is along our walking trail. I think that someone came and cut a lot of the actual cattails. Even thought they are still growing in water, the leaves and stems are all brown and stiff.


There is still a little water in this area that flows down to a creek. We all noticed that the water was a little smelly this time of year....hmmmm. We enjoyed having a purpose to our walk today and it was nice to focus on something other than the cold air. :)

The other interesting thing that we noted on this walk was that there were lots of mushrooms growing. Here are three different kinds that we stopped and looked at.


There were lots of this kind pushing up through the leaves.


There were some that were really white.


Then we saw this cute little yellow mushroom.

We are off to another hike today but this time down to the river. We will keep our eyes out for anything interesting.

Hope you get a chance to look for your cattails.

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 Season Poll on My Sidebar

I just added a poll on the sidebar of the Handbook of Nature Study blog and I would appreciate the Outdoor Hour Challenge participants popping over to answer the question about winter nature study.

I have a couple of ideas brewing in my head and I would really like to hear what direction everyone would like to go this winter.

Last year I kept the Outdoor Hour Challenges focused on a topic and posted those on Fridays. I added Winter Wednesday challenges using the supplemental book, Discover Nature in Winter.

I think I would like to go back to only having one challenge per week and I would like your input.

If you would vote in the poll and/or leave me a comment on the post, I would greatly appreciate your help.

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-Our Winter Insect Study

Our second buttercup of the season....more to come I'm sure!

We have had our eye out for insects the past few weeks.

Yesterday we actually saw two very small butterflies as we took our afternoon walk. We are going to try to take our butterfly net today and see if we can catch one to identify.

Added after today's walk: We actually caught one of what we thought were butterflies and now I think they are moths.

Here is the best photo I could get inside the net. They are orange on the backsides of the wings. This is the first time that I have tried to actually catch a butterfly with a net and I am really glad that my son did not have a video camera. It was hilarious....I sort of felt like a tennis player, swatting at the air. Let's just say that I got a lot of exercise. :)


We saw this on a bunch of leaves and we brought one home to investigate. We decided it is some sort of leaf miner that has been at work.

We found a whole section (pages 329-332) in the Handbook of Nature Study on leaf-miners!

"To most children, it seems quite incredible that there is anything between the upper and lower surfaces of a leaf, and this lesson should hinge on the fact that in every leaf, however thin, there are rows of cells containing the living substance of the leaf, with a wall above and a wall below to protect them.......The serpent-like markings and the blister-like blotches which we often see on leaves are made by the larvae of insects which complete their growth by feeding upon the inner living substance of the leaf."
Handbook of Nature Study, pages 329 and 331

Here are a few more photos from our walk today.


So these little fungi caught our eye today on this piece of bark. They looked like little mini hamburger buns.


The manzanita is starting to bloom and the shape of the blossoms are so pretty and delicate.

I feel like we are finally starting to catch up on our Winter Wednesdays and our Outdoor Hour Challenges. We have been so busy and the weather so wet that it really distracted us from our time outdoors. It feels good to be back in the routine again.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Winter Wednesday-Birds

Winter Wednesday
Week 8 Winter Birds

1. Read chapter eight in Discover Nature in Winter. If you do not already have a birdfeeder in your yard, you should pay extra attention to the pages showing how to make your own birdfeeders and the differences between the variety of seeds available.

2. Our family is going to complete the exploration suggestions on page 162. Since we already have a birdfeeder and a birdbath, we will be continuing our observation and identification of birds that visit each day. In addition, we will each pick one bird to study more in depth by finding a book at the library to glean information from for our particular bird.

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. Hang a birdfeeder and observe the birds that visit over the period of a week.
2. Keep a tally of the different kinds of birds in your feeder.
3. Observe one species of bird for a week and then record in your nature journal the unique behaviors of that bird. For example: only eats seed from the ground, pecks at the seeds, perches and fluffs his feathers each time, chases other birds out of the feeder, only comes to feed in the early morning.

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.

More Snow Experiments: Winter Wednesday

This has been one snowy week for our family. We woke up to snow on two mornings and it was gloriously beautiful.

The birds showed up for the Great Backyard Bird Count even with the snow and it was very entertaining to watch the different techniques for getting to the seed. The Spotted towhee was a master at scratching a hole in the snow and finding the seed underneath. The juncos just waited until the towhee flew away and then they took over.


The bulbs seemed happy to just hang out with the white stuff.


We took numerous opportunities to go out and measure the snow depth. We never got over three inches at any one time but it would snow, melt, and then snow again so I think our total count is somewhere about 8 inches for the season. That is actually a lot of snow for our area and we have enjoyed it thoroughly along with the Winter Wednesday activities. (Teenagers think that they can go outside wearing sandals in the snow....and t-shirts. Brrrrrrrr.)


We enjoyed a few snow walks this week and this particular one was very beautiful even if the trees kept dumping snow on our heads as it melted and fell to the ground.


There were quite a few trees and tree branches across the trail.

This is the first time we have seen water running over this waterfall along the trail. We were excited to see this on the day after the big snowstorm. The sound was the perfect little waterfall sound.


Hope you are enjoying your Winter Wednesday activities as much as we are.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Our Winter Wednesday Snow Experiments

With the latest round of snow that we had we were able to conduct our two snow experiments from the Winter Wednesday activities from chapter two of Discover Nature in Winter.

The first experiment was to gather snow and then let it melt to see how much water was actually present in the snow.

Here are two cups of packed snow.



Just under a cup of melted water resulted from the two cups of packed snow.

The next activity was to put out a clean jar in a snowstorm to gather snow. You then bring the snow in and let it melt. You pour the resulting water through a coffee filter and funnel to collect any particles that are within the snow.

We looked at our coffee filter and we could see a few black particles with the naked eye. We then put some of the water on a slide and looked at it under the microscope. I tried to get a photo of what we saw but you will have to use your imagination.

The arrow is pointing at a green splotch and then there was another green thread-like object at the bottom of the lighted area. This was a brand new slide with a brand new slide cover.....we were surprised and amazed.



I left the melted snow and microscope out all morning and just about everyone in the family tried their hand at viewing the snow up close.


Here are some dog and cat tracks in the snow on our back deck this morning. I love the way they look like they were dancing together. :)

I am loving our winter nature study this year. With the Winter Wednesday activities and the Discover Nature in Winter book, we have so many fresh ideas to learn from.

Thanks for sharing your ideas this week too.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom