After reading the classic books, The Borrowers or The Littles, create a home for the characters with your children. Use as many natural objects as possible or repurpose items. Add plants or walkways. Construct a swing or a bridge. You are only limited by your imagination! If you are working with more than one child, create a community. Then compose your own story.
The Enchanted Trail is open at the Chattahoochee Nature Center. These structures and many more were built by families and placed along the woodland trail. Use them for inspiration.
I share travel posts, so when you venture to new places with your families, you will linger, learn, and appreciate these natural treasures.
Watch a movie about the South, and you are sure to see the hurricane resistant live oaks. When my husband and I stayed in Beaufort, South Carolina, stately live oak trees lined the streets. They were often draped with Spanish moss which I blogged about previously. Live oaks are prized trees in the Southeastern United States and grow to massive proportions. Like all oaks, they produce acorns, but unlike other oaks, their leaves are evergreen. Live oak is the state tree of Georgia.
Click here to view full screen. Learn how live oaks were used in ship building.
Our tour guide explained that permission must be granted to trim the large limbs off of a live oak. In the photo below, the street was cut around the live oak tree.
Having something intentional to find on my hikes or in nature always improves my observational skills. Ask your students or children to look for concentric circles. What are concentric circles? Many students in the United States are familiar with the Target Store logo, so use it as an introduction. Click here to view the following video full screen.
I have surmised over the years that most children don’t know how to use a compass, so teach your students how to make concentric circles with a compass and increase their understanding of geometry and measurement skills.
I found these concentric circles inside the carrot I ate for lunch.
Some people have concentric circles (whorls) on their fingerprints. Click here to go to a fingerprint lab. Are there any concentric circles in outer space?
Let’s focus on the concentric circles (capillary waves) created when an object drops in water. Take a walk in the rain and notice how circles are formed as drops hit the water. “Some people walk in the rain and others just get wet.” (Roger Miller)
Let’s watch in slow motion. Click here to view full screen.
Investigate dropping objects of various sizes, weights, and shapes into different depths of water, and compare how the concentric circles change. What happens when one set of ripples hit another? Do this outside by dropping natural objects in a pond, a child’s pool, or a puddle. Inside, fill a shallow tub of water and collect small objects to drop, such as a penny. Use bath time to investigate this phenomenon. Do objects that float still create ripples?
Take and print a photo of the concentric circles that form when an object drops in water and then measure the space between each circle. That space is called the annulus. What did you learn?
Inspire your children to create artwork using Kandinsky’s concentric circles. Click here to view full screen.
Another option would be to have each child fill one square with circles and then put the individual circles together to complete a cooperative piece of artwork. Go outside and fill the squares that divide a sidewalk with chalk concentric circles. These circle activities would be perfect for International Dot Day.
Share on Valentine’s Day or anytime! Click here to view full screen.
Last fall, I visited the Chicago Botanic Garden with my daughter. Although there were many lovely gardens to peruse, we spent more of our time there strolling through the Japanese Garden. A bonsai display greeted us, and we were intrigued by the skill and artistry demonstrated by these gardeners. The bonsai are so valuable that there is an alarm around each, just like any priceless work of art.
How are bonsai created? What do you wonder? Tie your study of bonsai with geography and history standards.
Another feature in the garden are the trees whose branches are carefully pruned to appear as clouds. Japanese Cloud Trees (Niwaki) are at their finest when snow sits atop the evergreen branches.
One of my favorite stories to read aloud is The Empty Pot. Set in China, this tale is about demonstrating character even when it costs you! For full screen viewing, click here.
The Atlanta area recently received nearly six inches of rain over one night. Several days later, when I was hiking on the greenway, my gaze lingered on these designs created by the water. How is the soil moved to form ridges and valleys? Is there a mathematical pattern? What do you wonder?
This photo was taken at the beach last year.
According to the Geology Page, “Ripple marks are sedimentary structures and indicate agitation by water (current or waves) or wind. They form perpendicular to the wind direction and each ridge is roughly equidistant from the ripple mark on either side. The symmetry of water-current ripple marks indicates whether they were formed by gentle waves or faster water currents.” Click here to read the entire article.
What do you notice about how the water is moving in this photo?
Do you see the ripple marks in the Bermuda grass?
Take and print a photo of ripple marks. Then trace over the ridges with a marker and notice patterns and symmetry.
Temperatures have dipped below freezing, and I saw ice for the first time on a recent Greenway walk. Since Atlanta rarely is that cold, I am sharing some photos from friends who live where they consistently see ice and snow.
Use water to teach the states of matter. Ice is the solid form of liquid water, produced by freezing.
There are many simple investigations that children can perform to investigate how water changes from liquid to solid.
Does water expand when it freezes? Fill a mason jar about halfway with water. Draw a line where the water stops. Place the jar in the freezer and test your hypothesis.
Does hot or cold water freeze faster? Place a small glass of each temperature of water in your freezer. What do you observe? (Results may surprise you!)
Mix salt into a cup of water until it is saturated. Will the water still freeze?
Fill a Styrofoam cup halfway with water. Place it in the freezer. What happens to the cup when the water freezes? Apply what you learn to why potholes form on roadways.
Take ice out of the freezer and place it in a bowl. What happens? How long does it take for the ice to melt? Will it melt faster if you sprinkle salt on the ice?
Color ice cubes with food coloring. Drop one in a glass of vegetable oil. What happens? Click here for more information.
Make slushies or ice pops (popsicles). There are many recipes online.
This is a great opportunity to investigate insulation. Place an ice cube in a can, glass jar, and Styrofoam cup and cover each. What happens? Design your own investigation.
When outside on a cold day, touch various materials and compare the temperature of each. Include metal (car and gutter), wood, concrete, plastic, soil, plant parts, and glass.
Click here for an instafreeze investigation from Steve Spangler.
Tinkergarten has fun ice projects too. Click here and here for ideas from this great organization. The following photo of an ice ornament was taken in Montana and shared by my friend, Susan. How fun it would be to decorate a winter tree with these!
How does an ice spike form? Click here to learn more.
Integrate social study concepts into your study of ice and learn about the Arctic.
While at my daughter’s home during Christmas, I practiced new camera skills using her rescue cat, Phoebe, as my model. Cats do have their quirks, so let’s learn more about the reasons for some of those behaviors below.
After watching the following video, look again at the photos above. What does her body language tell you?
Many children’s books have cat characters. Use this picture book to teach perspective or in an art class to illustrate how the same subject can be represented in different ways.
The many ways that animals are unique is incredible! Just look at the variety of noses, eyes, tails, feet, coverings, and ears. A fun way to compare these differences is with the following series:
There are so many other ways that species differ, including habitats, diet, and reproduction. Animals also discard wastes in multiple ways! Biologists can identify an animal through its scat, and they will examine it, a non-invasive method, to determine an animal’s health, movement, and diet.
The following book shows the animal’s tracks, as well as its scat, and challenges you to identify the animal using both clues. Owl pellets are distinguished from scat.
When we visited Yellowstone, I came across this book. Watch a preview of the story below.
I was visiting my daughter in an urban area of Chicago for Christmas. Yes, it was frigid and snowing, but pigeons were still surprisingly active. Before landing on rooftops, synchronized flocks swooped across the sky. Doesn’t this appear to be a black and white photo? However, it was just a gray day with barely a hint of color. I was drawn to the monochromatic palette.
As I watched the behavior of pigeons, I wondered how they have adapted to life in the city. They are certainly amazing birds and I have a greater respect and interest in them after further study!
Some facts: There are hundreds of species of pigeons, and they are related to doves.
They historically nested on coastal cliffs which is why feral pigeons have easily adapted to living on city buildings.
Highly social animals, they are often seen in flocks of twenty to thirty birds.
Pigeons mate for life and both sexes care for their two chicks. They average eight broods a year.
Young are fed nutritious crop milk which is regurgitated from their parents.
Pigeons are selectively bred for racing, show, and in some cultures for pets.
They can fly up to 600 to 700 miles in one day at speeds averaging 78 mph.
Pigeons are known to be highly intelligent and can recognize themselves in a mirror.
Do you remember the scene in which the Banks children in Mary Poppins want to feed the pigeons for tuppence a bag?
Integrate history into your study of pigeons by investigating passenger or homing pigeons. There are many theories about how pigeons find their way home. They may use the sun and visual cues or Earth’s magnetic field (magnetoreception). Other studies indicate that infrasound (low frequency sound waves) or olfactory navigation guides them back.
Noah may have been the first to use a homing pigeon. He sent out a dove who returned to the ark:
“He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So, Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth.” (Genesis 8:10-11)
Mo Wilhelm has a popular picture book series about pigeons for young children. Teach dialogue and character traits through the series. These humorous tales can also be used to instruct persuasive writing and types of sentences (commands, statements, exclamatory and questions).
Search for additional monochromatic examples in nature, in your home, or in clothing. Such a great assignment to teach observational skills! Task your students or children with creating a realistic or abstract monochromatic painting. For additional fun, ask them to dress in a monochromatic scheme.