November 13

Fall Art

I always looked for meaningful ways to integrate art with science in my lessons. The process was always emphasized over the product, meaning that children were free to use the available materials creatively. Finished products were not identical. I have compiled a list of fall art activities below, although many of these activities could be implemented during spring or summer months. Try them with your families too!

Teach the concepts of diffusion, hydrophilic, and symmetry, as well as the shape of leaves in this investigation. Go here to learn more.

Review the states of matter and create beautiful stained-glass leaves. Go here for directions.

Identify the shapes of leaves as you create animals.  Go here for a literary connection.

Paint designs on leaves. Go here for materials. (For older children)

Introduce symmetry, leaf margins, and venation through this activity. Go here and here for examples.

As you hike, collect items to fill vases that children create on the sidewalk. Go here for more examples and ways to extend this activity.


Forage for items on the ground as you hike, such as seeds, nuts, sticks, and pinecones. Create land art for others to enjoy! Go here to learn the history of the land art movement and for a literary connection. Such an engaging way to create patterns!

Print leaves to create cards or placemats. Go here and here for additional information.

Use a variety of materials (paper, paint, and/or tissue paper) to create fall trees and strengthen muscles in young hands. Go here for complete instructions. This is just a sample. Be sure to add details to the sky, ground, and even in the branches.

November 8

Parquet

When we visited France, parquet floors covered the magnificent chateau rooms. Parquetry is created by using wooden slats in repeated geometric patterns. The first parquet floors were installed during the 17th century in the opulent Palace of Versailles. They were a sign of wealth and power, but this flooring was also functional and easier to maintain than marble floors. Artisans used lumber of contrasting colors and grains (oak, maple, walnut, cherry, mahogany, and pine). Go here and here to learn more about the history of this art form.

Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles


Use Parquetry to integrate engineering, art, math, and science in a meaningful and historic context. What an engaging way to incorporate angles, fractions, problem solving, and measurement!

Go here for an introductory video about angles.

Keva planks are a favorite building/engineering material of mine. Go to the official website here. Use painter’s tape to mark a square, and task students with creating a parquet floor in the provided space. Many school buildings have tiled floors, so students could cover a number of tiles to create a parquet floor. Teach and practice common patterns, such as basket weave or herringbone. As an alternative, students could use larger graph paper.

Keva Maple 200 Plank Set by Mindware MindWare,http://www.amazon.com/dp ...

Basket Weave Design:

My original design: what should I name it?

 

Artisans who created parquet floors were knowledgeable of different types of wood and how they would respond to heat and moisture. Compare samples of wood here.

November 6

Doors

What is the purpose of a front door? Brainstorm with your students or children. Ideas may include safety, a means of welcoming others, or a reflection of the homeowner’s style. We often decorate for holidays around our front doors.

My former school made this video of our front doors when we moved to online instruction during Covid. Go here to watch full screen.

The more I introduced engineer or design activities in my classroom, the more I realized how much my students both enjoyed the challenge and benefitted from the skills required to complete them. These tasks were especially meaningful when there was a real-world component. For background knowledge on engineering, go here.

I’ve always been drawn to the beauty of front doors and while I was in Europe, I took photos of some of my favorites.



Engineering Task: Design a front door on graph paper or construct a prototype of a front door. Depending upon the age of your engineers, increase the complexity of the assignment. Incorporate measurement skills as appropriate. Is there a standard measurement for the height and width of a door?

There are so many design choices to make before you construct a door. Walk through a neighborhood or outdoor shopping area and take photos or sketch design choices that capture your engineer’s interest.

Some Questions to Consider:

What materials would you choose to construct your door – wood, stone, metal….

Will there be glass in your door?  Consider the placement, color, and shape of the glass. If your student is constructing a model door, use plastic to represent the glass.

Will you have a double or single front door? How will you design the doorknob?

Will there be any kind of trim around the door?

Some other door related activities:

Everyone loves a little mystery. Introduce a unit, a story, or as I did, objects that begin with the letter D behind doors. Teachers could also reveal class awards or incentives behind doors.

Melissa and Doug Wooden Puzzles:

I found that many of my students had not memorized their home addresses in second grade. Spend some time during this mini-unit to teach your students to memorize their addresses and how to write an address on an envelope.

November 1

Topiary

Topiary is the art of sculpting greenery into fun and creative shapes. Evergreens, such as boxwood, ivy, or privet, are popular shrubs for topiary because they have small leaves and grow compactly. On my trip to Europe, I saw topiaries in some of the chateau’s formal gardens.


Both The Curious Garden and The Garden of Abdul Gasazi include topiary illustrations, but they are not the focus of the story.

(story)time: The Curious Garden by Peter Brown – third story(ies)

OSBORNE DOGS — Art of the Picture Book

Go here to view The Curious Garden full screen.

Teach your child how to create a topiary. Go here to view full screen,

When I was in the classroom, I intentionally shared unique careers with my students, Caring for topiaries, a topiarist or topiary engineer, is a career in ornamental horticulture, and certainly an ideal career for those who want to combine science with art! Go here to view full screen.

Green Animals Topiary Garden in Portsmouth, Rhode Island has over 80 sculpted trees. For full-screen viewing, go here.

October 30

Singing Glasses

When I taught a sound unit, “singing glasses” was always included. How is sound created? What makes the pitch change?

Go here to view full screen.

Go here to view full screen.

When we turned a corner in Venice and discovered a musician playing the glass harp, I was able to check an item off my bucket list. It was such a delight to see this in person! Such artistry!

Go here to watch her play.

Might be fun to try this investigation at your next dinner party or family meal! There are numerous ways to add to this investigation. Collect a variety of goblets, give your student or child a pitcher of water, and let the discoveries begin!

October 26

Hot Air Balloon Ride

After breakfast one morning in Amboise, France, we heard the balloons before they came into view. We were excited to watch them because we had plans for a hot air balloon ride the following day.

Eight of us met our pilot and his assistant while it was still dark and boarded the van to drive 30 minutes to an open field in the Loire Valley. Their experience was evident as they skillfully pulled the basket off the trailer, unrolled the balloon, and inflated it with air using a large fan. Then they turned on the burners to heat the air because hot air rises. They prompted us for assistance as needed. So peaceful and no better way to watch the sunrise over the French countryside.





No photos of us in the balloon because as soon as the eight of us crawled inside, we lifted off and after we landed, we were asked to immediately disembark.


We helped pack it all back onto the trailer.

This is an elementary video, but it accurately depicts our experience. Go here to view full screen.

A hot air balloon pilot is also called an aeronaut. Go here to view full screen.

For older students:  “This is the true story of one child, Peter Wetzel, and his family, as they risk their lives for the hope of freedom in a daring escape from East Germany via a handmade hot air balloon in 1979.” (Amazon)

Thanks to Starrmatica for the following two book suggestions:

“John Jeffries, an Englishman, and his pilot, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, a Frenchman, want to be the first. On January 7, 1785, they set out to cross the English Channel to France in a balloon.” (Amazon)

A Voyage in the Clouds: The (Mostly) True Story of the First International Fl... - Picture 1 of 4

“More than a century before the Wright Brothers invented their plane, Joseph and Étienne Montgolfier sent a flying machine into the skies—a hot-air balloon with three animals in the basket.” (Amazon)

Up and Away: How Two Brothers invented the Hot-Air Balloon by Jason ...

It is on my bucket list to visit the Alburquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Go here to view full screen.

Previous Related Posts

Blimps

Solar Balloon Lab

Parade Balloons

To integrate art, task your students or children with designing a hot air balloon. Use the following coloring book for inspiration.

 

Hot Air Balloons Colouring Book - by The History Press (Paperback), 1 of 2

October 23

Mushrooms?

Can you identify the fungi growing on the trees below? Are they mushrooms? What general observations can you make about the wood on which they are growing? What differences do you see between them?  Notice that many grow like shelves or brackets Examples are turkey tail or chicken of the woods. Others may be capped, like shitake or oyster, or even resemble a jelly like substance.



Learn about the life cycle of a mushroom and the symbiotic relationship between mushrooms and trees on the video below. Go here for full screen viewing.

After watching the video, can you identify the stages of the mushroom’s life cycle below?


I’ve come across some other mushrooms on recent walks. This has to be the largest mushroom I’ve found!

I believe this is a cauliflower mushroom.

Some other fun finds! Is a mushroom a plant or an animal? Right, neither! How do you know? I am amazed by the diversity in color, size, shape, and texture!



I discovered this mushroom on a recent trip to France.


Related Posts

Learn More About Mushrooms (Links to stories, informative videos, and an art project.)

Make a mushroom pizza with your students or children. Visit a grocery store and observe the different types of mushrooms in the produce section or purchase a mushroom growing kit. Go here for more information.

Fall is an ideal time to search for mushrooms in the woods but be sure to warn students not to eat the mushrooms they find. Go here for full screen viewing. I see a foraging class in my future.

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October 4

Chipmunks

It’s challenging to capture photos of chipmunks. Squirrels will stop and eat, but chipmunks always seem to be on the run! I accidently cornered this chipmunk, and quickly snapped some photos before he determined which direction to best scamper off. Read more about chipmunks here.



Facts about Chipmunks

Chipmunks are the smallest member of the squirrel family.

Underground burrows, a chipmunk’s home, can be as long as 30 feet.

Chipmunks are rodents, like rats, mice, squirrels, and porcupines, which means they have front teeth that continue to grow. It is the largest order of mammals.

Solitary, they interact very little with other chipmunks.

Many predators eat them, but they are quick escape artists.

Stretchy cheek pouches allow these omnivores to store food as they forage.

Young leave their mothers after two months and dig their own tunnels.

Go here to view full screen.

Use a Venn diagram to compare squirrels and chipmunks. How are they alike and how do they differ? Go here and here for posts about squirrels.

Go here to view full screen. Use it as a mentor text to introduce character traits. A fun tale to dramatize too.

A career idea! For full-screen viewing, go here.

October 2

Daddy Longlegs

When I was young, I believed that daddy longslegs, or harvestmen, were spiders. They do have eight legs and both are classified as arachnids, but they are not spiders. Unlike spiders, they have one body part and don’t spin webs. Spiders have two body parts (cephalothorax and abdomen) and insects three (head, thorax, and abdomen.) The number of eyes also differs. Most spiders have eight eyes, while daddy longlegs have two. In addition, they don’t have fangs or produce venom. Daddy longlegs will shed a leg if threatened.


An informational text in the Smithsonian Backyard Series:

 

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September 27

Red-footed Cannibalfly

I thought it was a dragonfly at first pass, but when I asked the Seek app to identify it, I learned that I had happened upon a red-footed cannibalfly, a type of robber or assassin fly. Think peregrine falcon of the insect world. It lays in wait for a large insect, grabs it in mid-air, injects a venom to paralyze it, as well as digestive enzymes, so that internal organs become a liquid that it sucks through its mouthparts. Go here and here to read about this amazing predator.

Because of their large compound eyes, they have excellent vision. Go here for a related post about compound eyes.

Watch full screen here.

Go here to view how full screen. Examples of biomimicry in the development of drones are presented.