We have been having a LOT of fun with our Handbook of Nature Study challenges this month! Most of the month the weather has been like this:
Which means it’s hard NOT to want to get out every day and explore God’s great world! We don’t have a huge backyard, but we were able to still get out there a good bit and discover just what we had underneath our noses.
We turned over some blocks of wood that have been forts and castles, and houses for some squirmies.
We found a honey bee gathering some nectar from a dandelion.
And a spider eating a dead crane fly! I’ve NEVER seen a spider dragging something off, have you?!
One afternoon a poor baby bunny was huddling in the corner of our house. The kids so badly wanted to keep him….but we just couldn’t :D
HOW they managed to find a snail in the backyard (alive) I’ll never know – but they were thrilled with the discovery!
Near our home is also some fantastic green space – much needed in the “city”! There’s loads of great wildlife around this pond.
We did a neighborhood walk and found LOADs of different insects! Since we studied insects with Apologia last year, the kids are pretty smartie pants when it comes to body parts and what each one is.
However, we came across this strange critter and not knowing what it was, did some research back home.
Turns out it was a large milkweed bug nymph, and a few weeks later we found an adult one!
Another new discovery – a Japanese beetle! Hoping/wishing this would kill our Rose of Sharon…
An ant carrying something – that’s a heavy load!
Drawing in our nature journals.
We’ve also been learning all about apples, and have been apple picking twice – the first time wasn’t overly successful as most of the apple buds were killed in a late frost. But we found lots of insects IN the apples :D The 2nd try was a HUGE success – we were running between 4 trees GIDDY with excitement over how many apples there were. There’s nothing like having something you take for granted taken from you, then given back to make you appreciate it all the more!
I hope this has inspired you to get out into God’s great creation and learn and observe all there is to see! If you’re not sure where to start, take a look at the FANTASTIC Handbook of Nature Study blog!
