Fine Motor Practice: Hanging Bird Feeder

Each month, we get our delivery of the Scholastic publication My Big World.  This mini-magazine is the only 'worksheet' we do at Seedlings, but I absolutely love it and so do the kiddos.

This month, we are talking about Autumn Animals and we used our issue of My Big World to start a discussion about how animals survive the long winter without much food.

After reading the issue and doing the activity on the back page, we decided to make some bird feeders to help out our little feathered friends more easily find a food source.




 


This hanging bird feeder is probably the easiest bird feeder you can make.  It requires yarn, a small jingle bell and O-shaped cereal of some sort.

Tie the bell around one end of a length of yarn, and wrap a bit of tape around the other end to create a 'needle' for the children to thread the cereal more easily and start stringing!

Apparently, Bear thought we were making a Bear feeder and not a bird feeder.

Depending on the patience of the children making the feeders, they can end up a variety of lengths.  Make a loop at the end of the string (I removed the tape) for easier hanging.

All that's left is to find the perfect branch for your bird feeder and wait for your feathered friends to arrive!

Autumn Nature Walks in the Desert

I have an older brother, two actually, but one who gets his kicks poking fun at our dirt lot of a backyard while he is surrounded by acres and acres of lush greenery in Pennsylvania.  It's all in good fun, of course, but I got to thinking that I talk quite a bit about living in the desert and people may not actually know that we do, in fact, have more than just cacti around here.

With the arrival of cooler mornings, we've been taking an early nature walk each day to a grassy area near my home.  It's a short and very easy walk, but the affect it has on the children is almost miraculous.  We have outdoor play time each day, in the aforementioned dirt lot of a back yard, but nothing can compare to soaking in some real nature time.  I can't say it's as wonderful as lush greenery, but my community at least attempts to beautify the area with native trees and plants.  As you'll see in my photos, the grass isn't so green, but, hey, it IS the desert, grass isn't really meant to grow here anyway.

We lucked out this morning with a visit from a very unusual fellow.  How cool is this guy?  Amazingly enough, the second parent to arrive mentioned he was there and he was kind enough to stick around for photos and observations.

During our walk, we observed some plants talking about colors, shapes and sizes.

 This one reminded us of fireworks!

Once we arrived at the grassy area, we spotted a few dragonflies and the children were off and chasing!

 Next time I'll bring the telescopic lens and get a real shot of the dragonflies.

 Once we're all tired out, we head home with friends.

 Have you added nature walks to your day yet?  Give it a try!!

Backyard Exploration with Kiwi Crate 'Nature Explorer'

Just a disclaimer-type statement before I start: I'm not a spokesperson for Kiwi Crate, I am a paying subscriber and I (and Monkey) happen to think Kiwi Crate is pretty awesome.  If you wanna get in on the action, you can get your very own Kiwi Crate here.

When June's Kiwi Crate arrived, I was ecstatic.  The theme was 'Nature Explorer' and one of the crafts was a nature collection box with scavenger hunt cards.  Being desert-dwellers, nature exploration pretty much comes to a complete standstill in the summer, but I knew the box would be perfect for my Mom's yard in New Jersey, so into the luggage it went and after four days of this....

...we finally had a sunny day just right for exploring.  Monkey started with a color hunt, and found purple, yellow and green on his own, but then he decided he wanted a hunting partner, so Bear and I headed outside to lend a hand.  After we filled up the color card, Monkey decided to move on to shapes.

At first he rushed through, just trying to fill each slot with something and then run inside to show Daddy what he'd found, but after a few hurried hunts, he really started to slow down and examine everything before placing it in the appropriate section of the collection box.

While we were hunting, we also had a discussion about being gentle with the trees and plants in the yard and only taking a tiny sample of each thing for the collection box.  "See, Mom, it's tiny!"

Finally, Monkey decided to use the most specific scavenger hunt card with pictures of a flower, rock, stick, grass, leaf and clover.  He was actually able to find all of those things in the yard, a task which would be nearly impossible in our yard and he was thrilled!

And what did my little guy say on our very first visit to the mailbox after we returned from our vacation???  

"Maybe I'm going to have another Kiwi Crate!!"

Birds All Around Us!

I mentioned in a previous post that we had spent some time building a new, sturdy and comfy enclosure for our chickens, who I introduced in this post.  There have been a few changes since I first posted about the girls.

We originally had two Buff Orpingtons and a Rhode Island Red named Sophia, Dorothy and Blanche, respectively, but Sophia and Dorothy picked on Blanche so much that they removed most of her back feathers and left her bleeding and hiding to get away from them.  We decided to re-home Sophia and Dorothy and do some research about which breeds would be better for us.

After research was completed and Blanche had healed up nicely, we found a few new chickens to join our flock:

 Saffron - an Easter Egger and Pepper - a Barred Rock

 Coriander aka Cori - who I'm fairly sure is a Star Sexlink

all joined good old Blanche, our RI Red, who was being finicky and running about so I couldn't get a good picture.

We moved our coop to the side of our yard, added some tall chicken wire to enclose the area and then went a few steps further with shade cloth and a mister - that my husband picked up on a whim because he's a sweetie and wanted the girls to be cool and comfortable.

After a few anxious days of adjustment, the girls figured out the pecking order and began laying regularly, though it took a couple of them some time to figure out that they should lay the eggs in the nesting boxes and NOT on the ground.

We're getting 2-3 eggs per day, which is perfect as all of these breeds are expected to lay 4-5 times per week.

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A few weeks ago, I noticed that there was a mourning dove nesting in the tree just next to our front door.  I was a bit surprised since I always have people coming and going and passing right under her nest, but there she was, happily warming her little egg.

I noticed the egg a few days after seeing the nest and was hoping to get a photo of it when Mama was away, but I waited a bit too long to ask my husband to go out there and get the shot.  When we finally got around to it, this is what he found.

A sweet little baby mourning dove!  We've been watching Mama and haven't gotten another glimpse of baby, but the kiddos know they're up there and we're hoping to meet the little one soon.

We see Mama frequently popping into the back yard to grab some of the chicken feed or the birdseed we keep in our sensory table, so we know she's taking good care of her baby.

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So now we have chickens and many bird visitors in the backyard and we have a mourning dove family in the front yard, so when our Kiwi Crate arrived and we opened it to reveal a box full of bird-themed projects, we were beyond excited!!

I'm not a Kiwi Crate spokesperson or anything, I just think they're totally awesome, so I'm going to share this month's crafts with you and if you'd like to get in on the fun, you can click on my link and save $10 and then I'll save $10 and everyone will be saving and also making cool crafts!

Our first craft was making a nest with eggs.  In our crate was everything we needed to make the craft, glue, yarn, cardboard eggs, paint, paintbrush, etc.  My favorite thing about Kiwi Crate - any supplies you don't use for the included projects, you get to keep and use again and again.  In a past crate, we got one of those soft ice cube trays shaped like penguins - can't you just see all the projects you could make with penguin-shaped ice???  I can!!

Ok, back to the eggs and nest.

Put yarn into included paper bowl.

 Empty entire bottle of glue into bowl and stir with included wooden spoon until yarn is all coated.

 Spread glue-covered yarn onto included plastic bowl and spread out into nest shape, leave to dry.

Yes, that's an actual kid-sized plastic bowl that I will now have forever to use for snacks, craft supplies, whatever.  Oh, Kiwi Crate, I love you!

 Moving on, these eggs were great, they came in two parts that fit together, but can be opened and closed as needed - I see an extension craft in our future - baby birds, anyone?

Decorate with included white crayon (if desired).

 And paint with included paint and brush.  Let dry.

 My only complaint here is that the nest is too small to fit both eggs, but the eggs are really the perfect size for little hands, so I'm not complaining much.  And, it's adorable!

 Here's a better shot of the nest portion, which peels right off the plastic bowl when dry.  I've done yarn nests in the past, but this one came out better than any I've ever done.....most likely because it is all one long strand of yarn and a TON of glue - two things I've never done in my previous attempts.

Our next activity was a bird costume.  Monkey decorated a mask with feathers and then got to chose which beak he wanted to wear.  Each beak represents a different bird - I love the variety and creativity!

 He wanted to be a kiwi for a while, then he was a woodpecker and then he decided he didn't want a beak at all.

He also got wings as part of the costume, which I didn't get a picture of, but my little guy thinks they are wonderful!

The Kiwi Crate also comes with loads of information about the monthly theme and this was the first month Monkey was genuinely interested in it.  He wanted to hear everything about the different birds, he asked questions, he wondered, he pretended, he played and he LEARNED.

Children will naturally gravitate towards things that are relevant to their own lives and I couldn't have asked for a better set of circumstances over the past few weeks.

I wonder what next month's adventures will be!!

Get your own Kiwi Crate HERE! 

Our Week (or 3) of Butterflies!

Just like our ladybug project, I ordered our butterfly larvae from Insect Lore.  I've been doing this project with my students for more years than I can count and I've slowly been increasing the number of butterflies I order.  For a while, I ordered one small cup of caterpillars (about 5 or 6), then last year, I had two classes, AM and PM, so I ordered two cups and we ended up with about 10 painted lady butterflies.  

This year, I have 13 students, not including my own children, but since I can only have 4 students each class period, every day looks different as far as kiddos go.  I wanted each child to experience the best part of the butterfly project - releasing the butterflies - so I ordered a 'school kit' so we'd have enough of the lovely painted ladies to release a few during each class.  

When my kit arrived and I finally got them placed into their individual cups, this is what I ended up with.

That is a grand total of 47 caterpillars....aaannnnddd, maybe I went a bit overboard with the ordering, but never mind that, on to activities.

I've been working hard to incorporate more Reggio-inspired ideas into my curriculum and because long-term projects are something used quite a bit in that particular school of thought, I figured our butterfly project would be a great time to start introducing documentation and observation to the children.

Here are some samples of my son's observations:

And because this observation and documentation thing is still new to me, these are the only three I actually managed to get done, however; you can see the progression of thought and the addition of detail in just this short amount of time.  The first picture doesn't look like much to the casual observer, but I know that the 'S' in the bottom left is his caterpillar; the second picture shows the cup with the concentric circles and the caterpillar to the left; by the third picture, he asked me to label everything for him.  Next time, I'll remember to finish these observations with him - who knows where he would have gone next!

We kept a close eye on our caterpillars over the next week and they eventually got to be quite large.

The next step in the process is the 'J' hang - and now I'm really wishing I'd done more observational drawings with the kiddos - how cool is this?

Finally, all of the caterpillars became chrysalids (which I guess sounds nicer than chrysalises) and I had to painstakingly pin each cup lid to the side of our butterfly garden.  There were a few that had to be placed on the bottom, but I managed to fit all of them in there safe and sound where we watched and waited for another whole week.

While we were waiting, we made some fun crafts.  And of course, no butterfly unit would be complete without:

We made pom-pom caterpillars.

And had a bonus math lesson when we spontaneously decided to count our pom-poms.

We also used wool roving wrapped around a pipe cleaner to create rainbow chrysalids.

And finally, coffee filter butterflies, because children love spray bottles and they always turn out lovely!

Gorgeous!

And finally, after two weeks of waiting, we were visited (on Saturday, of course!) by our very first butterfly.

And soon, we had a butterfly garden literally overflowing with painted ladies.

We have spent this week saying goodbye to our new little friends, some of whom were kind enough to give us an extended goodbye.

Even the littlest Seedling got in on the action!

Next year - praying mantises??  I think so.