Outdoor Hour Challenge: Apple Trees in Spring –See some of the ideas below or click over to the original Outdoor Hour Challenge for more in-depth ideas for a study of an apple tree.
Suggested Observations for the Handbook of Nature Study, page 664 and 666
How tall is your tree?
How thick is its trunk?
What color is the bark?
Does the trunk divide into large branches or does it extend up through the center of the head?
Study the bud of the apple blossom.
Sketch an open apple blossom. How many petals? What is the shape of the flower?
Spring(Spring 2010 Ebook) You can use the ideas in this challenge to start or continue a year-long tree study of your choice.
You may also like to read this entry for additional simple ideas to get you started: For the Love of Trees
Special Activity:
Four Seasons Tree Photo Project:
To accompany this challenge, print these notebook page for your nature journal and attach a photo of your tree in each season. Four Seasons Tree Photo Project Notebook Page: One page for each season’s observations and a photo or sketch.
Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #10. I hope everyone is starting to see some signs of spring this week. Perhaps a simple picnic during the day during your tree study time might be nice. Use the accompanying notebook page to record your picnic time observations.
Can you believe we are almost to the first day of spring for 2014? Our winter here in California was so warm and dry and it will be interesting to see how the spring season goes. Will it be warm? Will it rain at all? We will have to wait and see!
Take a few minutes on the first day of spring to record some weather related observations. You can use the printable notebook page below or you can record your observations right into your nature journal on its own page.
Have you had an unusual weather year so far?
I was thinking our family may start a daily record of the weather just to observe the statistics over time. We have done this in the past and it always proves to be a great way to focus some attention on weather as part of our nature study. This page can then go into a nature journal once completed for future reference. (See this entry: Dry December Leading Into a Dry January.)
Perhaps you are not seeing the start of spring just yet. I know many around the country have had record amounts of snow and long, long days of cold temperatures (like my son in New York).You can use the notebook page below to record any signs of spring.
I invite you to complete one of the ideas above and share your experiences with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. Make sure to send in your entries before 3/30/14.
We set out to look for signs of mammals but good intentions were set aside when we spotted some wonderful butterflies along our hiking trail. I reminded myself that the best advice I always give is to follow interest and to be flexible if a nature study topic comes along that you can’t pass up.
We have long past our winter season anyway so last week’s Winter Mammal study not really a perfect fit. We had plenty of winter mammal observations when we saw the signs of beavers at our creek. We see scat all winter long just beside or in the middle of our walking trail. I have stopped sharing scat photos because it seems a little weird. I don’t want to be the “weird nature lady”.
So, our first subject of the day is this Mourning Cloak butterfly. We looked it up when we got home in our insect field guide and online. It seems the host plant for the caterpillars is the Black willow. I am going to check and see if what I remember observing in this area is a willow.I also read in my field guide that the edges can look a little “tattered” and that was the case with this particular butterfly.
We hiked down to the river, which was extremely low from lack of rain and snow melt, and we threw the ball in for our Kona dog. She never tires of retrieving the ball even when the water is cold. The sun was warm though and I sat on a big rock and felt the refreshing air and sunshine.
So how did this violet arrive here below the normal water line, in among
the river rocks? What a surprise to see its pretty purple blossoms!
Taking a break from swimming…love the pink tongue. She is one happy dog.
On the way back up to trail, I was able to capture another butterfly that we saw as we hiked. There were many, many of these flying around the area but managed to get a really good close-up of this one to share. This is a Pipevine Swallowtail. I did some research and found that this butterfly only lays its eggs on the Dutchman’s Pipe plant. I found after digging on the CalFlora website that this particular plant is found in the area we live in but I have never seen it. I am now adding it to my list of plants to look for during our travels.
One last image from our hike today. The dog went off the trail and disturbed some leaves…my husband spotted this snake all coiled up underneath. We came home and looked it up on California Herps and it appears to be a Sharp-tailed Snake. It was very small but bright red on top and black underneath. I am not a big fan of snakes but we will keep this one in mind when our spring snake study comes along.
Although we set out to look for signs of mammals and we didn’t find any to note, we feel like we were a success in keeping our eyes open for interesting things to learn about as we hiked.
I hope you get outside this week to look for something to share alongside your children.
You may wish to start a new year-long study this spring using some of the ideas above. If you have a continuing year-long nature study project, don’t forget to put it on your calendar or you may forget to make your spring observations.
Outdoor Hour Challenge: We are at our last winter themed challenge for the season. Try some of these challenges or pick a mammal that lives in your neighborhood and look it up in the Handbook of Nature Study.
Printable Notebook Page My Mammal List:You can use this printable page instead of the running list notebook page if you wish to keep your mammal list by season. Reprint this page for every season and then compare your lists.
Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #1.Take a walk looking for signs of mammals and find two things to investigate further. Complete the notebook page from the ebook after you return home.
Our winter bird study happens every week with Project Feederwatch, observing birds in our own yard for a few minutes at a time. We also participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count in February. Both citizen science projects are super easy to complete. Even when we first started counting birds, back when we couldn’t name every bird, we felt a sense of joy at awakening our admiration for birds.
This year our list was much smaller than previous years. We are guessing it is the weather we have been experiencing with much warmer and sunny days, very little rain. I am assuming this is valuable information to share with the scientists at the GBBC as they process the data and see where birds are in 2014 during the count.
We have a new bird that visits under our birdfeeder which is exciting. It is a Fox sparrow (sooty). I have yet to get a really good photo of him but I will keep trying. This is the type of bird that has flown into my window twice now. They are such pretty birds and it makes me sad to see them perish in such an undignified way.
I am also working on my Nature Study Goals for 2014 and trying to add some of my newer bird discoveries to my nature journal. Here is my Bewick’s wren entry…not very original but it works. Drawing birds is a challenge for me but I think this one turned out decently. I haven’t seen this particular wren in weeks but I am keeping my eye out to see when it returns to our yard.
Last summer we added a new suet feeder to the yard and it has now become a favorite of the Acorn woodpecker. He comes just about every day to eat and I enjoy watching him with all his colorful glory. I will keep it stocked with suet and see if he becomes a year-round resident.
March is the last month of Project Feederwatch for the season. I am always sad to see it go but I keep an informal record of the birds seen at our feeders just about year-round. It brings me such joy!
This month in the Handbook of Nature Study newsletter I created a brand new printable for helping your children start working in their very own nature journal.
The printable Nature Journal Toppers are a simple way to help a child get over the “blank page” fear by providing a simple prompt.
What is a Nature Journal Topper?
The prompts in the Nature Journal Topper will allow them to cut and then adhere a short nature study idea to the top of any page, then complete the suggestion in their own way. Sometimes the page will include a suggestion for a sketch, a photo, a list, or an observation.
I chose to start with the spring tree Nature Journal Toppers as well as the list prompt provided in the March 2014 newsletter. Allow your child to create a page that fits their style. I used watercolors to paint a background on my page but that is my personal style. I will fill in the page as the month goes by.
Your child can complete as many of the prompts each month as they wish. I am hoping that these Nature Journal Toppers will give you family a little help in encouraging even the most reluctant nature journaler.
I will be including this feature in the up-coming editions of the Handbook of Nature Study newsletter. Some families really enjoy the nature study grids from the newsletter so we may go back to those in the future.
I would enjoy hearing how using the Nature Journal Toppers help your family.
Outdoor Hour Challenge: This week take some time to observe your neighborhood birds and document in your nature journal a bird you have noticed during the winter at your birdfeeder or in your yard. This is such an enjoyable nature study topic for the whole family. View from your window if you need to and use some of the ideas in the following challenges:
Bird Themed Nature Table Ideas: Use some of the ideas in this printable to find items for your children to have access to on your family’s nature table.
Getting Started Suggestion: If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #5.Use the ideas in this challenge to start or continue your family’s list of birds observed. If you have the ebook, there is a printable notebook page in the back to keep track of your Running List.
This month I will be sharing another of the Western United States’ National Parks. The Channel Islands National Park is one many are not aware of and no little about its beauties.
Channel Islands National Park – link to the official website. There are many things to do if you visit this national park like hiking, camping, kayaking, whale watching, diving, and learning more about the plants and animals that make their home here.
Our family visited in 2008 as part of a trip to the coast of California. We stayed a couple nights in Santa Barbara and then went down to Ventura where we could catch a ferry boat to the Channel Islands. On the mainland in Ventura, California there is a Visitor’s Center that has telescopes where you can look out over to the islands but not much else.
For the rest of the entry…click back to an archived entry to see super images and lots of details.
Outdoor Hour Challenge: This could be the most challenging of all winter nature study topics…winter insects. Don’t give up before reading the challenges and some suggested activities.
You may wish to see one of our winter insect studies: Winter Insects. Special Activity:Insect Study Notebook Page
I am reposting the Insect Notebook Page for you to use with any insect your observe or research as part of this Outdoor Hour Challenge. Insect Study Notebook Page Printable
Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #7.Use the ideas in this challenge to start your own personalized field guide to your backyard and neighborhood. Keep it simple and start with a common insect to your area.
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