Tag: Buttercups

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Outdoor Hour Challenge – Poppy and Buttercup Wildflower Study

Poppies and Buttercups @handbookofnaturestudyOutdoor Hour Challenge

Poppy and Buttercup Wildflower Study

From the Archives and in the More Nature Study – Spring ebook

We are going to go on a search for poppies and buttercups this week! In my world, this is prime time for both of these wildflowers. In fact, I have some blooming right in my front yard!

Join me using the ideas from the archive post linked above or you can download the More Nature Study –Spring ebook if you are an Ultimate Naturalist Library member.

You may with to create a poppy nature journal entry using the idea I shared in this post from the past: Nature Journal Tutorial.

Outdoor Hour Challenge Wildflower Set 1 Ebook

How do you get the new Wildflower Nature Study ebook?

Members of the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey levels have access to the new ebook in their library. You need to click the “Members Area” button at the top of the website, sign into your account, and the ebook is there to download and save for your family to use when desired. If you don’t have a membership yet, I am offering a $5 off discount code that will be good towards your Ultimate Naturalist membership.

Discount Code: Wildflower5

 

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California Spring Wildflowers – First Wave is Here

Spring wildflowers cheer my very soul. They seem to sing out to all of us that warmer days are coming and we don’t need to stay so much indoors anymore. We took a walk near the river yesterday and found so many pretty little flowers to enjoy. Above there are Baby Blue Eyes and Fivespot…there were whole patches of them on a sunny little hillside.

Round every corner there were more blue flowers….how many blue flowers do you know?

Okay, I have to admit that this is by far the best image I have ever taken of this particular flower….and it was with my iPhone! I love that you can even see a little ant enjoying the golden yellow color in the sunshine. These meadow buttercups are everywhere right now and they make the day seem brighter.

Here is going to be my first shrub for my Nature Study Goals for 2013. I will do my research and identify the shrub and add it to my nature journal…watch the blog for more information on this one.

This is our local Miner’s Lettuce in bloom – Claytonia perfoliata. Read more about it here: Claytonia perfoliata.

Nothing so pretty as Sierra Nevada Pea…..just now starting to shoot up and twine itself among the other wildflowers and weeds. Love this pink one the best!

So hopefully my wildflowers have cheered you up if you are having cold weather….and inspired you to go look for your own wildflowers if you have the opportunity.

Have you seen any wildflowers in your area yet?

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OHC More Nature Study Book 3 – Spring Wildflowers: Poppies and Buttercups

Spring Wildflower Study Button
More Nature Study Book 3
Spring Wildflowers – Poppies and Buttercups


Inside Preparation Work:

  • Read the Handbook of Nature Study pages 516-518 (Lesson 136) on the buttercup. Also, read pages 560-565 in the Handbook about the poppy and the California poppy (Lessons 154 and 155). Use the information to identify and then observe these flowers when you get the opportunity. If you don’t have these flowers in your area, use this challenge to find and view closely any flower in your spring world.
  • View this page for some amazing images of buttercups: Close-Up View of 3 Buttercups. Ebook users: View poppy images on page 29.
  • Use this challenge to introduce the parts of a flower with the proper names. You can find information online HERE. There is a diagram in the Handbook of Nature Study on page 456. You can also refer to Garden Challenge #2. I encourage you to start using the flower part names as you observe flowers.

Outdoor Hour Time:

  • This week you can spend some of your outdoor time looking for spring flowers or flowering weeds. Part of this challenge is to start using the correct flower part names and that can be done with any flower you find.
  • Collect one or two flowers to bring inside to draw in your nature journal.
  • Advanced students: Complete your nature journal in the field. List as many of the flowers you observed as you can (Free printable list notebook page HERE). Use your field guide to identify any flowers you don’t know. Pick one to research later in the week.

Follow-Up Activity:

  • Sketch or watercolor the flower you collected during your outdoor time. Make sure to add a date, flower name, and the location you collected the flower to your entry.
  • Press your flower. You can refer to the Garden Flowers Challenge #3 for more information (which includes my YouTube video with instructions for a making a press: How to Make a Flower Press.
  • Advanced students: If you did not do so in the field, complete a nature journal entry for your flower, complete with flower parts labeled. Use a field guide or the internet to learn more about your flower.
  • Advanced students: Research more information on one of the flowers you observed during your outdoor time.

Additional Links:
Slideshow for poppies (child friendly)

You can see our Spring Wildflower Study by clicking over to my follow-up blog entry:
Spring Wildflowers – CA Poppy Nature Study (and an additional wildflower too).

More Nature Study Book 3 Button

Ultimate Ebook Library @handbookofnaturestudy

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Buttercups: Wednesday Flower Study

The Common or Field Buttercup-Handbook of Nature Study, pages 516-518

“The buttercups, bright-eyed and bold,
Held up their chalices of gold
To catch the sunshine and the dew.”

“Common buttercups and daisies are always associated in the minds of the children, because they grow in the same fields’ yet the two are so widely different in structure that they may reveal to the child something of the marvelous differences between common flowers; the buttercup is a single flower, while the single daisy is a large group of tiny flowers.”

This sounds like a great way to learn about some common flowers in the garden.

We have a spot that we hike to that has a whole hillside of buttercups.

We didn’t complete an in depth study this week but we did complete our observations and then a journal entry. I know you all must think that we spend oodles of time each week in nature study but in all honesty, some weeks we just *enjoy* getting outdoors without much preparation or follow-up.

I would rather we aim for making our outdoor time as regular as possible, have some focus to start off with, and leave things open and flexible if something happens to catch our attention.

Here is something we found on the trail that caught our eye this week. Butterflies!

I know this one is dead but it did give us an excellent opportunity to examine this creature up close.

The blue is iridescent in this swallowtail…so pretty.

This painted lady let me come very close and get a good photo. She was very busy sipping nectar from the wildflowers in this sunny spot alongside the trail.

We were watching these swallowtails for a very long time. I love to watch them flutter around in the sunshine as they gather their meal. Click to see this one better. 🙂

Our garden is coming alive with colors. I am not sure what we will study for next week yet.

Now is your chance to go outside and pick a flower to study from your yard. It does not have to be a buttercup but something that you can observe from your neighborhood. Pick your flower and then look it up in the Handbook of Nature Study.

https://naturestudyhomeschool.com/2009/02/announcing-outdoor-hour-challenge-ebook.html