Colors in Nature Archives

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Barb — 1 Comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Family Mushroom/Lichen/Moss Grid Study

Fungus, lichen, and moss have been at the top of our nature study list for a few weeks now in anticipation of this month’s grid study….that is one advantage to being the author of the challenges. 🙂

I feel like we have done a decent job so far at keeping our eyes open and finding some subjects for our fungus, lichen, and moss studies. I highly recommend pulling out your March Newsletter and printing out the Study Grid….keep it in sight so you will remember to spend a few minutes each week looking for subjects to enjoy.

Words that come to mind as part of this grid study are amazing, colorful, and surprising.

Amazing – How do I miss really seeing all these lovely things? The more time we spend looking at them up close, the more amazed we are at their variety and heartiness.

Colorful – From deep greens and bright spring greens to orange and then all the way to black….there is no end to the variations.

Surprising – We found subjects at the river’s edge, alongside our walking trail, up in the mountains in the snow, and in our own yard.

Here is my number one moss, lichen, and fungus hunting buddy….after her swim in the river. Kona is always ready to accompany us on our expeditions…especially if there is water involved. She is also amazing, colorful, and surprising…

Hopefully you are finding some things of interest for your own Mushroom/Lichen/Moss study….make sure to share your entries with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival.

You are welcome to submit any of you blog Outdoor Hour Challenge blog entries to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. Entries for the current month are due on 3/30/13..

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Barb — 4 Comments

Spring Green Photo Hunt – Nature Study with Colors

Today’s Photo Scavenger Hunt theme from Go Explore Nature: Green!

We are still noticing all the greens of our garden so this was the perfect assignment for us to do this month. You can see more about spring greens in our nature journal: Spring Green Nature Journal Ideas.

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Barb — 5 Comments

Perfect Winter Hike – Looking for Color

Just another day of perfect December hiking and taking in the challenge to find some color. Our winter nature study is shaping up to look more like fall….warm temperatures and dry, dry, dry. We looked at each other after lunch today and everyone was in agreement. We needed to be outside.

I quickly filled the backpack with water, snacks, and camera then we were out the door. The parking lot at the trailhead was about half full of vehicles and most of those were trucks with horse trailers, a few with bike racks. We opted to hike since the Kona dog wanted to take a swim at the river. It was that warm.

The trail starts off on a downward slope and if you look in the distance you can see our landmark “lollipop” tree (farthest hill with a single tree). We aim for that tree and know that the river is somewhere over there. It is an easy hike with several trail options. We took the Long Valley Trail down to the river and the South Fork Trail back up.

Along one section of the trail we observed lots and lots of goldfinches having a seed feast. Amazing yellow color in real life…our first real color of the hike. We also stopped to observe another little bird who sat on the cattails in the ditch. It was a new bird and we took the time to really look with the binoculars, noting shape, size, color, eye-stripe, beak shape, tail shape, and song. (We identified back at home as a Bewick’s Wren=new to our life list!)

The river was running high and we had the place to ourselves, except for some barn swallows swooping overhead and a couple of fellow travelers on horses. This is a gorgeous section of the river all lined with oaks in the winter sunshine.

Kona took a swim right off the bat and I decided to rest on the rock overlooking the river. She splashed and retrieved sticks for the next half hour. One man in a canoe and one woman in a kayak went past. I was happy to be dry up on my rock but I waved a friendly wave as they floated past.

I soaked in the sun, watching the water rush by, and contemplated the beauty.

I was grateful. My heart felt refreshed or maybe just cleansed of the everyday.

The view from my rock spot was enjoyable and it is easy to get lost in your thoughts as the water rushes by you. So much power and so much potential…wondering where the water will end up at the end of its river journey. I even thought for a few minutes about the rocks just under the surface of the water, the rocks the kayaker succeeded in navigating around on her trip down the river. We all need to know where the rocks are.

Here is my favorite image of the day showing the winter color of my world. The shore of the river is always changing but these multi-colored rocks keep the river from eroding the banks away except in the highest storm waters. What are your favorite colors found in the rocks? The green? The pinkish orange? The speckled? The white? I put one in my pocket and now it is sitting on my shelf as a reminder of my winter color walk afternoon to the river.

We had to drag Kona away from her beloved stick fetching and started back up the hill towards home. Along the way we watched two birds in flight over the rolling hills…stopping to hover over some prey. We used the binoculars but were unable to really identify this second new bird of the day. We noted behavior, wing shape, size, color. At home we identified this new bird as the White Tailed Kite. How exciting is that?

It was a very good day.

My December nature journal entry in progress…notes and things I want to remember about this month….to be continued as the month rolls along.

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Barb — 3 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Winter World Colors

Join us this week for a simple December Color Walk.

Here are some ideas:

Outdoor Time:

Pick a color to focus on during your outdoor time. Look for things both natural and manmade that are that color. (The Hodgepodge Family recently took a red and green walk.)
Give your child the camera and let them snap photos of the different colors they see during their outdoor time.
Try to find a color rainbow.
Use some natural items and gather some color. Take a photo.

Follow up with some journal time:

Record your color items with little sketches all over your journal page (or you can use the notebook page from the December Newsletter.)
Print a photo and add it to your journal. Make sure to give it a date and a caption.
Color a winter rainbow.

Make sure to share your December blog entries with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival.

Scheduled Publish Date: 12/28/11

More ideas on my Winter Wednesday Squidoo lens.

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Barb — 1 Comment

More Nature Study With The Outdoor Hour Challenge – Autumn 2011 Ebook

Nature Study Using the Handbook of Nature Study- Autumn 2011 Series

Completely updated in 2016!

The ten challenges included in this new ebook are written in the format of the Outdoor Hour Challenges that can be found on the blog. Each weekly challenge can be completed as you have the opportunity and you can complete as much or as little of each challenge as you have time and interest.

Each challenge has three parts: inside preparation work, outdoor time, and then a follow-up activity. Each challenge is written so you can adapt it to your own backyard or local area. Use the challenge ideas to get started with simple weekly nature study using the Handbook of Nature Study.

This ebook is written for families with children of all ages. In addition to the regular challenge, new to this ebook is the addition of suggested nature study activities and follow-up for more advanced students. I included “advanced follow-up” ideas and created “upper level” notebook pages to give each challenge a deeper study if you have children who are ready for additional learning opportunities.

Also, a new feature for Charlotte Mason style homeschoolers is the addition of suggested Charlotte Mason style exam questions to be used at the end of the term. The questions are meant to help your child recall and then share in some way his nature study experience. Since this is the first time I have included exam questions, I would love to hear your feedback after using them with your children. I am planning on using them with my high school age son.

Included in the More Nature Study With The Outdoor Hour Challenge – Autumn 2011/2016 Ebook:

Ten challenges centered on the Handbook of Nature Study
Eleven notebook pages and eight coloring pages
Thirteen Upper Level notebook pages
Ten Charlotte Mason style exam questions
Complete instructions for each challenge included additional links and resources
Nature journal suggestions
Complete list of supplies needed
Coordinates with the monthly Outdoor Hour Challenge Newsletter ideas
52 pages
Sample here: More Nature Study Autumn

Here are the topics covered in this autumn ebook along with alternate ideas for you to include if they are more appropriate to your area.

Milkweed – any other autumn wildflower or weed
Leaf Miners – examine leaves with a hand lens
Pears – year long tree study
Cobwebs of all kinds
Fall Color – leaf gathering
Chipmunk – squirrel
House sparrow – any other bird
Leaf Close Up
Thistles – any other fall composite flower
Maple seeds – any tree that has seeds of any type

As always, please email me with any questions or comments. harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com

Save

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Barb — 4 Comments

Sunflower Garden – July Newsletter Grid Study

Our Sunflower Garden July 17, 2011

Sunflowers are the theme of our garden this year….as anticipated. We planted our seeds on May 10th and they started blooming on July 16th. That is a long time to wait but so worth the time and effort! Now with the July Newsletter focus on sunflowers using the Nature Study Grid and notebooking page, we are slowing down to do some careful observations. This is also made easy by the fact that we are participating in the Great Sunflower Project and counting bees.

Here are the first of our blooms.

Sunflower with lots of pollen!

This is actually not one of the seeds that we planted but it popped up under the birdfeeder. They are a perfect complement to our little backyard feeder garden.

From Renee’s Garden Seeds – Royal Flush. I love the watercolor like colors in this bloom.

Here is another one from Renee’s Garden – Chocolate Cherry. Amazing color in the garden!

I think this is the third seed from Renee’s Garden – Van Gogh.

We found this spider crawling on a big sunflower last week…..he sure blends in.

Here is another image from the volunteer sunflowers around the birdfeeder. If you look carefully, you can see that these are actually two different kinds of sunflowers.

Another bee favorite in our yard is the coneflower. They are rather tall this year and always full of buzzing bees. Coneflowers are on the list of bee attractive plants that you can use as part of the Great Sunflower Project this summer.

How about that bee? He is in our bee balm and loving it. I decided this is a plant that I need to add to more of my flower garden next year.

We have been busy learning some new things and making lots of detailed observations using all of our sunflowers. How about your family? Have you done your July Newsletter sunflower study? I look forward to seeing your entries in the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival.

Jami’s Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Barb — 3 Comments

Day Lilies – Abundance of Beauty

We have collected quite a few different varieties of day lilies over the year and right now they are blooming like crazy. Thanks to a day lily farm not too far from our house we have access to so many different colors, shapes, and sizes of lilies to choose from. We try to add one new variety each year and keeping track of the names has been a big job.

I thought perhaps taking a photo and keeping a record of the names would be a better way than relying on my memory. I have lost my paper with my whole list so I have only given the names for the flowers I am sure of in this post.

Dark Pink and Orange

Light Pink and slightly fragrant = American Original

Yellow and shaped like a spider = Shenandoah

Maroon and yellow = Rain Dance

Yellow and Purple

Red and yellow shaped like a spider = Stoplight

I guess I have become sort of a “collector” of flowers. I love walking around my garden each week and seeing which flowers are blooming. Some of the day lilies will bloom later in the summer, some even into autumn. We tried to pick particular varieties so we would continually have blooms to enjoy.

I love this plant and it is super easy to grow. They multiple fairly fast and you can divide the plants and fill in spaces as you like. My dad and I have started sharing day lilies and that is a great way to build up your beds.

This is also a perfect flower to learn your plant parts. Check out Garden Flowers-Flower Parts: Challenge #13 and Garden Flowers-Pollen: Challenge #18.

“All the names should be taught gradually by constant unemphasized use on the part of the teacher; and if the child does not learn the names naturally then do not make him do it unnaturally.”Handbook of Nature Study, page 456

Enjoy your garden this week!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Barb — 9 Comments

2011 Winter Series Outdoor Hour Challenge #1 Cattails and Winter Wednesday #1 World of Color

Cattails from Our Snowshoe Hike January 6, 2011

I have been trying my best to figure out how to link us all up with our winter nature study. I think every Friday I will just list the corresponding Winter Series Challenge and the Winter Wednesday Challenge all in one post.

Here are the links to this week’s challenges:
Winter Series Challenge #1 – Winter Cattail Study

Winter Wednesday #1 – Winter World of Color

Please feel free to complete one or both of the challenges as you have the opportunity. We would all enjoy seeing your entries and even if it is at a later date, please come back to this entry and add your link.

As you can see from the photo above, we were able to go out for a winter snowshoe hike and we found some cattails to observe. I will be posting our Winter Cattail entry and our Winter Colors entry over the weekend. It was *wonderful* to get back outdoors with some purpose. I really am looking forward to spending the next few months sharing our adventures and reading about yours.

I am sending out a really big thank you to all of you who have commented and sent sweet notes about your nature study and how much you are looking forward to finding some interesting things to learn about this winter. It means a lot to me to know I am helping other families.

Have a great week!

Posted on October 17, 2010 by Barb — 11 Comments

An Autumn Tree Observation Extraordinaire

We decided that our autumn study of leaves was going to be incorporated into our annual fall trip to see the colors of the aspens up in the high country of the Sierra Nevada. The trip is about 100 miles round trip from our front door but it goes through magnificent forests, by snow fed lakes, and in view of some of the most breathtaking mountains in existence.

The first leg of the trip goes through the pine forests and we thought our day had come to an end before it really started when we encountered a control burn of the forest floor by the US Forest Service. They clean out the underbrush by setting fires and then controlling the burns. It makes a lot of smoke but we were able to drive down the highway and past the fires onto our destination.

The second part of the forest is actually in Alpine County and the forests are mixed in with aspen groves to make wonderful color in the fall. You know the minute you hit this part of the habitat because you start to see the yellows, oranges, and golds of the leaves.

We have a favorite side road that has the prettiest meadow. Yes, that is my son out there taking just as many photos as I am on this day….it is awesome to share a hobby with your grown up kids.

Here you can see the shape of the aspen leaf and the trunk of the tree in all its beauty. I never tire of looking at aspens.

It was fairly cloudy this afternoon but for a few minutes the clouds parted and we had a chance to capture the blue sky in contrast to the bright yellow leaves.

We drove the next leg of the road which leads through a place called Hope Valley. This is “the” place to see fall color in our area. There were many of us lined up on the side of the road to capture the oranges and yellows and golds of the trees on the mountain. Isn’t it dreamy?

Then as we headed back around to Christmas Valley, we saw this scene. There were some people on horses rounding up a herd of cattle. Stop the car! Yes, we had to take a few photos of this and it was the perfect way to end up this part of drive.

We observed some of the leaves “quaking”. We learned from our field guide that the reason they shake that way is because the stem is flattened near the leaf and so when the wind blows they shake or quake. It sounds sort of like the ocean to me when you hear them quaking and is a nice sound. Here is a link to try: USDA Quaking Aspens.

There was more to this trip but I will save that for another post. We actually went to see the salmon spawning and there were quite a few ducks to observe as well. Stay tuned for a salmon post when that challenge comes up in a few weeks.

I also am going to post a separate entry for our leaf comparisons since this post became rather long. Stay tuned for part two. We also have picked a new tree in our backyard to observe for a year-long tree study and I will share our fall observations with the leaf post.

Today we will be working on the apple challenge but the horse challenge is still in the works.

Posted on September 21, 2010 by Barb — 13 Comments

OHC Autumn Series #1: September 21, 2010 Afternoon

OHC Autumn Series #1: Nature Journals

We took advantage of a perfect sunny warm afternoon to spend some time enjoying our backyard. I decided to focus on the colors of yellow and orange for my nature study time. I used my camera to record the many shades of yellow and orange that are visible in our garden. These colors are really starting to pop and it was an easy assignment.

Mr. A wandered around the yard with his dog Kona, trying to find something to be interested in. He observed some sort of beetle on the concrete before it escaped under the pincushion plant. He found a spot in the yard where we think the squirrels are making a stash of walnuts…it is either the squirrels or the Scrub jays. We looked at the leaves on the sweet gum trees. He picked some strawberries and I picked some tomatoes.

It was just a nice few minutes outdoors…since this is his last official year of homeschooling I try to savor all the moments we spend together. I asked if he would like to sketch something for his journal and he sort of gave me one of those unenthusiastic teenage looks but then I noticed he had his journal and was outside for a little while longer.

Sitting on the lawn he sketched a trumpet vine blossom for his journal. The words of the Handbook of Nature Study echoed in my head and I didn’t push him to make it fancy or add to the entry in any way. The nature journal is his record and not mine.

I have received quite a few emails asking me what kind of journal I prefer to work in to record our entries. I have used several different kinds but my favorite is a small spiral-bound book with sketch paper.

I have to admit that I do use it for watercolors so the pages bend up a little when they dry. I think it adds to the charm of the finished product. If a painting makes the page curl up too much, I just don’t sketch on the back of it and leave it blank. (Yes, that is a feather sticking out of the side of the journal…what can I say?)

Here is a link to what we are using now:
S trathmore Sketch 400 Series 5.5″ x 8.5″, 100
sheets

I also have a three ring binder that I add to when I use notebooking pages or I want to save large items like bigger pressed flowers. The binder is my catch-all for things that don’t get recorded in my sketch journal.

Maybe tomorrow I can ask Mr. B to go outside with me and we can have another adventure in our backyard.

Tag: Colors in Nature