There is a time for listening to the quiet sounds of nature, letting it wash over us, clearing our heads. The little voices of thought can be heard without the constant hum of inside life.
Then after we have bathed ourselves in the sounds of the outdoors we somehow bring that back with us and share it with others, having refreshed our own spirits.
I found a few moments this morning in between sprinkles of rain to watch a few birds, take a few photos, and have a quiet time away from the busy morning routine.
Enjoy a few images from my listening time….
Western scrub jays are frequent visitors to our feeders and this week they have been chasing the smaller birds away so they can gobble up all the sunflower seeds.These birds are not even afraid of the squirrels that are competing with them for food. The birds will squawk and the squirrels will chatter and it is quite the scene.
The goldfinches don’t mess with the jays and they hang out in the sweet gum tree, hanging upside down to snatch the seeds from the sticker balls.
Here you can see the goldfinch’s color as he reaches over to his snack.
Our December World still has a fragrance. I stepped out the front door and down the steps and out of habit I reached to touch the lavender next to the stairway. Running my hand along the leaves and then placing my hand up to my face, I smell a summer smell. The leaves this time of year are a silvery-gray-green but they hold a sweet lavender smell that I adore.
Rosemary
My eyes started looking for other things that might have fragrance and I spotted my new rosemary plants up by the birdfeeder. They still have a few purple blossoms on the ends and as I kneel to take a photo or two I spot a bee buzzing near-by! I am surprised.
Violet
Around the corner and back to the back steps I spot my favorite cold weather fragrant flower…the violet. There are just a few starting to bloom but each flower holds a potent gift of violet goodness. Besides….who can resist a purple flower?
Oregano-Still a few leaves to pluck and bring up to the kitchen.
My garden is pretty much sleeping for the winter but tucked into Mr. B’s box are a few herbs and these give a fragrance to winter as well. He has thyme, oregano, and chives all hanging in there despite our cold temperatures.
Peas late in the season
I notice that the peas we tucked in the box a few months ago have woke up and are growing. It will be interesting to see if they continue to grow.
Garden box and my leaf pile.
The rest of the garden is pretty much done and the pile of leaves there in the background will soon be spread over the remaining boxes as a nice winter blanket. The smell of the leaves as they decay is rich and potent, ever promising to protect the few plants that are left for the winter and then to enrich the soil when we till them under in the spring.
So there you have our fragrant December World….perhaps you have some smell that reminds of the coming winter. I encourage you to open your sense of smell this month and see if you can discover some odor to enjoy. Wood smoke? Pine boughs?
Thanks to Palmy from Mens Sana who sent me a link to her fragrance entry….you will need to translate if you don’t speak Italian.
Sight: Look for grasshoppers, katydids, and crickets in your yard. Observe them with a hand lens. Look at a grasshopper jump.
Hearing: Listen for the chirping of a cricket or katydids and see if you can follow the direction.
Inside Preparation Work:
1.Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 338-350 (Lessons 80-82). This a lot of information so you might want to break this challenge up over several weeks so you can read, choose some of the suggestions for observation, spend your time outdoors, and then move onto the next insect.
Most of us have heard crickets in the evenings and children will be very interested to learn more about these insects that play music with their legs for us to enjoy. Here is a link to a YouTube.com video that shows what a cricket looks like when he is singing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E6q9W8Ur2k
2. Read in Discover Nature at Sundown pages 174-188. There are many suggestions for exploring the hopper’s world and you may wish to choose one or two to try with your family. You can collect a grasshopper and keep it for a few hours to observe it up close. Use your hand lens to complete the “Closer Look” activity on page 183.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Try to spend some of your outdoor time in the evening air. Our family likes to sit on our deck and watch as the stars come out after sunset. This is a perfect activity to couple with listening for crickets because it is just about at the same time that you will begin to hear crickets singing their evening songs. You can also spend fifteen minutes looking for grasshoppers or crickets in your yard or a near-by park. This challenge can be split up into two weeks if you want to really study each insect.
Follow-Up Activity:
After your observations and outdoor time, have your child tell you some of the things he remembers about the nature study. After you have your outdoor time, provide an opportunity for working on a nature journal entry. Use the Handbook of Nature Study or a library book to find an illustration or photo of an actual cricket to draw in your journal. Have your child label the entry with a title, the date, and the place that you made your observation. Parents can always help the child with this part if needed.
There are also coloring pages included in the Summer Series ebook for the cricket, the grasshopper, and the katydid.
If you would like all the Summer Series Challenges in one place, I have an ebook gathered for you to purchase for your convenience. Here is a link to a complete description: Summer Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges
Summer Series #9
Evening Primrose or Other Night Blooming Plant
Train Your Senses
Sight: Observe an evening primrose opening. Look for night flying insects on the primrose. Observe the difference between the leaves at the base and those at the top of the plant. Look for other night blooming plants.
Smell: In the evening, see if you can smell the sweet fragrance of a blooming evening primrose.
Taste: See this LINK for more information. See #6 of Lesson 127 in the Handbook of Nature Study (tasting the nectar).
Inside Preparation Work:
“Then some warm evening, usually about sunset, but varying from four o’clock in the afternoon to nine or ten in the evening, the petals begin to unfurl…..Three or four of these flowers may open on a plant the same evening and they, with their fellows on the neighboring plants, form constellations of starry bloom that invite attention, and night flying insects are often seen on them.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 488
Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 488-491 (Lesson 127). There are garden species of this plant available and many areas of the United States have the evening primrose as a wildflower. Other night blooming plants include 4 o’clocks, Moonflowers, and Night Blooming Cereus. Here is a link that has a list of night blooming flowers.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Spend fifteen minutes outdoors in the evening to observe an evening primrose. If you do not have an evening primrose, try to see if you can find any other night blooming flowers in your area. Use the suggestions from the Handbook of Nature Study to closely examine the parts of this flower, perhaps watching long enough to see the petals unfold. The Handbook of Nature Study also recommends observing a flower blossom indoors so you many wish to collect a specimen to have on hand for your follow-up activity.
Follow-Up Activities:
Make sure to discuss the reason for night blooming flowers during your follow-up activity. Have the child guess what sort of tongue the insect would need in order to gather nectar from the evening primrose. Make time for a nature journal entry using the notebook page from the Summer Series ebook or in your own blank nature journal.
Suggested Nature Journal Activities:
Wildflowers are wonderful subjects for a watercolor drawing. Try using watercolor colored pencils to sketch an evening primrose or any wildflower into your nature journal.
Using the notebook page and/or the coloring page included in the Summer Series ebook, record any observations your child has from their outdoor time.
Press a blossom for your nature journal. Simple instructions can be found HERE.
If you would like all the Summer Series Challenges in one place, I have an ebook gathered for you to purchase for your convenience. Here is a link to a complete description: Summer Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges
Outdoor Hour Challenge
Summer Series #8 Moths and Fireflies
Train Your Senses
Sight: In the evenings, look for moths around outdoor lights. Look for the feathery antennae, the wings, and the eyes of the moth. Look for fireflies if they live in your area, noting their flight patterns and their light flashes.
Touch: If you have the opportunity, carefully feel the wings of a moth.
Inside Preparation Work:
1. Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 367 to 369 (Lesson 90) for fireflies and pages 310 to 329 (Lessons 72-76) for information about moths.
2. Read in Discover Nature at Sundown pages 93 to 114 for lots of wonderful information and suggestions for activities to study your local moths. Also, read pages 116 to 127 to learn more about fireflies and suggestions for their study.
“After the outdoor observations have been made, collect some of these beetles in the evening with a sweep net; place them under a glass jar or tumbler, so that their light can be studied at close range.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 368
If you live in an area that has fireflies, plan on taking your fifteen minutes of outdoor time this week in the evening hours.
Some suggestions for studying fireflies:
Where do the fireflies gather? Field, meadow, stream, woods, over lawns?
Are they up high near the treetops or low to the ground?
Describe their flight pattern. Is it straight and fast, slow and curving?
Is there a pattern to the light flashing? What color are the flashes?
2. Looking for moths to observe will mean another evening time study. Turn on a light outside or use a flashlight or lantern. Most moths are attracted to light so you should have some success if you are patient. Make sure to look on walls and plants near the light for moths. Moths are also night flower pollinators so look in your garden as well.
Here is a website for further tips: How to Start Mothing.
You can collect a few moths in a jar and look at them with a hand lens before releasing them.
Follow-Up Activity:
The Handbook of Nature Study suggests making watercolor drawings of moths. If you have a real life specimen it will be a great way to encourage close observation. You can also use reference photos for moths you observed in your Outdoor Hour Time (do a quick Google image search). If you have a real-life specimen of a firefly, use the suggestions in the Handbook of Nature Study to examine your firefly and then sketch it in your nature journal. You can use the notebook pages and coloring pages provided in the ebook for the moth and the firefly or your own blank journal.
If you would like all the Summer Series Challenges in one place, I have an ebook gathered for you to purchase for your convenience. Here is a link to a complete description: Summer Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges
Sight: Observe the cattail’s habitat. Look for birds, insects, and animals living or resting in or on the cattails. Look for nests. See if you can find the cattail flowers.
Smell: Sit or squat near your cattails and close your eyes. Breathe deeply and see if you smell anything.
Touch: Feel the leaves, edges, and spikes of the cattails.
Hearing: Take a minute to listen as you stand or sit near your cattails. Can you hear any birds or insects? Water running?
Inside Preparation Work:
Read pages 500-502 in the Handbook of Nature Study if you have not done so before (starting on page 551 if you have the free download version) . It might also be beneficial to read it again this season and highlight the parts that contain information about the leaves of the cattail plant.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Enjoy your outdoor time this week at your cattail spot. If you have been participating in the year-long cattail study since last autumn, you will know just where to look for cattails. Use the suggestions from the Handbook of Nature Study to talk a little about the habitat where your cattails are growing.
Is your cattail still growing in water or has it dried up?
What does the “cattail” parts of the plant look like now?
What color and shape are the leaves?
Do you see the cattails seeds or balloons?
Can you pull some of the fuzz from the cattail and observe it more closely?
How do you think the seeds spread, by wind or water?
How crowded are the cattails growing together?
Please note: If you do not have any cattails to observe in your area, you may wish to choose another local plant to observe in each season throughout the next year.
Follow-Up Activity:
Make sure to allow some time after your outdoor hour to discuss any subjects that your child finds interesting. Encourage the completion of a nature journal entry recording your observation of your cattails. You can use the notebook page and coloring page created for the Summer Series ebook, the notebook page from Autumn, a blank page, or any other general notebook page listed on the sidebar of my blog. You may wish to pull out your other cattail entries and compare the year-long changes in your cattails.
If you would like all the Summer Series Challenges in one place, I have an ebook gathered for you to purchase for your convenience. Here is a link to a complete description: Summer Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges
“The frog is a powerful jumper and has a slippery body. Its eggs are laid in masses of jelly at the bottom of ponds. The frog may be studied in its native situation by the pupils or it may be brought to the school and placed in an aquarium…” Handbook of Nature Study, page 183
Outdoor Hour Challenge
Summer Series #6 Frogs
Train Your Senses
Sight: Observe the development of a tadpole to a frog. Visit a pond or lake and sit quietly while watching for frogs. Look for eggs clusters or strands in the vegetation along the shallow edges of ponds or lakes.
Touch: Hold a frog and use your sense of touch to examine the frog. Is the frog easy to hold? Remember to wash your hands afterward.
Hearing: In the evening, listen for sounds of frogs and toads. Can you distinguish different calls?
Inside Preparation Work:
1. Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 180 to 186 (The Frog, Lesson 47). You can listen to frog calls HERE and HERE.
2. Read in Discover Nature at Sundown pages 68 to 92. This thorough section explains the complete frog life cycle, gives suggestions for finding frog habitats, frog calls to listen for, and suggestions for a tadpole study.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Spend 15 minutes looking for frog eggs, tadpoles, or frogs at a local pond or lake. Use the suggestions from the box above to use your senses in your exploration. If you are able, collect a few tadpoles to put into an aquarium for a period of time to watch the development of the tadpoles into frogs. See this website for more information: How to Raise Tadpoles.
Suggested observation activities:
Describe the colors and markings on the frog.
Describe the eyes and mouth of the frog.
Compare its “hands and feet”.
What sound does the frog make?
Is the frog a good swimmer?
Measure how far your frog can jump.
If you do not have access to tadpoles or frogs, take your fifteen minutes outdoors at sundown and see what you can find that interests your child. Continue your previous challenge activities or follow the lead of your child and see what adventures you can have in the twilight. (Suggestion: Don’t turn on a light and don’t take a flashlight.)
Follow-Up Activity:
If your child is interested, record sketches of the stages of a frog’s development. If you have the Summer Series ebook, you can use the notebook pages and coloring page included to record your frog studies. You can use a blank sketchbook page to record your frog studies. Draw you tadpole’s growth over time. Sketch frogs seen as the summer progresses.
If you would like all the Summer Series Challenges in one place, I have an ebook gathered for you to purchase for your convenience. Here is a link to a complete description: Summer Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges
Our family has been spending just about every evening outdoors enjoying the sunset and evening air. Our neighbor had a tree fall last winter and then he cut another one down that was precarious. We now have a beautiful view of the western sky and many a beautiful sunset.
Our list of summer smells is growing and the most predominant evening smell of note is the smell of skunks. The second fragrance that we detect in the evenings is the smell of star jasmine along the fence. This year the flowers are abundant and after a long hot summer day, the sweet spicy smell of the jasmine is intoxicating. The boys always say they smell woodsmoke and grass when I ask. If you asked us during the daylight hours, the most frequent smell in the air is hot oak leaves. There is something about that particular fragrance that is calming to me and it always signals to me that it is summer. This is a wonderful exercise for older children since they can usually detect and identify many smells that we adults perhaps don’t notice anymore. 🙂
Our mosquito study has been limited this year. We did try to find some wigglers to observe but so far we have not been successful. We have collected some water but with no results. This will continue to be something we look for the opportunity to do all summer. We did have some direct observations of mosquitoes though and the most fascinating thing to me is the way mosquitoes seem to choose certain people out of the group to target. I have one son that attracts them like a magnet. I can be sitting right next to him and they will buzz around me but not land on me. They will bite him multiple times and he is then miserable with itching hot bites.
We looked up the information on mosquitoes and learned a little bit more about how the mosquito fits into our local web of life. We have bats in our yard in the evenings and now we realize that the mosquitoes are actually part of their food web. I think our Creator has made such a wonderful world that is in balance and is just right if man does not interfere.
This is from one evening on our camping trip to Oregon…look at that moon.
The section on in Discover Nature at Sundown was also interesting and we learned more about categories of smells. We know have some new vocabulary to use when we describe a smell. Our summer has been full of informal nature study so far in addition to the official Outdoor Hour Challenges and it warms my heart when the boys bring something up and we can research it to learn more.
Well, our summer is off to a great start and with the focus on using our senses we are observing far more than we usually do even on a casual basis. The evenings here have been perfect for nature study and last night we were out and about just at sundown. We saw a fox! He was a big guy with a beautiful tail, more than likely a Gray fox. He stopped for just the briefest of moments and looked right at us before he darted off into the brush. Amazing sight!
Summer Series #2
Seasonal Tree: Summer Tree Observations
“The leaf is a factory; the green pulp in the leaf cells is part of the machinery; the machinery is set in motion by sunshine power; the raw materials are taken from the air and from the sap containing food from the soil; the finished product is largely starch. Thus, it is well when we begin a study of the tree to notice that the leaves are so arranged as to gain all the sunlight possible, for without sunlight the starch factories would be obliged to ‘shut down’ “.
Anna Botsford-Comstock, Handbook of Nature Study
Train Your Senses
Sight: Look closely at the bark and leaves. Stand or lay under your tree and look up. Use a magnifying lens to look at the bark and leaves. Look for birds, animals, or insects in your tree. Look for all the parts of your tree: trunk, crown, branches, and spray.
Smell: Smell the bark. Rub a leaf and see what it smells like.
Touch: Close your eyes and feel the bark. Feel the leaf or needle from your tree and describe its texture.
Hearing: Quietly sit under your tree for one minute. Can you hear the leaves or branches moving? Can you hear a bird in the tree or insects buzzing near the tree?
Taste: If your tree has fruit, you can choose to taste the fruit.
Inside Preparation Work:
Read pages 618-620 in the Handbook of Nature Study: The Parts of a Tree. For your summer tree study, make sure you read the information on these pages so you have in mind the parts of a tree: trunk or bole, head or crown, spray, and branch. Also, make sure you have a general idea of how a tree makes its own food by reading in the section, How a Tree Grows, on pages 620-622. Your job will be to relate any of this information that you think might be of interest to your child as you study your tree.
Note: If you have the free PDF version of the HNS, you will need to look in the Trees and Plant Life ebook, pages 240-243. If you have the free download of the entire HNS, you will need to look on pages 726-729.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Your tree should have its leaves now and we are going to spend 10-15 minutes of your outdoor time using the ideas from the Handbook of Nature Study to do some focused observations of your tree. Remember you may want to start using the proper vocabulary for the parts of a tree when you are completing your tree observations.
Follow-Up Activity:
After your outdoor time, complete a nature journal entry using the notebook page provided for the Summer Series, the original notebook page, or your own blank journal. Photos of your tree are a good record in your nature journal as well. This might be a good season to press a few of the tree’s leaves for your nature journal.
Here is my simple press idea: How to Make a Flower Press.
If you would like all the Summer Series Challenges in one place, I have an ebook gathered for you to purchase for your convenience. Here is a link to a complete description: Summer Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges
Outdoor Hour Challenges Summer Series #1 Mosquitoes and World of Smell
Train Your Senses
Sight: Begin to learn how long it takes for your eyes to adjust as the evening gets darker. Use your sense of sight to observe mosquitoes or mosquito larvae. Can you observe any birds or bats eating mosquitoes?
Smell: Sit quietly in your yard, perhaps at different times of day, observing any smells of summer that you can recognize. Can you smell more at night when your other senses are not as useful? Can you smell more on a damp night or a dry night? Does a certain smell bring back a memory?
Hearing: Can you hear any mosquitoes or other insects buzzing?
Inside Preparation Work:
1. Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 411-415 on mosquitoes. Pay special attention to page 414 where there is a list of places that mosquito larvae can be found. Read through Lesson 105 to equip yourself for your mosquito study.
2. Read in Discover Nature at Sundown pages 14-26. This section will give you some general information about how humans and other living creatures use their sense of smell. We will study several of these living things as part of this series of challenge: moths, evening primroses, mosquitoes, frogs, and bats.
Outdoor Hour Time:
1. This week spend your 15 minutes outdoors at sundown. As you start your Summer Series of Challenges, try to establish a routine of going outdoors in the evening to spend some time observing your backyard or neighborhood as the light fades. Use the suggests above to use your senses during your outdoor time. After reading in Discover Nature At Sundown, you will have some ideas for night-blooming flowers to look for and to smell. Also the book suggests observing sounds on a damp night and a dry night and comparing your results.
2. Also, as part of this challenge, you can try to collect some live mosquito larvae. Here are some instructions:
Look in a pond, along a stream, in a rain barrel or any where else you can find some standing water.
Collect a jar full of water to bring home to observe. Scoop the water rapidly and hopefully you will get some larvae or pupae.
The Handbook of Nature Study suggests putting the jar on your desk to observe the “wigglers”. Use the suggestions from Lesson 105 to study your mosquitoes. Here is a link to a webpage that has more information about mosquitoes: How Stuff Works: Mosquitoes
Follow-Up Activity:
1. There is a notebook activity included with this challenge is to keep track of all the smells of summer that you find over the next few weeks. As a new smell comes to your attention, make sure to write it down in your journal. There is set of free mosquito notebook pages available over on NotebookingFairy.com.
2. If you were successful in collecting and then observing mosquito larvae, record your thoughts in your nature journal or on the notebook page provided in the Summer Series ebook. If you did not find any mosquito larvae, you can record the things you learned about mosquitoes instead.
If you would like all the Summer Series Challenges in one place, I have an ebook gathered for you to purchase for your convenience. Here is a link to a complete description: Summer Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges
