Weather Part 2: Storms

Nature turned out to be highly supportive of our weather studies today, and obligingly gave us rain for our "storm" day! We talked about the three main components of storms: temperature, air, and water. Naturally, there was a Magic School Bus episode that highlighted this quite perfectly. Ms. Frizzle really is a wonderful scientific resource. There are many interesting (and terrifying) kinds of storms to learn about: tornados, hurricanes, sandstorms, blizzards...the list goes on. Of course, there's always just a good thunderstorm, too. We talked about not only their destructive powers, but how they are beneficial to ecosystems. 

Books

• National Geographic Kids Readers: Storms by Miriam Busch Goin
• Clifford y la Tormenta por Norman Bridwell
• The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane by Joanna Cole
• A Letter to Amy by Ezra Jack Keats
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett

Video: The Magic School Bus Kicks Up a Storm (on Netflix)

 Activities:

• Outdoors: Splash in Puddles: I mean, when you are studying storms, and it happens to rain outside, how can you not?
• Experiment: The classic tornado in a bottle. We bought the attachment to screw two empty Coke bottles together. We filled one most of the way with water, and then added a little bit of glitter. The glitter made the tornado even more visible, and it was fun to watch it spin around. Also, it was representative of the fact that tornados can pick up objects (like trees, dirt, rocks, cows...). I put the experiment on a cookie sheet covered in paper towel, since our tornado maker turned out to be a bit leaky. 
• Pretend play: Spin around and pretend you are tornados. Pick things up and randomly set them down elsewhere. Twister noises open to interpretation. 
• Experiment: Storm in a Jar. Found this one on Pinterest. https://creativepreschoolresources.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/w-is-for-weather   All you need is a glass jar, water, shaving cream, paint, and a pipette or eyedropper (or even a straw). Then you can demonstrate how a cloud accumulates moisture until it becomes too heavy, and then falls as precipitation. 

Weather: Part 1

It was beautiful and sunny out today, and it is finally starting to feel like spring. We still haven't seen a robin, but it's nice to be able to play in the yard without getting really bundled up. The sunny sky and fluffy clouds made me want to teach Evie about the weather. So today, we talked about "good" weather, and tomorrow, we will talk about "bad" weather (storms!). Today we discussed different types of clouds, rainbows, temperature, and spring rain showers. 

We started right off with a craft today. I wanted to add something to the decor of the playroom, and decided to make a mobile of a cloud with rain falling from it. This rapidly turned into two activities: the making of the mobile, and playing with the entire bag of batting dumped out on the floor.

Books

• Cloudette by Tom Lichtenheld
• What's the Weather? by Children's Press
• It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw
• My Spring Robin by Anne Rockwell
• The Magic School Bus Makes a Rainbow: A Book About Color by Joanna Cole

Crafts

• Paper plate rainbows: Cut a paper plate in half, then paint on the rainbow. We used pom poms on clothespins instead of paintbrushes to try something different. 
• Cloud chart: We used cotton balls to represent three types of clouds (Cirrus, cumulus and stratus). Evie glued the cotton balls to a piece of paper in a chart style.
• Sun catcher: I set up a tray with a dollar store sun catcher for Evie to paint. 
• Cloud Mobile: Supplies: batting, stick, clear beading twine, blue and white beads, ribbon. We strung beads on the various strings to represent raindrops, and tied them to a stick that we found outside this morning. I also tied on some ribbon, including some that I had curled with some scissors. Then we stuck batting onto the stick, and tied it on with the clear twine. I made a loop to hang the mobile from a hook on the ceiling. 

Activities

• Experiment: Cloud in a jar. Supplies: jar, lid, ice, hot water, hair spray. Pour 1/3 cup hot water into a jar. Flip the lid upside down ad put a pile of ice in it, then set on top of the jar. Count to twenty with toddler, then quickly lift the lid, spray in some hairspray, and replace ice lid. Watch cloud form, and have fun releasing it from the jar.
  https://www.giftofcuriosity.com/weather-science-how-to-make-a-cloud-in-a-jar
• Pretend play: Cover each other in copious amounts of batting. Think cloud thoughts. Only rain on the potty, please. 
• Outdoors: Go outside and watch the clouds! Describe what the weather is like today. 

Snails and Turtles:
Wetland Armor

For our wetland species focus day, we looked at two animals that have shells: turtles and snails.

 

This was a day packed with books and activities. We started out by flipping through one of my reference books about turtles, and commenting on the differences between turtles and tortoises, and shapes and markings on their shells, and what kinds of foods the different species eat. Story time commenced on the couch, and we read as many books on the subjects of turtles and snails as I could find in our house. 

We also took a trip to our local nature center, where they have some rescued animals on exhibit. Our favorite to see is always Stubbs, a snapping turtle. A clear bridge crosses over his little pond, so we can watch him swimming underneath our feet (when he isn't hiding behind a rock). They also have painted turtles, red-eared sliders, musk turtles, eastern box turtles, and a few other species. 

When we returned home, I took out a snapping turtle shell from my collection for Evie to examine. We talked about turtle anatomy.

I then found a zoology coloring book with diagrams of snail anatomy. We discussed the differences between terrestrial, aquatic, and semi-aquatic snails. Sadly, it is still far to cold out to find a snail, so we will have to revisit this topic in the summer so that we may bring a couple into our house for a week or so to study. 

Crafts

• Snails: While perusing Pinterest, I found a cute post about making snails with Play-Doh and shells. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/487725834639119027/ Since we have an over-abundance of little shells in our collection, this was quick and easy to put together. 
• Turtles: This was another easy, low-prep activity. We made paper plate turtles. Materials: paper plates, green construction paper, a glue stick, stick-on googly eyes, a black crayon, and green paint. I cut out the head, tail, and four legs, and Evie glued them to the plate and stuck on the eyes. Then I drew a quick shell pattern on the plate, and then Evie painted it green.
• Turtles and Snails: We found some pages in a Crayola coloring book and colored together.  

Books

• Snail-Snaily-Snails by Bonnie Bader
• The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson
• Escargot by Dashka Slater
• The Biggest House in the World by Leo Lionni
• Albert's Amazing Snail by Eleanor May
• Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature by Joyce Sidman

• Franklin's New Friend by Paulette Bourgeois
• Franklin's Class Trip by Paulette Bourgeois
• Turtles by Jodi Huelin
• Turtles, Tortoises & Terrapins: Survivors in Armor by Ronald Orenstein

Wetlands

This week, we will be learning about wetlands and the animals and plants that live there. The wetlands are home to several of our favorite species: red-winged blackbirds, red-eared sliders, great blue herons, spring peepers, and snapping turtles. Luckily, we have a few options for local wetlands to visit. There is a nature center near us that we will visit, a park near grandma and grandpa's house, and, of course, there are the wetlands on our own property. 
For today, we will focus on the wetlands habitat as a whole, but later this week, we will spend time learning in detail about just a few of the species to be found there. 

Books

• Deep in the Swamp by Donna M. Bateman
• The Magic School Bus: Butterfly and the Bog Beast by Nancy Krulik
• Looking for a Moose by Phyllis Root
• Animal Habitats! by Judy Press (this is a book of activities that we will use for other biomes, as well)
• Slip the Otter Finds a Home by Olena Kassian

Our project for today is rather time-consuming, so there won't be any other themed activities. We are working on a wetlands diorama. We'll be using an empty diaper box. We always have plenty of those! I will do the cutting, and Evie will do the gluing. Earlier, we went out into the yard to collect sticks to use for our model of the wetlands. This was lots of fun for Evie, and it was a great way to kill an hour or so. We gathered way more than we needed for this project, so we will have plenty left over for other activities this week. 

Here's a list of the supplies we are utilizing: 

Wetlands Diorama

• Sticks
• Cotton balls (clouds)
• Green and blue construction paper
• Glue and glue stick
• Scissors
• Dollar store modeling clay (to hold piles of sticks in place)
• Magazine picture cutouts (National Geographic) for the background
• Empty paper towel roll
• Brown pipe cleaners

We covered the inside top of the box with blue construction paper, then glued cotton balls on for clouds. Then we clipped out pictures of swamps from magazines, and glued them on for the background. I cut out pond shapes from blue paper, and grass fringe and lily pads from green.

Then we pulled out her tub of toy animals, and picked out a few that would live in wetlands to complete the scene.




Dioramas were always one of my favorite projects in school, and I had just as much fun with it as an adult. As Evie gets older, I hope to construct more complex and detailed dioramas with her. I will totally be that parent that gets super excited about her kids' science fair projects.
When we had completed this diorama, Evie said, "Let's make another one! Maybe an ocean diorama!" 

Butterflies and Moths: Part 3

For the final day of lepidopteran studies, we pulled out the specimens from our collection to examine! We have a cabinet of natural curiosities, which often comes in handy when we are learning about something. Evie also has her own little collection, which is a box filled with random bits of nature that have intrigued her. This includes pinecones, acorns, sticks, plant parts, rocks, feathers and more. I keep a little something from every species we raise in the house (Monarchs, Luna Moths, etc...), usually empty cocoons and skin molts.

Evie was especially amazed with the luna moth cocoon. I described how the caterpillar wraps leaves around itself, so that it blends in with the debris on the forest floor. There is a large hole where the moth emerged, and you can glimpse the empty pupa within. We checked out what that pupa looks like online, since I didn't want to unwrap our only specimen. Evie is only two, but she is very gentle, both with specimens and the live creatures when they are with us. I have always allowed her to hold anything that couldn't harm her. She learned very quickly how to be careful with small things.


Books

• Clara Caterpillar by Pamela Duncan Edwards
• The Complete Book of North American Butterflies by Paul A. Opler (we obviously just flipped through this one, looking at the pictures and reading little bits here and there)
• Gotta Go! Gotta Go! by Sam Swope (I can't tell you how many times we have read this book)

We also did a sticker activity book (Butterflies of the World: My Nature Sticker Activity Book by Olivia Cosneau). Evie loves stickers, and this book had wonderful pictures and facts. Plus, it helps Evie to work on her fine motor skills! We do a lot of sticker activity books, and they are a great way to spend a quiet, cuddly hour on the couch. 

Butterflies and Moths: Part 2

Today was the day for visiting our local butterfly exhibit! As always, it was beautiful. We saw many species, including Common Blue Morphos, White Morphos, and many, many Longwings and Postmans. We watched butterflies emerging from their chrysalides, and saw them at the feeding stations, enjoying honey water and fruit. Evie was very excited, and I could hardly keep up with her!

Activity: Play-Doh Life Cycle

• Egg: We made a leaf, then rolled up several little balls to be the eggs. Evie placed the eggs on the underside of the leaf, and we talked about how that would keep them safe from the sun, weather, predators...
• Larva: We made several caterpillars, and talked about adaptations that would protect them, such as bright colors and spines to warn off predators. 
• Chrysalis: We made different shapes of chrysalides, and talked about how they can blend into their environments, and about the metamorphosis taking place within.
• Butterfly: We decorated butterfly wings with ocelli (eyespots), and gave them tails for defense mechanisms. Then we talked about basic butterfly anatomy: head, thorax, abdomen, 6 legs, antennae, proboscis...
• Bonus: I demonstrated a difference between moths and butterflies: how their wings lay when at rest. Flat down for moths, straight up for butterflies (unless they are sunning themselves or displaying). 

Butterflies and Moths: Part 1

It's the time of year again when our local butterfly exhibit opens up! We always enjoy going to see all of the exotic species of lepidopterans. Before we go, we are going to start learning a bit about the creatures we are going to see. We've done many projects around this subject before, so it will be fun to look back on those pictures. It's obviously too cold to be raising caterpillars on our own. Normally, I would save a topic like this for summer, to have more hands-on activities. However, going to see the butterfly exhibit makes it possible do in March, even if there is a foot of snow on the ground. We even have the brochure from last year's exhibit, so we can take a look at some of the species that we might see again this year and maybe be able to identify them tomorrow. 

When I'm going to spend a week or so on one topic (as we will be doing with lepidopterans), I like to make a little display on top of Evie's dresser. I set up books, toys, and crafts that have to do with what we are studying. 

Here are the activities and crafts we will be doing today, as well as the books we shall read. There will be more of each category to come throughout the week.

Activities

• Put some fruit juice in a cup (preferably red or orange, since those colors are especially attractive to butterflies). Do the same with two more cups. Give toddler a straw. Have toddler "flutter" from cup to cup while keeping a straw in their mouth. The straw is their proboscis. The fruit juice is nectar. Explain how they are pollinating the "flowers." Describe how butterflies taste with their feet and smell with their antennae.  Ask them what flavor of shoes they would wear if they could taste with their feet!
• More pretend play: have toddler curl up in a little ball and throw a blanket over them. They then "hatch" from their egg. Then put a jacket or extra shirt on the little caterpillar before they crawl to the table to have lunch. Have them eat, and then take off the extra layer of clothing to "molt" before going to lay down for a nap. When they are in bed, tuck the covers around them very tightly, pushing them underneath the toddler on all sides, from neck down to feet. They are now in their chrysalis or cocoon (depending on whether they want to be a moth or butterfly). Tell them that it's time to sleep, and that when they wake up, they will be a beautiful butterfly (or moth). 

Books

• La Oruga Muy Hambrienta/The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
• Know-it-Alls: Butterflies!!! by Darlene Freeman
• Eyewitness Explorers: Butterflies and Moths by John Feltwell
• TIME for Kids: Buutterflies! by editors of TIME
• The Magic School Bus: Butterfly and the Bog Beast by Joanna Cole

Craft

• Cut out butterfly shapes and glue to paper. Glue popsicle stick for body. Decorate with glitter glue and buttons. Can also add other stages of life cycle. 

Bonus: Past projects

We've raised several species before, including Eastern Black Swallowtails, Polyphemus moths, Monarchs, Painted Ladies, and Luna Moths. Here's a few pictures of our past houseguests: 

•  
  
  
  
   

Bears and Hibernation

People should be able to hibernate. A nap that lasts a couple of months sounds just great to a sleep-deprived mom (although the idea might seem like a nightmare to a toddler)! So why and how do bears hibernate? How do they prepare to hibernate? What do they do when they wake up? How many different kinds of bears are there? Which species live near us? These are some questions I will explore with my toddler as we read books, do activities, and work on crafts to explore the topic of bears. 

We started this Thursday by watching some Youtube videos of grizzlies in Alaska catching salmon. While that was on in the background, we flipped through a book about grizzly bears, and then read the book Baby Grizzly. I told her about how the mothers and cubs tend to go to fish at a different time from the males, since the males can be aggressive towards cubs. 

Activity

We built a couple of "dens," using blankets to make forts. We crawled around pretending to be bears. Then I grabbed some stuffed animals and started throwing them around and making them flop like fish. We have a couple of stuffed fish, and just pretended they were salmon so Evie could catch them and "eat" them (sorry, Dory). She ate some on the spot, and carried a few back to her den. We pretended to go around the room and eat nuts and berries, and talked about how we had to eat a lot to build up fat for our winter's hibernation. Then we laid in the den and read books and pretended to hibernate (while snoring loudly). We talked about our heart rates and metabolisms slowing, and how a mother bear has her babies during the winter. 

Before nap time, we had a snack of berries. We ate blueberries while reading Blueberries for Sal, and some raspberries and blackberries while reading Jamberry. 

Books

• Where is the Bear? by Betty Hubka
• Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
• Jingle Bear by Stephen Cosgrove
• Jamberry by Bruce Degen
• Can't You Sleep, Little Bear? by Martin Waddell
• Baby Grizzly by Beth Spanjian
• Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik
• A Bed for the Winter by Karen Wallace
• Grizzly Bears: Huge Hibernating Mammals by Rebecca E. Hirsch
• You and Me, Little Bear by Martin Waddell
• Berlioz the Bear by Jan Brett
• Un Oso se ha Perdido! por Karen Hayles y Jenny Jones
• Let's Go Home, Little Bear by Martin Waddell

Crafts

• Peekaboo Bear Cave: Use a paper cup, a popsicle stick, some colored construction paper (Evie decided that she wanted a black bear), glue, and brown paper (we cut up a lunch bag). Cut out a bear shape and glue it to one end of the popsicle stick. Cover the cup in brown paper, and punch a hole in the bottom of the cup for the other end of the popsicle stick. Now your bear can move in and out of their cave. 

• Lunch bag bear habitat: Cut a lunch bag in half, then rip a hole in the bottom for the cave mouth. Glue paper trees with canopies cut from foam to the sides. We used fall colors to set the scene for bears preparing to hibernate. We cut a stream from blue foam for the bears to drink and fish. Then we grabbed some little toy bears from the toy chest, and Evie played with the little scene. 

• Winter Bear Picture: Black paper, yellow paper, cardboard, cotton balls and glue. Peel parts of the top layer of the cardboard back to make the dirt, and cut out a cave. Pull cotton balls apart and glue the fluff above the cave for snow. Cut out moon and stars and glue to the sky. Then stick two googly eyes in the cave. Yes, bears are supposed to be asleep and hibernating in winter. However, the females do wake up to give birth. And if you were squeezing out a bear cub, I bet your eyes would bug out just as much. 

Exercise and Nutrition

Wednesday is the day that I typically run errands and take my toddler to her gymnastics class. I am not a very active person; I have no exercise regimen (I think just lugging two kids around ought to count as exercise!!!). I also don't make the best dietary decisions (way too fond of cookies). However, I do want my kids to benefit from as healthy a lifestyle as I can provide for them. I'd like to establish good habits for them while they are young. In the process, I will be eating better food and exercising more, too. Besides, we have to be in good shape if we are going to be hiking all over the place this summer!

So today is for teaching my daughter the two main components of a healthy body: exercise and nutrition.

Books

The best book I have for this topic is The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Junk Food. It explains both proper diet and exercise, and also shows what poor diet can do to your body. There are diagrams of the inside of the body, and suggestions for how to fix bad eating habits.

• The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Junk Food by Stan and Jan Berenstain
• Nos Gusta Comer Frutas y Verduras/ We Like to Eat Fruits and Vegetables by Celina G. Wille
• The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body by Joanna Cole
• Why are Pineapples Prickly? Questions Childrens Ask About Food from DK Publishing

Exercise

Getting her to exercise is easy. She has tons of energy and loves running around at gymnastics. If I weren't taking her there, I would take her to a playground, pop in an exercise video for kids, or teach her yoga moves at home. However, for this class, as I help her over the balance beams and monkey bars, I will explain to her what's happening in her body: how her heart is pumping, her lungs are taking in air, she's burning energy from the food she ate, and her muscles are moving.



Food Groups


When we were at the grocery store, I showed Evie different kinds of food, and asked her what food group she thought they fell into. We did the same at every meal.


Pretend Play

• Sit down with child and make a grocery list (draw pictures of the items so that she can "read" it). Set up a grocery store at home, complete with aisles. Simply line items up in rows on the floor. Use a toy shopping cart or a basket, and have toddler go up and down the aisles, adding items (toy, real, or a mix), and then bringing them to the cashier: me. Ring the items up for her and talk about what healthy choices she made. Ask what she is going to prepare for meals with her food. Then have her take them all "home" and put them away in a toy kitchen. 

•  Choose four pieces of paper and draw pictures of the four food groups. Then, using toy food, sort them into the categories. 

• Have toddler pretend to be a personal trainer. Toddler will come up with exercises for us to do, and then we do them together (even if it is just spinning in circles or marching like an elephant). 

Crafts

• Cut out pictures from grocery store ads, and spread them out on the table. Draw a shopping cart on a piece of paper, and have toddler use a glue stick to add groceries to their cart.