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!"