Holly spent some time working on a small science project called
Mini-Beasts in a Box. This is where one squares off a specific area out side and studies that square or box for a certain period of time to see what mini beasts might appear.
We gathered the tools necessary, read the project at hand and then headed out to select a couple of areas to work with. Holly chose a spot near a little pond, it included a bit of water and land. She also chose a square of bushes to study. Many fun little creatures were discovered in which Holly recorded in her nature journal.
Around the pond area she found water and shelter needed in a habitat, foods for the slugs, little spiders crawling about, a small snail and flying bugs that landed on the
water surface. We also turned a little log nearby to discover more spiders,
roly poly bugs, bitty worms, spiders so little you could barely see them and dead bugs.
In the bush habitat area we discovered some really large, dense spider webbing... and soon found the large owner of said webs. The spider is huge! It was eating another bug which was really cool to watch, it looked like another spider it was eating.
This project was a really neat discovery for Holly, she loved getting out and studying nature! We'll do this one again soon, outside of our yard I think to see what other mini beasts we might find.
The end of this week we studied up on wetland habitats which included a video clip, several good books, a couple of art projects and a field trip to a local wetland area. Holly had a favorite art project - creating a turtle. She really took her time on making it just perfect... and perfect I think it is!
We talked about many animals and plants that live in various wetlands, warm and cold wetlands and how our local wetland habitats are. Snake Lake was a natural fit for this unit so we headed out for an afternoon of exploration, fun and discovery! Holly found several different kinds of vegetation, foot prints in the mud that appear to have belonged to a raccoon, ducks, turtles, birds of all kinds and many bugs. She had a great time!
