How Many Seeds In A Pumpkin?

We met up with friends from our Nature Club and did a fun project based on the book 'How Many Seeds In A Pumpkin?' by Margaret McNamara. This a fun book that walks a class through an experiment to see how many seeds are in pumpkins and why that might be.

For our group we started with pumpkin observations, estimations of how many seeds might be in our various pumpkins, then the seeded them and counted, graphed their results and we compared our results. This is a fun project to do this time of year with a small group because it makes the collective data more interesting versus just one or two pumpkins.

A great fall activity!!



Fish Hatchery & Salmon Walk

We are very fortunate to live within a mile of a small fish hatchery and a stream salmon spawn in. We visit the fish hatchery several times a year to see fish for fun, but this time of year is a bit more special as we walk through the hatchery to the stream in hopes of finding salmon.

Last night we took a small walk when Dad came home and enjoyed a small adventure through the fish hatchery. They had many more holding tanks open with fish in them then previous visits, making it much more exciting. As well, we enjoyed many birds in the area including Blue Heron, Kill Deer and a Kingfisher.

We made it back to the stream and didn't find too many salmon, kind of disappointing. We did find a few that have already turned, but nothing like years past. We will visit once again in about a week to see if there are any changes. While the salmon were a bit thin, we did enjoy some gorgeous fall foliage, tossing pebbles in the stream and the simple sounds a stream offers. A wonderful evening!!

Pumpkin Patch

We visited two different pumpkin patches last week, however I only brought my camera to one. This was a home school field trip with many friends, making it a very large group. Last year we enjoyed this farm as well. The weather was a bit damp, but it did not slow the kids down in the least.

They started with a hay ride out to a pumpkin patch, a real pumpkin patch that was not all groomed down. Each kiddo enjoyed exploring for their favorite pumpkin. Hudson did not appreciate the sloppy ground though as he still tumbles pretty easily, I guess that happens at two and a half.

After the pumpkin patch the group then ventured over to the animals barns and the hay maze, offering much fun for both kids! We finished up visiting with friends while playing about the farm. It was a really fun day and a wonderful way to enjoy the fall weather.

Woodland Park Zoo

We enjoyed our annual field trip to Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle during their homeschool days program. The theme this year was 'mammals' throughout the day. They sponsored many different hosts throughout the zoo sharing carts to learn from, an early day room of various mammal activities with many skulls and pelts to touch, a couple of presentations on mammals, a little toddler puppet presentation, an animal observation activity and more!

We spent the entire day up at the zoo and still did not cover the whole thing. Through the years we have visited this zoo and have never once seen ever exhibit. I am okay with this though, as I rather they take their time and learn a little along the way through the reading and guides on site. Yesterday for instance we spent about an hour in the rain forest exhibit with a personal guide walking through with us and talking with Holly about all the animals as well as his own experience visiting the Amazon for a few months, his journeys, what he saw and experienced, how she might enjoy it and asked her questions along the way to keep her engaged completely -- she LOVED it!! (Later you'll see she is doing a rain forest unit this year).

A slow experience around the zoo today offered up a quality experience!!