The pond is one of our family’s favorite places to go for nature walks.  There is such a peacefulness at a quiet farm pond that promotes the more serious side of nature study.  At the pond, we can sit under the shade of a tree and just be still – taking time to really observe the plants, animals and insects within our view.  Just like we can get too busy in our lives to be still and know that He is God, sometimes our nature walks can get too busy or move to fast to really soak in His creation.

Pond moss gently floating on the surface of the water, fish popping out for a quick visit, and clouds reflecting in the water are all things we have time to savor as we sit still.

Walking too quickly around a pond might make us miss all the colors of green that rest in one small space near the edge of the water.

Had we not taken our time to look up, down and all around, this perfect egg along the pond bank would’ve been missed.

Here is our view from under the shade tree.  I simply asked the children to sketch anything they like from our view – the landscape, the water, the bank, a single plant, an insect, a rock on the edge…

Eli chose to make lots and lots of circles representing the water.  He added some straight lines to represent the plants in front of us.

Caleb chose one single plant, making sure he included as much detail as he could with labels for all the parts.

Mahayla chose a landscape with very little detail, but the full picture of our view.

I just love how each child chose to draw what touched him or her most in the style that works best for them.

If it’s been awhile since you took a peaceful, quiet nature walk, the lazy days of summer are a perfect opportunity!

My oldest daughter took a long trip around the above pond at a local park. Her favorite part was watching the hundreds (!) of frogs leaping off the sides into the water. Another favorite part was seeing the beautiful reflections in the clear water.

She walked the entire perimeter taking note of the grasses and new pond plants sprouting from beneath.

Also, on our way out of the park, near one of the wetlands we saw this HUGE snapping turtle. My daughter hung out the side of the car window to take this photo, because any smart NatureExplorer knows NOT to get close to a snapping turtle (unless you want to loose a finger)!

Another trip we made this past week was to a large creek at a local park. Of course much creek life can be similar to ponds. We found crayfish claws (no live ones yet) and lots of toads and snails.

Don’t forget another great way to study ponds is at man-made decorative ones too! My parents have a lovely garden pond in their backyard which is full of beautiful goldfish and toads. Sitting around that pond hearing the toads sing is like having your own personal orchestra! Below, first is one of the toads the kids caught at the garden pond and second is a picture of the pretty goldfish swimming around.

ALL of these ideas plus LOTS, lots more can be found in our unit, Peaceful Ponds. We JUST finished updating this unit to be more full than ever! Don’t miss out on a great opportunity to watch life spring forth in ponds this year!

]]> http://shiningdawnbooks.com/2010/04/12/pond-exploration-in-spring/feed/ 0 http://shiningdawnbooks.com/2009/10/20/studying-ponds/ http://shiningdawnbooks.com/2009/10/20/studying-ponds/#comments Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:52:09 +0000 Cindy http://shiningdawnbooks.com/?p=783

Our family is having such a good time learning about autumn ponds.  There’s tons of life still to be found as colder weather approaches.  Including plant life!  You can read about our pond plant study by visiting this post on my personal blog.

Our lastest pond study led us in search of migrating waterfowl.  Aren’t these mallard ducks beautiful?

There were hundreds of ducks on this large pond!

Looking for food from the bank.

Looking for food while happily paddling.

Food found!

Happy ducks.

Happy duck hunters!

Ducks are some of the friendlier waterfowl we’ve found.  Geese haven’t been quite as forgiving about the noise that comes with two busy naturExploring boys.  Nor have the herons, hawks and other birds that we see flying off in the distance as we approach a pond.   Oh well, there will be time for peaceful pond studies in the years to come.  Right now, I’ll enjoy their rambunctious zeal for enjoying God’s creation.

Our pond studies this week will be comparing an old pond to a new pond.  You can find pond ideas for all seasons in the NaturExplorers unit Peaceful Ponds.  The price will go up before too long as unit revamping is nearing completion!

~Cindy

After teaching all about ponds, we divided into three groups. One group did some pond mapping using one of the unit notebooking pages, another group did some measuring of the circumference of the pond using their foot steps and a ruler, and the third group collected pond water samples to observe. After several minutes each group switched to another activity. Here are a few photos of our fun day!

Observing a Pond Insect

Pond Insect Up Close

Orb Snail Up Close

Observing Water Samples

Looking for Critters

Measuring the Circumference

Pond Mapping on Notebooking Page