Shining Dawn Books » nature walk

Finding Animal Signs

Cindy — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:58:30 +0000

December is SO busy! Our family slows down drastically on the regularly scheduled school plan. Nature study, however, proves to be just the thing we need to relax and find peace in the hectic weeks. We aren’t getting out as much as a normal, but the walks we are taking have led us to many signs of animals (which is our focus this month.)

Some animal is enjoying a cozy home!

This perfect tiny bird's nest was resting just below the tree it fell from.

A mole's route maybe?

We aren't entirely sure this tree has been scratched by an animal, but possibly.

This is a super time of the year for observing bird's nests in trees in our neck of the woods.

The remains of a cracked nut and shell were found just below a conifer tree. Some busy little critter must have been hiding here as he or she devoured the meat.

Whether you want to think about it or not, scat (poop) is definitely a sign that an animal has been near.

Below is one of the notebooking pages we’ve chosen to use so far. My children just love having a fun page to keep them focused on the task at hand. Winter is a super time of the year for studying Animal Signs! Be watching for a NEW UNIT to be revealed VERY SOON!

Animal Tracks Field Guide

Cindy — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:30:07 +0000

During the month of December,my family will be using the Animal Signs NaturExplorers unit. Finding signs of animals and tracks are rather easy this time of year with much of the land and trees “uncovered” by the Lord. The most difficult part of studying animal signs for me is recognizing animal tracks. So many look similar to one another!

Finding a good field guide for studying animals tracks can be more difficult than you might imagine. I want to highlight the Peterson Field Guide to Animal Tracks as the best one I’ve found on the subject thus far.

There’s a quick picture guide in the beginning of the book to help you make an initial guess at the track you’re viewing. Several animal tracks are shown together which helps you make a quick comparison of several possible tracks to the one you’re trying to identify.

After you believe you’ve found the right track, a page number is referenced to find more detailed pictures, sketches and information about the animal that made the track. Approximate track lengths and widths are given, as well as the distance between feet and the animal’s typical stride.

Depending on the animal, you may find sketches of other signs such as scat (poop), nests/burrows, marks they make as they gnaw on food, or foods they typically eat.

A written section continues to explain the animal’s habitat, behaviors, foods and even the sounds they make, as well as comparisons to animals that might make similar tracks.

Sections of the book include:

opossums
shrews
moles
armadillos
pikas, hares and rabbits
rodents
dogs, foxes and wolves
bears
hair seals and eared seals
raccoons, ringtails and coatis
weasels, otters and badgers
skunks
cats
hoofed animals
birds
amphibians and reptiles
insects and other invertebrates

Even though it’s compact enough to fit in your nature bag, you can see that A LOT of animals are covered in 391 pages! There’s even a handy centimeter/inch ruler built into the back cover to help you make track determinations in the field.

You can find all the other Peterson Field Guides by subject at Houghlton Mifflin’s website.

Raccoon prints in mud at the edge of a creek

What do you use for animal track/animal sign identification?

~Cindy

Late Fall Fun

Cindy — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:14:06 +0000

Not every nature walk has to be serious!

Just hangin' around!

Building a bridge over a small creek.

Jumping from hay bale to hay bale.

Let your children take the lead during nature study often. It might not be just the thing you would’ve planned, but it will be exciting and worthy nonetheless.

~Cindy

Studying Ponds

Cindy — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:52:09 +0000

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

Nature Study with a Toddler or Preschooler

Cindy — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:30:20 +0000

One theme Melissa and I have noticed several times in questions is whether or not our units are appropriate for the younger crowd five and under. While 1st through 8th graders were our target audience, we didn’t leave out the little ones! (Or the bigger ones for that matter.)

In each unit, there’s a section written specifically for little ones with ideas for sensory skills, motor skills, broadening vocabulary skills and several hands-on explorations. There are also fun crafts, cooking and dramatic play ideas for little hands.

At the same time, most of the outdoor activities in the main section of the units can be used with young children, too!

Here are a few examples of how my two-year-old son has tagged along during our recent nature studies. And maybe I shouldn’t even use the words “tagged along” because he was learning just as much as us on his own level!

He's probably more serious about finding things in nature than his big brother and sister!

Throwing and hitting help him learn about the world around him.

We touch a lot of things and I use descriptive words.

I never force nature on him, I let him make his own discoveries - and his finds are often better than mine!

I always let him take part in what the big kids are doing if he wants.

God reveals Himself through nature to our little ones as well as us! Don’t leave little guys and gals out!

~Cindy

Spider Shots

Cindy — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:25:04 +0000

Autumn is a great time for finding spiders and spider webs. My children and I took a walk one evening just before dusk when the spiders had already prepared their webs for the night. Take a look at some of the sights we found…

Black and Yellow Argiope

This web was built in the crook of tree branches that have already lost their leaves.

These spiders and their webs were everywhere along a fence line with a lot of tree growth.

Can you see the hollow of this tree filled with wispy orange webs?

I have no idea how this heavy web sack was supported by the web! It was at least 2" tall!

Don’t let spiders scare you! You don’t have to get too close to study and enjoy them. This is the perfect time of year to find some spider activities in the Spectacular Spiders NaturExplorer study. We’re currently revamping the unit to add more ideas and more notebooking pages. It probably won’t be ready for several weeks, so now’s the time to order the study before the price goes up!

~Cindy

Searching for Seeds

Melissa — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:04:38 +0000

As part of our Fruits and Nuts study this month we’ve also spent some time learning about seeds. After all it’s the fruit and/or nuts that protect the seeds, therefore they go hand in hand. On one of our nature walks we set out to search for seeds along with fruits and nuts. We were looking specifically also at how God made seeds to find their way into the dirt to grow. Through this hunt, I as the teacher learned so much right along with my kids, and we were amazed at all the varieties of seeds and the ways they travel. Here are some snapshots from our walk.

Thistle Seeds

Queen Anne's Lace Seeds

While my daughter was walking in the creek there were acorns from an Oak tree above falling on her head!

We collected lots of acorns.

Berry Bush

Berries on Tree

Berries, nuts and seeds that we collected.

We made a final stop at our raised bed garden to collect some last of the season fruits, Roma tomatoes.

After our walk we spread out our “finds” on a cutting board and spent some time looking at them under a magnifying lens and experimenting a bit with them. Do you see the beautiful colors of acorns?

This time of year is such a wonderful time to study about fruits and nuts and everything to do with them! Now, this weekend we’re going to the produce department at the local supermarket to buy some apples and walnuts to bake my favorite fall dessert, Apple Crisp! Which, by the way, this scrumptious recipe is included in the Fruits and Nuts unit!

Monarchs!

Cindy — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:58:55 +0000

As summer has progressed into autumn, we are blessed to see more and more monarchs in our area. I know the time is fleeting as their journey south will begin very soon.

This monarch caterpillar was just calling my name to take home and raise. Unfortunately, I didn't have anything to carry it home in safely. I'm sure the caterpillar didn't mind being left alone!

I'm not sure if the tip of the wing on this monarch butterfly was damaged or not, but it sat very still while I snapped photo after photo. Thank you, friendly butterfly.

Does anyone have any idea what type of caterpillar this is?? My Audubon Field Guide to Butterflies didn't have anything similar.

It’s not too late in the year to do a quick study of butterflies using the Butterflies Flutter By NaturExplorer unit.

~Cindy

Finding Fruits and Nuts

Cindy — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:20:03 +0000

Our weekly nature walks so far in September have been so exciting as we’ve been on the hunt for fruits and nuts. This is the perfect time of year for finding an abundance of them!

My favorite find so far has been this pile of Ohio buckeyes that some sweet little creature has been working diligently on. Can you see how the coverings are separated from the nuts?

We've found a bazillion perfect little nuts on trees and off.

Wild fruits and not-so-wild fruits hang prettily from many trees, bushes and wildflowers.

We've used notebooking pages to compare fruits, compare nuts, note the way seeds travel and go on a scavenger hunt for fruits and nuts.

If you’re also studying fruits and nuts this season, I’d love to hear about some of your adventures!

~Cindy

Simple Field Guide Hint

Cindy — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:39:31 +0000

Here’s a quick field guide tip that our family has used ever since the kiddos were little. Before they could write, or even draw very well, I wanted a way for them to note the plants or animals we had identified. I pulled out a sheet of tiny incentive stickers and placed a sticker on each picture as we came across something during our nature walks.

As the children have grown, we haven’t stopped marking our field guides with stickers. It’s proven to be a great tool for all of us in remembering what we’ve already identified and in learning names of plants or animals more quickly. I keep a small sheet of stickers tucked into every one of our field guides for quick and easy marking as we walk.

Can you see the three stickers?

We try to place the sticker so that it doesn't block any of the image.

~Cindy