Posted by Cindy on January 31, 2009
It got into the upper 50′s last week. Just a few days before we had been hovering around 0, so the upper 50′s was truly a heat wave! We took advantage of the warmth and headed out for a wonderful wintery walk. I say wintery because there were still icy signs all over the place. We had a blast exploring!
By far, the neatest find was this spring that continued to flow underneath a sheet of melting ice.
I SO wish this picture showed the beauty of the ice crystals and the way the ice was revealing the leaves bit by bit.
We couldn’t agree on who might have made these tracks, but it was obvious a small critter had walked the creek bed before us!
Little did I know only a few days after the pictures above were taken, we’d be in for quite a winter reminder again. Here are some pictures from the last couple of days. The children, of course, loved every minute outside. I, however, enjoyed taking pictures from the front and back porches!
Don’t waste a minute of winter nature study!
Posted by Cindy on January 28, 2009
We have been surrounded by utter beauty this week. In the midst of taking pictures, sledding, skating on the ice covered snow, making snow cream and more, I prompted the children to squeeze in just a little learning.
They had a long walk to their favorite sledding hill. I asked them to just listen for a little while on their walk. What did they hear? Upon returning home, we talked about how quiet the walk had been and how everything seemed to be muffled. Why? Snow absorbs sound. Very much like a room with carpet and curtains is much quieter than a room with hardwood floors and no curtains.
I also had them fill two exact cups with snow. The first cup was to be packed as tight as possible only to the rim, while the second cup was to be heaping, but never packed down. I asked them to predict which cup would be more full of water once the snow melted. They both predicted correctly that the packed cup would have more water in it. Why? Snow has air in it. Packing the snow releases some of the air allowing more snow to fit in the cup. I think they were both surprised at how little water was in either cup in the end. Even the more full cup was only about half full.
We also had some great discussions of snow vs. sleet vs. freezing rain vs. rain that freezes. We had the opportunity to observe each of these weather situations within 24 hours!
God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways;
He does great things beyond our understanding.
He says to the snow, “Fall on the earth,”
And to the rainshower, “Be a mighty downpour.”
So that all men He has made may know His work,
He stops every man from his labor.
Job 37:5-7
Enjoy wintery nature study using the activities found in:
Posted by Cindy on January 27, 2009
If you live anywhere near a pond when it freezes over, this is a great nature study activity!
We headed out in the very cold wind to bring a sample of ice home from the pond. After trying to break the ice with a knife (which usually works), then a large rock (which almost always works), we looked out to the middle of the pond to see the dog happily walking across with not a care in the world.
After realizing the pond was way more frozen than we thought, Mahayla and Caleb went back down with a an axe. Nothing was going to stop Caleb from trying this experiment!
Once home, we let the ice melt with the hopes of being able to find something alive in the once frozen water. Unfortunately, the pond closest to our home is new and probably doesn’t have much life in it yet, so we were left with only melted pond water. But, the study wasn’t worthless, as we were able to watch the water settle and get a small simulation of what the bottom of this particular pond looks like.
I’m hoping to talk hubby into taking the kids to the bigger pond for a sample. If we find anything exciting, I’ll be sure to post!
Enjoy an exciting snow and ice study using this NaturExplorers study!
