Summer Fun 101 » Fun with Nature

Color Match

Goaskmom — Sat, 23 May 2009 15:54:41 +0000

Supplies:

Paint swatches
Objects in nature

Instructions:

Get an assortment of color swatches from the paint department, and head outside. Try to match the colors on the card to something you find outside! Work as a team, or have a competition. It’s not so easy as it looks. We never could find anything to match the green swatches we had!

Feed the Birds a Bagel

Goaskmom — Tue, 12 May 2009 21:28:43 +0000

Supplies:

Bagel
Peanut Butter
Cereal or Birdseed
String

Instructions:

Put the string through the hole in the bagel.

Spread peanut butter onto the bagel.

Stick cereal or birdseed into the peanut butter.

Hang the birdfeeder in a tree. Make sure it is hanging near a branch so the birds can reach it. Only hummingbirds can eat while flying!

Feed the Ant

Goaskmom — Tue, 12 May 2009 19:02:40 +0000

Materials:

This is one of the coolest activities we’ve ever done. Our youngest son will sit for a long time and watch the ants as they work.

Sandwich cheese
Sidewalk with a couple of ants on it

Instructions:

Place the piece of cheese beside a crack in the sidewalk. If there is a piece of grass stuck in the crack, pull it out to disturb the dirt a bit.

Watch your piece of cheese. It won’t take long before an ant finds it. Be patient, and you’ll see the ants as they nibble away. Watch the larger ants, and you can see their jaws open and close. Are any of the ants eating the cheese on the spot? Where are the ants taking their food? Keep watching, and eventually you’ll have no cheese left!

Now’s a good time to memorize a famous verse written by a wise king named Solomon:

You lazy people can learn by watching an anthill. Ants don’t have leaders, but they store up food during harvest season.
Proverbs 6:6 – 8.(Contemporary English Version of the Bible)

Are You an Ant?

Ant Cities

How to Press Flowers

Goaskmom — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 02:15:02 +0000

Materials:

Thin flowers or leaves (see note)
Coffee filters
Several heavy books

Instructions:

Open one of the books, and lay the coffee filter on the middle of one page. Arrange your plants on the filter.

Close the book, and place several more books on top. Leave the flowers in the book for five days.

NOTE: If you are a beginner, when choosing flowers, pick those with few petals, such as pansies or Queen Ann’s lace.

Ideas for using dried flowers:

Place the flowers in a frame on a colored background for a beautiful picture. Use tweezers and carefully move the flowers.

To make a pressed flower notecard, use a toothpick to put a thin layer of glue on the back of your flower, and glue onto a blank card.