Catching Snowflakes

"Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated." ~William Bentley

Today was a perfect day for catching snowflakes. We were having a steady snowfall with big fluffy flakes. The little one fell asleep in her stroller on the walk back from the bus stop so I had a little more time to focus!

I keep a couple pieces of dark colored felt in our unheated garage for when the moment strikes to catch snowflakes. You could also use black construction paper, but I find the flakes kind of stand up against the hairy texture of the felt. In the same area, I also store a couple of magnifying glasses so we can delve deeper into our snowflake investigations. (In a pinch, you can also just use a dark colored glove, like in the photo above.)
Initially my son was less than interested today. So I just studied the flakes on my own, but my constant ("wow", "no way", "that's amazing") comments lured him over to check out what I was finding! Today the flakes were mostly in the shape of needles, columns, and even a few plates. We also made the discovery that if you catch the flakes on the cloth then view it while standing under the sled, that more flakes don't drop onto the cloth and disrupt what you're viewing.

We decided that snowflake catching was so much fun that we needed special "Snowflake Catcher Necklaces". To make these we took old CD's and covered one side with dark colored felt. On the other side I drew examples of a few types of common snowflakes and made a pocket to store a small magnifying glass.  (insert photo)

We also read the book, Snowflake Bentley, which tells the story of a Vermont man that dedicated his life to studying and photographing snowflakes. If you haven't read this book, you really should!

Another great website to learn more about snowflakes is listed below. Be sure to print out a copy of their "Snowflake Guide", slip it into a plastic sleeve, and take it outdoors with you on the next snowy day!   

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/class/class.htm

Curious George teaches Science skills!

My son loves to watch Curious George, mostly because of the video clips after each of the animated shows. The clips are usually only 1-2 minutes but they show wonderful age appropriate science experiments. We have recreated many of the experiments throughout the years.


So I realize that suggesting you watch television with your child seems like a strange suggestion for a nature blog, but really I think this one is worth it! In fact, you don't really have to watch the whole show. If you go onto http://www.pbskids.org/ and click on Curious George then videos you will find over 80 different video clips on a wide variety of topics! Below is a link to the animal tracks video that we have recently enjoyed!


http://pbskids.org/curiousgeorge/video/video_pop.html?clip=interstitials/102A&title=Finding%20Animal%20Tracks&ar=16:9&filetype=wmv&bandwidth=_hi

Embracing Winter

In 2006 when I moved to Vermont it was the tail end of summer. The temperatures were warm and my favorite season, autumn, was right around the corner. That fall we went for drives to see the leaves changing, I bought lots of pumpkins & scarecrows to decorate the house, and every weekend it seemed we were going to a new town to check out their Fall Festival. Maybe it was all the fresh apple cider or the newly discovered Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Pumpkin Spice...but I was enchanted with Vermont, so much so that somehow I blocked out of my mind the reality of what was to come. By early November I realized that I was going to have to learn to love winter & all of its glories. Or my picturesque view (and residence) of the green mountain state would have come to abrupt end.

You see, growing up in Delaware we would have about 12 inches of snow for the whole year and the temperatures were rarely below freezing. When it did snow life would stop and the entire state would shut down. The grocery store would be packed as people rushed in to buy milk and bread.

Needless to say my first winter in Vermont was quite the wake-up call. I didn't have the right clothes for staying outside for an extended period of time. I had a one year old that could barely walk and who hated his snowsuit and mittens with a passion. We had horrible shovels that made the task of clearing the driveway a nightmare. And I hadn't grown my 'winter skin' as someone recently explained. {Seriously -- look at the picture. My son is wearing unlined cotton mittens, soft leather booties, and fleece pants. Not to even mention the crappy shovel and ridicously long driveway!}

Luckily over the last four years I have learned to LOVE winter. Not just tolerate it while I wait for spring...but I really have embraced it. Buying the right clothes and learning to layer has made a world of a difference. A scoop shovel and some fun snow toys also helped, but my most influential factor in embracing winter is having kids.

This past fall at my son's preschool they made a chart of the kid's favorite season. By far the top pick was winter. What kid doesn't love snow, and snowballs, and snowmen, and snow shelters, and winter tracking, and sledding, and ice skating, and on & on. Spending time playing in the snow is magical. Gearing up and heading outside is not a dreaded task...it's what they look forward to.

This winter my daughter is just a bit older than my son was that first winter we lived in Vermont. Whether it's her dispostion or my skill (or a bit of both) getting dressed and out the door is much less laborious. She eagerly gets her boots and mittens for me to put on her. Even her snowsuit goes on without much fuss. It's clear that she too is embracing winter~~ and it didn't take her nearly as long as it did for me!

So my advice for you? Buy good quality snow gear for all members of your family. (Even if snowy days don't come as frequently as they do for us.) Then feed off your child's enthusiasm and get outside to embrace winter yourself.

Shhhh.......

One day this week I was pulling the two kiddos in the wooden sled. My son looked like he was falling asleep so I started to ask him if we should head inside for the day. His response---
"Shhhhhh....I can hear the birds better when my eyes are closed."
Once I got quiet, I too could hear the beautiful bird songs.
Goes to show that we as adults don't need to 'teach' anything to our nature loving kids...sometimes we just need to be quiet and experience nature with them!

Tracking Deer

Freshly fallen snow is such a great medium for tracking animals. Footprints in snow are easy to spot, even for young children. My children and I have been tracking out in the snow over the last few weeks. We have identified squirrel, cat, bird, but our favorite is deer! {Oh and I can't forget to mention that on Christmas Day we even found reindeer prints! Sure am glad we left out carrots for Santa's furry helpers!}

When we are out tracking we love to follow the animal tracks and pretend that we are that animal. My five year old has gotten very skilled at tracking the prints and describing why the prints go in a certain direction. "The deer went this way because the logs were in his way." "See how he didn't go down the steep hill, but went this way instead."  "I bet the deer wanted to go to the stream for some water."

We also enjoy looking for deer beds. These oval shaped depressions in the snow are easy to identify and generally we find them in clusters of 4-6 deer beds. We also have been looking for deer hairs that may have been left behind, but we haven't found that treasure yet!

Here is one treasure the deer leave LOTS of for us....their own special version of Cocoa Puffs!

~~~ This afternoon we were inside eating an afternoon snack when we spotted a deer at the edge of the woods. After watching him for a bit we noticed that he had a limp on his front left leg. My son could hardly believe that animals get injured like people. Guess he had never thought about that concept before...nature has so much to teach us!

Pinecone Birdfeeders

While we were outside this weekend, we noticed that the pinecone birdfeeders we put up in early Decemeber had been completely eatten clean. Since it was above freezing we were able to easily take down the pinecones so we could 'refill' them inside. This is much easier than trying to spread the peanut butter while the cone is suspended from the tree. Not to mention, it's much more comfortable on little fingers to spread peanut butter when they aren't frozen like icicles!

Listed below are the general directions for making the pinecone birdfeeders.

Other tips:

• I have read that adding shortening and cornmeal to the peanut butter make it easier for birds to digest & it prevents the mixture from sticking to the birds beaks.
• Also, if someone has nut allergies you can omit the peanut butter and use just shortening. The results are bit slimey but the birds will not notice!
• If you don’t have pinecones in your yard, you can use halved oranges or bagels.
• Hang the pinecones in trees that you can see from your house. Having a bird guide is a great way to learn more about the birds that winter over in your area!
• If you're making these with a group of children, it's good to send home the instructions. Most children love this simple project and will want to do it again (and again) at home!
Pinecone Birdfeeders  
1.    Collect pinecones
2.   Tie on a string.
3.   Spread mixture of peanut butter.
4.   Roll it in bird seed.
5.   Hang the birdfeeders in a tree.
6.   Enjoy watching birds eat their treat.

Ice Painting

Today the temperature outside was above freezing so I thought it would be a great day to experiment with melting ice. Our metal roof provided the best chunks of ice...so we grabbed the shovel and loaded them into our empty plastic sandbox.

After explaining that salt lowers the freezing point of ice (and an extended lecture on why children should never touch chemical ladden ice melting products), we took coarse sea salt and sprinkled it onto our chunks of ice. After waiting for a few minutes we could clearly see that the parts of ice with salt were turning into water.
The fun really began when we started dripping food coloring on top of the ice. Tunnels of the food coloring are created throughout the ice, in a sort of spider web effect. After awhile we were out of food coloring and there was still lots of ice to decorate.
So we tried out washable markers. The markers easy enough for my 19 month old to use and my 5 year old had more control in making designs. The markers are ruined in the process, but that is a small price to pay for such a wonderful scientific discovery. (Also note that food coloring can stain clothing so you may want to use diluted washable paint instead.)
Once the ice was mostly decorated, we decided to leave it sit for an hour. When we returned the ice paintings had turned into beautiful tie dyed ice art! There was a colorful puddle of water that had formed as well. Tomorrow we plan on revisiting the ice art to see what an evening of temperatures slightly above freezing will do!

Happy New Year! May 2011 be filled with nature adventures for you and your family!