The Pumpkin Challenge

This challenge was fun and messy! Since we completed the first ten challenges over at the Handbook of Nature Study, I thought we should at least try to do one of the autumn challenges. We decided on the pumpkin challenge, which involved cutting up our pumpkins.

First, we estimated how many seeds we thought might be in each pumpkin.

At the bottom of the board are the kids' estimations and words they used to describe the experience of digging out the seeds of a pumpkin.

Let the scooping begin!

We rinsed the seeds,

drained them, and counted them.

Grant's pumpkin was the winner with 545 seeds!

Challenge #10!

We made it through the Handbook of Nature Study's first ten challenges! Challenge 10 instructed us to enjoy nature and have a picnic! I wasn't sure the weather would cooperate with us since today is November 20th, but the Lord blessed us with a beautiful day. We went to a new park, and everyone had a great time.

We noticed the trees have lost most of their leaves, and Grant had fun trying to shake the remaining few out of the tree.

One of our favorite things about late fall is the crunch sound the leaves make when you step on them!

Now if this isn't an example of enjoying nature, I don't know what is!

The playground at our new found park has great equipment to play on.

We brought home a new collection of leaves and twigs and will work next week on identifying the trees the kids climbed at this park.

The Leaf Man

This week for nature study, we enjoyed the beautiful fall weather again. After last week's cold spell, Albuquerque is back to 70 degree daily highs. The Leaf Man, by Lois Ehlert, is a book your young children will enjoy, but the project we did based on this book was fun for everyone.

We decided Abby's looked like a dancing puppy.

Chloe found pine needles for arms and legs.

Allison is our flower person, so naturally she incorporated some wildflowers in her creation.

Grant chose a pinecone for the body of his "leaf man".

Enjoy the outdoors with your children and encourage them to make their own "leaf men/animals"!

Snow Storm in October!

After yesterday's snow, I couldn't believe it when I looked outside and saw what looked like snow clouds. No! It couldn't be! Not again! It's only October! The kids were finishing up school, and I was posting about the fall picture books we'd being enjoying. Satisfied with my post, I hit the "publish post" button and took a look outside. Sure enough, snow had started to fall. The kids grabbed their coats and mittens and ran outside to investigate, throw snowballs, and build a snowman. Like a dutiful mother, I went inside to make hot chocolate for my chilly children. Enjoy the pictures.

Challenge #6

Yesterday we completed Challenge #6 over at the Handbook of Nature Study blog. We have decided to study a tree in our backyard for the entire year which looks much like the ones we have at our local park. The days here in ABQ have been picture perfect, so we once again took our studies to the park.

Part of the challenge of nature studies is to get everyone outdoors to enjoy God's creation. I have noticed that on the days we get outside for a little while, everyone's mood and attitude is much better-- including my own!

Chloe commented, "Mom, I feel so free when I can feel the sand between my toes!"

Perfect place to practice ballet

Abby getting a running start for a round-off. We all feel certain she'll add that back hand spring soon!

Some of the best things about fall and the outdoors are jumping in a pile of leaves, and

climbing trees!

Challenge #6 contains suggestions for collections, and the kids have already been bringing a little of the outdoors inside. Our collection box is nothing fancy--just an old shoe box!

In trying to encourage the kids in keeping their own nature journal, I've started one of my own.

Bringing Autumn Indoors

We had such a good time at 4th of July Canyon on Saturday that we just had to bring some of it home with us. Today, we finally got some time to craft with our leaves, acorns, and seeds. First, I cut out a small circle (about 8 inches in diameter) from heavy cardboard. Then, I cut a smaller hole in the middle. The kids then painted the ring with a thick coat of green tempera paint.

Once the paint dried, we strategically hot glued the leaves, acorns, and seeds that we found on our hike to our wreath.

Here is our finished product. Now I just have to find a place to hang them!

We still had some left over leaves that we couldn't part with, so we ironed them between sheets of waxed paper and hung them on our sliding glass door giving them a stained-glass effect. If you decide to do this with your kids, I discovered that you should use a low temp. iron, and only go over the wax paper once. You'll be tempted to go over it several times with the iron, but doing so will loosen the wax paper and it won't stick.

Manzano Moutains: 4th of July Canyon

Isaiah 55:12 "For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Honey Eating Bee

The Botanic Gardens held their annual Fall Harvest Festival this past Saturday here in ABQ. To see pictures of the apple cider making and other things we did, check out Allison's blog. I just had to post this picture that I took (The kids didn't like being around the bee lady.). She allowed this bee to eat honey right off of her finger!

Challenge #5

We just completed week 6 of school, and have made it to challenge #5 in our nature studies! I'm very excited that we have been able to keep our nature studies an important part of our school week. If you haven't checked out Barb's Handbook of Nature Study blog, you really need to get over there and check it out! I think our focus area is going to be trees and leaves since fall is in the air, and we are spotting more and more colorful leaves everyday. This little guy, however, caught Grant's eye today.

Leaf rubbings are so fun to do!