The Great Outdoors: seedlings, studies, ideas

I don't know what your great outdoors is looking like, but ours is pretty rainy and cold.

Other than filling our bird feeders and checking out the "ponds" that are forming in our yard (and splashing in them!) we've been inside.   

So we've been checking on the baby eagles in their nest in IOWA!  If you haven't seen this, check it out!  And show the kids in your life!  It's a live stream of a family of eagles! LINK HERE
And if you want to see the movie of the eaglets hatching, check this link.

We did get one warm day this week and we spent the whole day outside!  
{This Little Project} is our garden that we're planting now and that we'll transfer into our real garden in a month, when it's finally warm enough!

It takes longer with the kiddos helping but they are now TOTALLY INVESTED in this work and I'm certain that they will want to EAT the things THEY PLANTED.  (At least it worked last year!)

Kay was checking out what was in the soil with her magnifying glass.

So far we have herbs as well as fruits and veggies started.  Learning about seeds and plants is a great educational experience for them every year-I love it!


To learn more about roots and how plants look we also planted some seeds in some plastic bags.  We are watering them with a medicine dropper here.  It's easy to see how much water they are getting that way.

I'll update {This Little Project} later.  Right now these little bags are taped to the window right next to our Nature Shelf.  We'll watch them sprout and grow roots through the clear bag.



Jay caught a fly and wanted a closer look.


Jay definitely has the green thumb in our family.  
He's been checking every plant in our yard for progress.  I think he is so ready for spring to really get here!  
Here he is showing me that one daffodil is bloomed and the other is still a bud.


We're starting a nature study journal with this printable from Handbook of Nature Study.
If you want to infuse nature study into your life, you'll love that website.

We have come across some fun tools that we use to study nature.  This post is long enough already, so I'll share those with you this coming week.  

But, I do want to share my favorite read about the value of being in nature for children.  It's a must-read for every parent and has totally changed how I value our time outside!

Joining in here too.  Stop by for fun gardening ideas!





2 comments:

Liz said...

FYI the eagles are in IOWA not Ohio... :o) Thanks!!

An Iowan

Jedda said...

Liz-Thanks for keeping me straight ;) I have a knack for switching those for some reason-ah!

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