May Hours Outdoors

I've tracked out outdoor hours for two months now.  Our May hours were boosted with a camping trip.  If we can manage to keep our momentum, we should be able to log 1000 hours outdoors this year.

April: 75.25
May: 146.75

Total thus far: 222

I think we are off to a great start.

It Worked!

A few weeks back, Adrianna caught a Woolly Bear caterpillar, gave it a suitable habitat and watched it create a cocoon.  She kept the cocoon and three weeks later, out came an Isabella Moth.  So cool!

Cocoon.
See the opening at the front where the moth came out.

Caterpillar shell.
It was left behind inside the cocoon.

Isabella Tiger Moth.
Freshly out of the cocoon.

Now Nate and Benji are trying to do the same thing with this large green caterpillar.  This guy is one of many that is falling from our trees.  This guy landed on Zoe while she was laying on a blanket in the middle of the yard.  

The birds are having a feast.  

Birds, Butterflies and a Pond

We attended a homeschool nature class at the RARE conservation area.  The focus was on birds, butterflies and pond life.

Learning about birds nests.

Catching bugs and butterflies.

Catching tadpoles.

Momma Toad (or Poppa Toad?) with tadpoles.

Jars of pond life.

Diving Beetle Larva.

Art Lessons

Adrianna's artwork from her art lesson at the Homer Watson Gallery.

Art Lessons

Nate's artwork from his art lesson at the Homer Watson Gallery.

Love

Shades Mills

Our weekly visit to Shades Mills was much warmer this week.  The kids spent the entire time at the beach area.  Swimming, playing in the sand, exploring and finding (and burying) dead things.

These little inch worms are everywhere this year
- much to the boys' delight!

Adrianna caught a butterfly with her hands!
No harm done.  She let it go and it flew away.

Discovering grass.

Sunning himself on a rock like a lizard.

Making sandcastles.

Dead Duckling.  :-(

Dead fish.
Adrianna poked it.
We learned that rotting things STINK.

Dead baby turtle.

We found a clutch of dead baby turtles.
They had been dead for awhile.

The grave site.

A Time to Swing

Since we decided to turn the dirt space into a flower garden (and therefore take over the kids main play area), we surprised them with a swing set.  

Excited helpers.

Mixing cement.

Waiting is HARD!
The cement is still wet.

JOY!

We took Zoe to the neighbourhood park so that she could swing too.
First swing ride!

A Time to Plant

Garden time!

Veggies on one side and flowers on the other.  Like always, there are many helpers.

This space used to be "the dirt space".  Nathaniel spent many
many hours digging and dreaming and creating here over the
years.  He has many many fond memories of this space.  He was
a part of creating this garden but I think he's a bit sad that
its no longer a play space for him.  He's growing up.
(I have fond memories too....)

Kitchener Children's Museum

We joined a small homeschool group for a program about dinosaurs.  At the last minute, there was a program change and we ended up with a program geared towards much older children.  The kids understood the basics of predator and prey and Benji had a great time pretending to be a T-Rex and stomping around trying to catch his prey.  

The rest of the day was free to explore The Museum.  For a few hours in the afternoon, it was pretty deserted and the kids had a wonderful time exploring at leisure.

Trying to make the robotic dinosaur work.

The water table is a favourite.

Poppa spent most of the day helping with Benji.

Pin board faces.
We were explicitly told not to use our faces, but since there
was no one around and I felt it was "safe"....

Six Adrianna faces.
Pretty cool.

Playing with the mirror.
She so wanted to touch that baby!

The house the boys built.