“I Spy Nature” in Action

This morning we went on our first nature walk of 2013.
We used our new “I Spy Nature” pouches.
The children loved wearing them.


Our outing was to a marsh to feed birds so the pouches included;
  
a clip board with pictures of birds that have been spotted at this marsh before,
a small container of bird seed and

a small water colour paint pallet that I found at Dollar Giant.
The cup is for water that I will carry in a small thermos.

 
 
Once we had our bags and checked the contents we were ready to go.


It was a beautiful day, sun shining, little wind and lots of birds.
 
 
The birds were quick flying around but some did land on our hands.
 
And the birds were sneaky.
 
He puts the seed in the feeder, watches, then as he turns away a bird arrives.

As soon as turn backs to see, it flies away.


After checking off which birds we saw we headed to the marsh.
 
We saw ducks, stellar jays, black birds and evidence that a beaver
had been there
before us.
       
 
We were ready to pull out the paints to document the birds we saw.
 
We talked about the paintings with each other, trying to remember the names
of the birds.

 
It’s great to be outside learning together.

Creating New Snowflakes from Old

       
Using paint rollers is a favourite at the art table
(you may of heard me say that before). 
It doesn’t matter what we are doing, it draws the children to the table. 
This morning we re-purposed items that looked like snowflakes to make snowflake prints.

 
We used non slip bath tub shapes that looked like a flower. 
We painted it two ways, with the suction cups facing up,
  
                                                      and down.

 
We used plastic snowflakes that worked beautifully
     
and left an impression in the paint on the tray. 
We tried pressing paper on it to make a print but it smooshed into a blob.

 
We used cardboard snowflakes that left a great print too
 and was easy to roll the paint onto.

 
We used bubble wrap and the children painted it two ways,
on top of paper leaving an outline and
then by pressing the paper on top of bubble wrap. 

 
We tried making snowflakes with straws too.
Not too successful though.

   
This mom decided to cut out her own snowflake and paint it
~ wonderful!


It was messy artwork but lots of fun.

      Proud to show off her art.

Tortilla Snowflakes

Even though it was pouring outside today we had a bit of snow
indoors at the snack table. 
We made edible snowflakes from tortillas.

Start with a flour tortilla (you could try corn but I wanted it white)
and cut it. 
I thought it would be easier to use a cookie cutter than scissors to create
the snowflake design but it took a lot of pressure to cut the pieces out. 
Also as the tortilla sat out in the air between children cutting it, it would
dry out and became even more difficult to cut.

Next place on baking sheet and spray with a cooking spray.

Put in the oven for about 10 minutes till crunchy and slightly brown.

While it’s still warm sprinkle on snow (icing sugar).

We broke them into smaller pieces because we used 10 inch tortillas.

Very easy, very inexpensive, very yummy!