Nature Challenge–Seed Socks

We started today’s outdoor adventure with a book by Ruth Brown.
                           
Ten little seeds are planted and as they germinate and grow they disappear in different ways.  One by a bird, one by a dog digging, one by a slug are a few of the ways. 
          
We were going to be another way seeds disappear by wearing a sock over a shoe.
       
                                    All dressed and off we go.
   
                We explored every path in our new wooded area.
     
 
After a great time in the woods we had a look at the bottom of our socks.
     
             
                    They were dirty but are there any seeds?
      
We gave our socks a spray of water then put them in a plastic bag.
                        
                          Closing the bag with a twist tie. 
       
They are now hanging in our window.  Do you think anything will grow?  There is moisture, sunshine, a bit of dirt but are there any seeds?  We’ll watch and wait.

30x30 Nature Challenge

All the StrongStart centres in our district are participating in the David Suzuki Foundation 30x30 Nature Challenge.  Every day this month we will spend a minimum of 30 minutes outdoors.  The following is what our centre did our first two days.

Day 1 we did some gardening.
         
    
We move our spuds out of the green house into the fresh air and sunshine. 
                       Then gave them a good watering.
                      
       
We worked in our Planting-a-Promise garden picking all the dead blossoms from the stems.  This will allow the bulb to store more energy for next year.
                    
When we arrived at our flower bed we noticed this hole dug in the ground.  Who would have dug it?  Is it still in there?  The children were quick to respond that a rabbit dug it.  We do have lots of rabbits that live all around the school and neighbourhood.  They are probably right.

Day 2
         
                 
                        We went on a listening walk. 
Before heading out I read the book called “The Listening Walk” by Paul Showers.
      
It’s a great book to kick off the walk.  The girl in the story describes what she hears from her dad’s shoes going ‘dop dup’ to the leaves whispering and the bees buzzing. 
         
We practiced making ‘deer ears’ before going out.  If you cup your hands behind your ears it will help the noise funnel in better.  If you switch your hands and they are blocking your ears from the front, noise will be muffled.  Give it a try when you’re talking and you will notice the difference.
         
   
After walking quietly through the woods, although some children had a difficult time of staying quiet, we took sometime to draw what we heard.  Birds was the common response.  Although a few heard something scary.  They couldn’t see the noise and when one child drew, her picture was a monster and a bird that she labeled ‘scared – bird’.

We’ll be practicing more quiet, listening times in nature again.

Fingerprint Tree

        
            Our latest group project is a finger print tree. 
I’ve seen them on various wedding sites and felt it would work at our centre.
          
What I enjoyed watching is the parent and children making prints together.
Talking about what they are doing, comparing their prints and helping
                                            each other.

          Our tree looks just like the spring trees outside,
                  their leaves are just beginning to grow.
                 
         This project will continue throughout the seasons. 
Before summer holidays are here we’ll add more fingerprints to help
                the tree look full like the trees outside.
               
In the fall we’ll add red, orange, yellow and brown fingerprint leaves.

Bread Pudding Recipe

We had left over bread from our Rolled Up French Toast snack last week. 
   So I bought a few more eggs and milk and we made bread pudding.
                 
       The recipe calls for 3 eggs, which we love to crack open.
      
And also spend a few seconds picking stray shells out of the bowl.
 
                  We whisked the eggs together. 
      Helping each other hold the bowl in one place.
 
We practiced our pouring skills when we added two cups of milk.
               
Then whisked the eggs and milk together.  We sprinkled in some cinnamon too.
                
 
   Next we ripped up bread into little pieces, even crumbs. 
                      We added 9 slices in total.
 
Each of the children added their bread to the egg mixture then stirred it in. 
           We watched how the bread changed and became soggy.
                   
I totally forgot to bring sugar for our cooking so instead we added raisins.
             
         We spread it in the pan then baked it for 45 minutes at 350.
                 
                         All baked and ready to eat.