Butterflies

We started working on a new pin for Keepers today....Butterflies. Today, we discussed the four stages of a butterfly's life cycle and then did a fun art project to reinforce what we read about. 

 The older girls added alot more detail to their plate. They turned out really cute. Then they created their own butterfly on a color sheet I had printed out for them. I didn't end up getting a picture of any of them.

We finished our butterfly fun with a cute snack.

Turtle

On our walk, we found a turtle floating in our lake. Because this turtle didn't swim away, the girls were really able to get a good glimpse of this turtle. It has been fun living by a lake and really getting to educate the girls about the nature around us. Our lake is full of many animals and birds that have migrated here for the winter. 

Monkey Muffins

 I love Fridays and desire to make them a fun day. Sometimes our schedule allows for lots of fun and sometimes, we have to get caught up on schoolwork missed throughout the week because of other activities going on. Currently, my three younger girls are a week ahead on their schoolwork. We have all been doing so well with the change in curriculum and schedule for school. The girls have been working so hard that today we were able to have a really fun day.

We started the morning by making gingerbread monkey muffins. The mix was given to the girls for Christmas and today was the perfect day to make them. This was a yeast mix so the girls got to see bread rise.

 We set up an assembly line in order to put the muffins together and so everyone had a task to do. This also works on working together and being patient.

 Ladybug was in charge of making dough balls.

 Butterfly dipped them into butter.

 Dragonfly rolled them around the cinnamon and sugar and then placed them into the muffin tin.

They were so proud of their final creation!

Huntsville Botanical Gardens

We received a free pass to the botanical gardens in the mail. I was thrilled because this is a place I wanted to take the girls and to be able to go for free was a major plus. We decided to wait until the scarecrow trail was up and running. From what I gathered, different people in the community create a scarecrow for the trail so they are all very unique.

 PF loved the bonsai garden.

 Next to the artist scarecrow. She hopes she can do one in the coming years.

 I really liked this one.

 The dancing ladies for breast cancer.

 A pirate ship playground.

 Huge lily pads

 Toward the end of the day, we were all getting tired as we stumbled by the children's garden. We ended up spending another hour and a half playing in this area. There were several different water play areas and needless to say the girls were pretty wet after playing.

 There was a storybook area and a maze as well.

 Then we went into the butterfly house which was beautiful and we enjoyed all the butterflies flying around us. One even landed on Ladybug's finger. This was a great way to reinforce what we are learning about in Science right now.

The girls also loved the turtles they could touch. We enjoyed our time here so much that we are planning to get a season pass in the Spring!

A Dragonfly Snack

Water Tension

 Today, we tested out how water tension works for a water strider bug by making a paperclip float on water. First we used a tissue to place the paper clip on the water and then they each tried to place the paperclip on their own.

Insect Defenses

 We are continuing our study of insects with how God has designed each insect with a way to defend itself. After our reading, I gave the kids the assignment to create their own insects and tell us how they defend themselves. Logan's was by far the most creative with electrocuting antennae, an electrical mouth, and a stinger.

 Ladybug created a ladybug (such a surprise) that blended in with its habitat

Butterfly made a really cool headband shaped insect with webbed feet to swim and really big eyes.

Indian Creek Geocaching

 Since our normal Friday was cancelled for this week, I decided to take the girls on a fun field trip to a local park. This park has a walking/trail with several geocaches along the way. I decided this would be a great nature walk and a fun way to get in some exercise. Some of the girls brought their scooters and this path was perfect for it.

We found this new fruit on the ground and thought it was so interesting. I came home and found out it is:

Maclura pomifera, commonly called Osage-orange, hedge-apple,^[1] Horse-apple, Bois d'arc, Bodark, or Bodock^[2] is a small deciduous tree or large shrub, typically growing to 8–15 metres (26–49 ft) tall. It is dioecious, with male and female flowers on different plants. The fruit, a multiple fruit, is roughly spherical, but bumpy, and 7–15 cm in diameter. It is filled with a sticky white latex sap. In fall, its color turns a bright yellow-green. It is not closely related to the orange: Maclura belongs to the mulberry family, Moraceae, while oranges belong to the family Rutaceae.^[3]
Maclura is closely related to the genus Cudrania, and hybrids between the two genera have been produced. In fact, some botanists recognize a more broadly defined Maclura that includes species previously included in Cudrania and other genera of Moraceae.
Osajin and Pomiferin are flavonoid pigments present in the wood and fruit, comprising about 10% of the fruit's dry weight. The plant also contains the flavonol morin.
It was once thought that placing an Osage orange under the bed would repel spiders and insects. This practice has declined with the rise of synthetic insecticides. However, scientific studies have found that extracts of Osage orange do repel several insect species, in some studies just as well as the widely-used synthetic insecticide DEET.^[4]

 These are the trees they come from.

 The girls found several inch worms.

 We found two out of four caches that we wanted to find.

 We got back to the car and got out our lunch. After lunch, the girls were going to play on the playground equipment but the equipment was too hot so instead they waded in the creek near by.

Insect Creations

To finish out our chapter on insects and to review over what we learned, I had the kids create their our insect following the characteristics of God's insects. We didn't have alot to work with (most of my cool stuff is in storage)but we made due with what we had and no one seemed to mind.

 Dragonfly's creation had wings and a sponge mouth. The legs were great for crawling.

 Emily's insect

 William's insect

 Logan's insect

 Butterfly made her own butterfly....of course.

Ladybug's insect