Graveyard Nature

My family has a long-standing tradition when it comes to learning how to drive. You do it in a cemetery. There are lots of roads to practice driving, turning and parking - and if you run over someone there is a good chance they are already dead. Poor taste, I know - but that joke was told to me by my Great Grandmother the day I learned to drive, and I still find it funny. When you have a 15 year old behind the wheel you want to minimize the damage if you can, so off we went to find a cemetery. The Punk's older brother was ready to start cruising the graveyard, so The Punk and I took a little time to go on a Nature Walk while Daddy gave the Older Son a driving lesson.

The Punk doesn't know much about death. He's 3.5, and luckily hasn't had any experience (that he knows of - we lied about he cat) with death so far in his short life. For this, I feel blessed. I don't want him to feel that kind of hurt or confusion for as long as possible.

So - this led me to have some answers ready for the "Where are we?" and "What is this place?" kind of questions I was sure we would face. My answers were prepared in vain. The Punk never asked, so I never volunteered. I guess he just assumed we were at some sort of park, and went about looking for twigs and leaves. I told him the rule about not disturbing flowers that were in vases, and he only stopped to look or smell them. Once he stopped pick up a small fallen flag, and replanted in the tombstone, and just kept going.

I love this child.
Our bounty from our walk: a Pine cone, a twig, some small wild flowers, some leaves, an acorn cap, and a small rock. And the Older Son didn't run over anyone - dead or alive. It was a good day at the Graveyard.

This post linked to: Preschool Corner and Montessori Monday

Grow Baby Grow!

I bought some kitchen herb seeds/post from the Dollar Spot at Target a couple of weeks ago. The Punk and I decided that it was time to plant them.

He was so careful and cautious with this project. I was impressed at how much patience he had for something that was so time consuming.

First we added a pellet to a bowl and poured water over it.

"Mom! It's growing!"

I found that it was easier for me to invert the container over the dirt once it was wet, rather than spooning it into the containers.

The seeds were so tiny, but the Punk had no trouble picking them up at all. He planted each one with care.

Bad flash picture, but you can see the itty bitty seeds in the pot. The Punk covered each one with soild "like a blanket when you go to sleep" and poured a few drops of water on each on "in case they are firsty".

If all goes well we should have some kitchen herbs sprouting soon!

This post was linked to: The Magic Onions

Eggs in a Nest

This week we made bird seed feeders, and molded them into egg shapes using last year's plastic Easter Eggs. You can find a ton of mold-able bird seed recipes online, but we used this one and it came out great.
I had intended for the walnuts to be stashed inside some of the seed eggs as a base to attach yarn, and also a little surprise for the squirrels after the seed was gone, but that didn't go exactly as planned.

It's a sticky mixture! Unflavored gelatin and bird seed WILL get on your work surface, hair, under your nails, on your clothes. It's rather easy to clean up, but it does stick to everything.

Inserting some seed mix into the plastic eggs. Once this was done we put the eggs in the refrigerator to "set" the gelatin for a while. How long? Long enough for me to clean up and the Punk to take a nap!

Then we set about making our bird nest. We used the yarn and a balloon technique with a bit of Elmer's glue. Sloppy, gloopy, messy, and FUN! Just cut the yarn into 8 to 12 inch strings, dip in the glue and drape over the balloon (placed in a bowl so it wouldn't roll around).

Hey look! Our eggs are done! We "cracked" them out of the plastic molds, and put them on a cookie rack to dry for a few days. The ones where I used walnuts inside broke in half and the walnuts fell out. So, I don't recommend that after all. But, we still managed to use them by gluing them back together with peanut butter. Waste not!

After the nest seemed mostly dry we took it off the balloon and gave it another good coat of glue. It was a little on the flimsy side, so the extra coat made it stiffen up and seem sturdier.

And here is the Punk holding his lovely nest and one of his lovely bird eggs. He was so proud of this craft. It took several days with all the drying time, but he was very patient and worked hard on each step of the process.

We packed the nest and eggs up and took them to my Mother's house. He stayed the night, and they took a little walk around her yard and finished the nest with all sorts of Nature Findings.

Leaves, acorns, flowers, berries and a bed of grass to lie on... could a little seed egg ask for more?

This post was linked to: No Time for Flash Cards and Peanuts are Evil