Summer Bugs Series: Dragonflies (twig dragonfly tutorial)

 

During these warmer days, a sure way to get my sons outside is to grab a water bottle and magnifying glass and invite them on a bug hunt.  This summer I am extending the activity by incorporating it into some summer learning and providing links to learning websites, crafts, and stories about bugs.

 

This week we are studying dragonflies.  They seem so mysterious, with their bright colors and the way they hover over water.  When we see one, my boys throw out many questions and observations.

Below are some links for learning about dragonflies:

Download a dragonfly lapbook from Homeschool Share. 

 

Dragonfly coloring pages and here.

Beautiful photos of East Coast dragonflies - great to use in a matching game

Download a colorful sheet to learn the difference between a dragonfly and damselfly.

See lovely photos and learn more dragonfly facts from the San Diego Zoo.

The Dragonfly Story - this is a lovely story about a dragonfly who, born in the water, leaves the stream to fly away. As a side note, this story is a good way to help children deal with the loss of a loved one.

Feeling artsy? How to draw a dragonfly and a video of how to draw

Here is an interesting Video about dragonflies.

We read some wonderful books about dragonflies including:

The most colorful wings on the pond belong to the nimble dragonfly, but this delicate flying insect didn't begin life in the air. The secrets of metamorphosis are unfurled in this story of the life of a familiar backyard creature.

A dragonfly lays her clutch of eggs and the life cycle of dragonflies has begun. Watch as the little nymphs change over time into beautiful adults who can move through the air like an acrobat.

This was one of our favorites!  Eliza and her friends learn all about dragonflies when they join Aun Doris on trips to a nearby pond. The science about dragonflies is perfectly integrated into a story in which the remarkable metamorphosis of a dragonfly from a mucky nymph (Eeeewww, says Eliza) to a beautiful winged creature (Magnificent! says Aunt Doris) is a metaphor for the magic of how Eliza, too, grows up.



We also had fun making twig dragonflies:

When they were all dry, we added them to our summer nature table:

Next, we are studying ladybugs...

Winter Nature Table

 In my post about our late autumn nature table, I wrote about how our nature table reflects what we are doing in homeschool lessons as well as the change of the seasons.  In December, our nature table began to change once again. The bear went into hibernation, the autumn leaves blew away and we looked toward the light as the daylight shrank from the longer nights.

 

 

During the holidays, our nature table reflected our reverence for the Christ child.

As we moved into January, Jack Frost froze the land and snow came.  Our table now reflects some of the literature we are reading, including The Tomten and the Fox, Owl Moon, and Night Tree.




The Tomten, the fox, and the owl have come for a visit.

As the season move toward spring, the table will be filled with found treasures that once filled little boys' pockets, mostly twigs and pebbles, until Mrs. Thaw comes and snowdrops bloom inviting a nature table overflowing with little flowers.

Love

Love is the master key which opens the gate to happiness.

-Oliver Wendell Holmes-

Summer Days Nature Table

As the summer progresses, our nature table sees a slow transformation from a show of ocean treasures to a hands-on play space where pebbles are stacked...

and nature friends go for a boat ride on the playsilk sea.

Summer Nature Table

We cherish these warm days of summer in our home. The morning song bird greeting the sun, little sun-kissed freckles on little noses, watching the boys run through the sprinkler squealing with delight, watching the fireflies rise in the field ... these bring me summer time joy.

With the summer solstice, we transformed our nature table to reflect our summer vacation plans to spend unhurried leisurely days at the beach:

May Day

In my family May Day has often been one in which we recognize the beauty of spring and the renewal of nature. I remember a few times, taking fresh cut flowers to neighbors. Somewhere amid the archives of Harding University, there are some incriminating photos of myself and 19 other girls dancing in formal dances around a maypole. Even today, my sweet younger sister sent me a flowery May Day greeting via text.

Although we did not manage to take flowers to our neighbors or make a fruit flower boquet as I had hoped, we did add a maypole to our nature table to remind us of the celebration of Life.

Wishing you a very Happy May!

Easter Nature Table

He Is Risen!

Spring Nature Table - Renewal (forcythia, fairies & fowl)

Ever have a day that just bears down hard and you are just ready to be done with itl? Well, I have had several of those in the past two weeks, yet been blessed amidst it all and look forward to renewal in the days ahead. Our new spring nature table reflects the renewal that comes with a new season. At the nature table we are now greeted with vibrant cheery colors in forcythia, flower faries and fowl (origami cranes).

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

The Nature Table and a Fairy Ring

"But one lovely day, Spring came driving through in her airy carriage drawn by white butterflies. Then Ollie saw Mrs. Thaw, as she stood by the side of the ditch, wearing a brand new apron. She curtsied to Spring, beaming with delight."
-Ollie's Ski Trip by Elsa Beskow

Mrs. Thaw is having her way here in central Pennsylvania. To usher in the changing of seasons, we are reading Ollie's New Skis and The Sun Egg by Elsa Beskow. Just as the transformation from winter to spring is a slow process, so is our transformation of our nature table.

Every few days, the boys will see changes in our winter nature table as we embrace the warmth and beauty awaiting us in Spring. Today, our snow child left the nature table as did our snowmen. Our elf stepped forward to a new fairy ring.

To make the fairy ring, I purchased dowel rod buttons. (Mine are the 3/8 size and can be found at your local Home Depot, Lowes, or craft store.) I left the stem unpainted and used red watercolor, which spread evenly and dried in less than a minute, to paint the tops. For the white dots, I used a tiny brush and acryllic paint. In less than 5 minutes, I had several tiny mushrooms setting on the nature table awaiting discovery by two little boys and a fairy who surely is coming soon...

Little Felted Chickadee & the Great Backyard Bird Count

You have to believe in happiness,
Or happiness never comes ...
Ah, that's the reason a bird can sing -
On his darkest day he believes in Spring.
-Douglas Malloch
You Have To Believe


I have always enjoyed birds - big and little, loud and quiet. I could watch barn swallows swoop and soar and listen to song birds for hours.

During the winter we fill our birdfeeder and throw birdseed on our back deck. Mr. & Mrs. House Finch visit us each morning for breakfast, along with the occasional Mourning Dove and Blacked-Capped Chickadee.


We have images of birds throughout our house.


And the boys often play with their singing Audubon plush birds.

This year we are going to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count held from February 18-21. It is a wonderful way to encourage my sons' love for nature. Want to join us?

To start us off on two weeks of learning about birds, I needle felted a tiny mountain chickadee for our nature table. (It is my first effort at needle felting, and it shows.)

I made two balls - one for the head and one for the body - by taking a small piece of fiber and soaking it in the soapy water and gently rolling it in a ball. After about 30 seconds of rolling the ball, the fibers began to interlock. About a minute later the balls were hard and I rinsed out the soapy water and let them dry overnight.


The next day, I felted on his tail, wings and eyes and placed him in a nest made of dry moss.

Welcome to our nature table little bird. The boys will have alot of fun learning about you.

Winter Nature Table

This is our winter nature table. I thought about putting a lot on it since our holiday nature table was sparse, albeit for a reason. But in an effort to keep our nature table something the boys can interact with, I pulled back and kept it hands-on.



Our table is actually a table/magazine rack. on the bottom shelf we keep a large woven basket full of playsilks that make up a nest for our plush singing Audubon birds. On the sides we keep favorite all-year-round books and seasonal books.



On our winter table are 2 playsilks (white & purple), our wood bowl with treasures (polished rocks), pinecones, Woodsprite & Snowchild figures by Zooloonaturals. a bit of wool roving, a paper mache deer, a prism, a postcard of a scene from Elsa Beskow's "Children of the Forest" and snowmen made by myself and Aidan out of glow-in-the-dark Fimo. All ready for little hands to expolore.