Yogi Bear Jellystone Park 2012

Such a great trip...tenting, cooking over the fire, hay rides, swimming,water slides, tubing, dancing, fire-truck rides and of course visiting the bears... Cindy Bear, Boo Bear, and Yogi Bear!

Little man and Daddy at our campsite!

 Mmmm... ice cream for Mommy and her little man!

Do you like to camp with your family? 

Great for exploring nature and creating fun memories.

Enjoy your weekend!

Jen



Exploring Wildlife

On our recent trip to the mountains, we loved observing wildlife!  It's usually the highlight of our trip and this trip was pretty special, because we spotted something that we've never seen before- except for at our zoo of course.

Yeah, our first bear sighting!!  I wish I got a better pic, but there he is... see above!  We were so excited!

Seeing Elk is always a treat!  They are such beautiful creatures.

Little critters are always fun as well.  I felt bad for this little guy.. little man would not leave him alone.  He even named him Yellowy.

Oh... and I even had fun observing my own little wild things!!

For more nature related activities and fun, be sure to visit my post at The Activity Mom.. Nature Activities. You'll find ideas for learning and creating with sticks and stones!

Enjoy your day!

Jen

Wordless Wednesday: Time for Bubbles!

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

For more... visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Enjoy,

Jen

Nature Around the Neighborhood

For Peanut's Science assignment yesterday, she had to take a nature hike around the neighborhood. With bag in hand and her siblings, she trekked around looking for rocks, bark, grass, leaves, flowers, nuts, etc. 
 

Oh no, little brother found a stick!

 Here are some suggestion for taking your own Science Hike....
-encourage your child to talk about what they see and hear in their surroundings
-give time for observations and questions
-set everything on a table and discuss discoveries
-set out art tools and let your child make a collage or add drawings to a nature journal

Enjoy your weekend!

Jen

Time for Camp

Time to go away,

To have no worries,

Time to play,

It's time to go to camp!

 
Time to run,

Laugh and smile,

Explore and discover,

It's time to go to camp!

Late nights around the fire,

Roasting dogs and Smores.

Glow sticks and "glow" bugs,
It's time to go to camp!




 

 
Catching salamanders 

And frogs,

Watching birds and elk, too

Skipping on rocks and logs,

It's time to go to camp!

Oh, my poem could go on forever!  Nature walks, family talks, kids getting dirty and rising up early- it's time to go to camp!  I hope that you and your families have a wonderful weekend together-whether you will be going away or staying home to celebrate Memorial Weekend. Before I leave..... here are some links to some past posts about travel and nature!

Travel Games   Nature: Our Outdoor Classroom   Animal Tracks
Life at the Pond  Camp Pics  Nature Journals

See you next week!
Jen

Home Sweet Home!

Home Sweet Home! or is it?  I think it's hard to come back from the beautiful mountains, hearing the birds in the morning and the crickets at night and a weekend with no worries- to my messy home and bills and worries, etc.  Oh well, home is where your loved ones are, right?  And it's important to be content where ever we are, so I'll quite moaning and be happy about being back.  :)

Well, here are a few highlights of our trip:

Little Man loved swimming in the lake and playing in the wet sand.  I could not believe that he didn't put it in his mouth.  He had the best time sitting in a little pool of water and playing.  Awesome sensory experience for him! 

Peanut had a blast swimming underwater in the lake.  She learned how to swim this year, so she was just thrilled.  We had fun building a sand castle together.  Also, she loves cards and kept asking me to play Go Fish all weekend.  I taught her how to play Uno as well.  A new favorite.

Sunshine- excited to find a new insect- a leaf hopper.  She named it Emily and wanted to bring her home, but we persuaded her to keep her in her habitat and that she would be happiest there. She also had fun on a new disk swing we attached to a tree outside our camp. 

Mom and Dad- had a little fun dancing in the kitchen and just being silly with the kids!

I'd post pics, but I can't find my camera's battery charger. (driving me batty not having my camera!) Need to get photos developed from my throw away camera and then I'll post. 

Overall- wonderful weekend. A few bug bites and no campfire due to rain, but good food and good times!


Enjoy your Monday! 

Jen

Life at the Pond

Next weekend, we will once again be traveling to one of our favorite spots, our camp up in the mountains.  The kids are looking forward to getting their hands, feet, and everything else dirty while they investigate pond life.  Tadpoles, frogs, dragonflies, salamanders, striders, and more inhabit the pond near our camp.  Using nets, the kids scoop the wildlife out of the water to enjoy for just a small amount of time before returning them to their own habitat. 

As I was looking through my teacher resources, I found this great Pond Animal worksheet.  After teaching the kids about what life is like in a pond, the kids can invent a new animal that has adapted to pond life.  What would the animal eat? How will it fend off predators? How will it breathe? After thinking about these questions and discussing, a great project idea would be to sketch and label their new creature or to create the animal with clay or other materials. 

Pond Animal Worksheet 

Invent an animal that has adapted to pond life. Think about what life is like in a pond.

Name of pond animal:

 _______________________________


What does your animal eat?




What adaptations does your animal have for the following?

finding food:




moving around:




protection:




reproduction:




other amazing facts:







Worksheet above adapted from-
(Challenge Magazine May/Summer 2000 Vol 18 No. 5 Issue 90)
___________________________________________________

Other great resources:

Pond Explorer
Virtual Pond
Ponder This

Other ideas:
Discuss organisms that the kids can't see with the naked eye.  If available, use a microscope to view pond water.  Share PowerPoint: Using a Microscope & Life in a Pond

Discuss senses-What do you hear at the pond? Describe what you see?  What do you feel? What does the critter(s) feel like? Discuss.

Books that look like fun:


Let me know if you investigate pond life with your children.  I'll update you with our finds once we return from our camping trip. 

Enjoy this beautiful day!

Jen

The Great Outdoors Challenge

Pebble throwing,bubble blowing,feeding the ducks- we've been outdoors this week! It's been great being outside with the kids everyday. Even little man has been enjoying the great outdoors. Thanks 5 Orange Potatoes for encouraging us to enjoy nature everyday!



















It's not too late to join the challenge and get outside everyday with your kids!

Jen