You have old nylons. You have grass seed. But have you ever tried putting them together? Learn how plants grow as you create a super silly critter from an old nylon, some potting soil, and a little bit of grass seed. Your child will be amazed with the result! What do you need to make a growing porcupine that will bring you back to the days of the Chia Pet? You need an old nylon stocking, preferably a knee-high stocking or one cut off at the knee. You’ll need potting soil and some grass seed and a spray bottle to … Continue reading →

I live in the Pacific Northwest. This time of year, we’re a little sick of wet and we’re looking forward to the summer time! If it’s wet where you are and you’re getting tired of staying indoors, here are some ideas to help you enjoy a wet spring. Become A Model You don’t need to walk down the runway to be a model for your kids. Your children learn from what you do, so get out and explore, even if the weather seems grim! Having a special adult who loves being outside is more important than anything. Get Out! Although … Continue reading →

This morning, I’m sitting at my computer and I’m snooping on eagles. It’s spring, and that means there are so many opportunities to learn about life cycles. But how many of us get a chance to get up close and personal with an eagle’s nest or a hummingbird’s home? Not many, until the advent of online streaming wildlife cams. It’s a chilly, rainy, and wet day. I’m sitting in the comfort of my office watching the eagle tough it out on the big nest that’s about an hour’s drive from my house. The eagle is sitting there stoically, its feathers … Continue reading →

What better science project than to combine science and construction? That’s what the bees do, anyway. They’re master builders, and you can help them by creating bee habitats in your garden. We’ve already talked about bee watching and how you can create excellent bee habitat simply by planting flowers in your yard. If you’d like to take a bee-watching hobby a step further, you can design bee habitats for your garden. If you want to attract mason bees, go for holes and mud. These little, gentle bees make homes in small holes and use mud to plug up their nests. … Continue reading →

If you’ve taken the leap and decided to enjoy bees rather than fear them, then you’ll want to find ways to invite these buzzy little pollinators into your garden. The main reasons that bees aren’t doing so well is a lack of suitable, diverse food sources, the threat of pesticides, and a lack of habitat. You can help with both problems, simply by planting plants and adding bee homes to your yard. Let’s address the food sources first. Bees visit flowers to gather nectar, and they also collect pollen as they go. They move this pollen from flower to flower … Continue reading →

Things are certainly buzzing in the garden these days. Plants are popping out of the ground with vigor, and the bees…oh, the bees. There are so many of them, all wandering about the bushes, delighted that it’s finally a little sunny and that the flowers are out. Many of us are afraid of bees. While bees can sting, they don’t tend to do so, for the most part. Their cousins the wasps are a little more daring, and they’ve given the bee a bad name over the years. Honeybees will sting if threatened, but they do it at a high … Continue reading →

The weather is starting to become warmer, and Spring is nearly here. This is a great time to take your children on a nature hike. They can learn a lot about the insects, plants, and animals that are located nearby. This is a great way to combat nature deficit disorder. Have you heard of nature deficit disorder? It isn’t a learning disability, or a physically heritable condition. It refers to the lack of experience with, and understanding of, the natural world. Years ago, it was normal for kids to spend hours playing outside. This gave children plenty of opportunity to … Continue reading →

If you have a local pond, help the kids explore it this spring! Yesterday I wrote about the importance of aquatic insects. To find these little creatures, you’ll need some equipment. There are many different kinds of equipment that one can use to collect aquatic insects. All of them are relatively inexpensive. Kitchen sieves can be purchased at the store and used for pond dipping. It’s also possible to buy dip nets that are designed for catching fast-moving insects, like predatory diving beetles. For animals that cling to rocks, the best solution is to buy or find a small container … Continue reading →

Ah – it’s going to be spring soon, I can feel it! This year, use a small pond to learn about aquatic insects, and use pond invertebrates to learn about the health of a backyard pond. Whether you have a pond in your garden or you like to visit one in a local park, here are some tips that will help you explore this coming spring. Dancing dragonflies and speedy beetles – are they a reason to squeal in horror, or are they an important part of the pond ecosystem? Well, some might dislike them, but aquatic invertebrates are hugely … Continue reading →

Here, the soil is starting to stir. I’m sure all of those sleeping earthworms are starting to make their way to the surface, moving up through the runoff that comes from the melting snow. Ah, spring. It gets me thinking about gardening. My daughter has a small garden in our yard. Since our yard is itself quite small, her garden is fairly tiny, but it seems to suffice. Since we have many visits from the usual array of urban animals, including dogs, cats, raccoons, and skunks, our solution to gardening is often to place gardens in containers. My daughter’s garden … Continue reading →