Nature walks and Bugs!

Thought I'd show y'all what we've been up to lately. Last week for our nature day, we checked out the Cosumnes River Preserve, which was absolutely gorgeous!! The weather was of course perfect with a light wind, and everything was in bloom. What was only a few weeks ago underwater was now a sea of purple flowers! Pictures just don't do justice to the beauty of the area, but here's a little sample of our day:

Fellow homeschoolers!

Stroller Brigade.

BUGS

Today in kindergroup (that consisted entirely of us and our closest friend), we read a lot of cool stuff about bugs (did you know there are slave-maker ants who invade black ant nests and steal away the pupa to grow them into their own personal slaves who feed them, scavenge for them, dig tunnels and raise their fellow servant pupa?!) then I let the kids have at it with a mound of craft stuff and their creativity to create their own bug thing. Here's where we started:

And here's what we got:
This was Shaenee's. She said they were ant eggs on a log. She really just wanted to get gooey with all that glue and paint!

This was Siena's. She probably didn't get the "bug" idea...She did, however, enjoy filling three of these eggs with glue and paint and very carefully mixing each and closing them. Meditative, perhaps?

And mine. We had a lot of fun. I had more things planned, but the kids enjoyed this so much (and took so long doing it) that we just kept to this. If you're curious what my "lesson plan" was, here's what I had lined up:

Bugs:

Read: Bug Safari by Bob Barner

Read: Animals in Action (an old but excellent science book) from A Child's First Library of Learning

Sing: The ants go marching

Sing: Head, thorax, abdomen, legs (head shoulders knees toes)

Play: Ants in a line (follow the leader)

Art: Make a bug

Activity: Go outside and catch a bug. Research what kind, what it eats, what its habitat is, and try to create a habitat in a glass jar to keep the bug.

Snack: Ants on a log (celery w/peanut butter and raisins)

We've also in the past done a snack bug where we set out marshmallows or strawberries for the body and all kids of stick-type snacks (like crunchy chow mein noodles) and eyeball-type snacks (like raisins). The kids LOVE this snack/activity and it is a great time filler!