Estimating and The Great Backyard Bird Count

"Momma, do you know why George Washington is one of the best presidents?"

This was from my eldest one after I picked her up from school a few weeks ago.  With several accolades flying through my head - 1st president, Revolutionary War general, honest chopper of cherry trees - I let her continue her thought uninterrupted.

"Because he gave us a day off school."

Well, there is that, too.

A highlight of President's weekend for our family each year is the Great Backyard Bird Count, a joint project of the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology and the Audubon Society.  It's a great example of an accessible citizen science project that can be done with kids.  For at least 15 minutes during the long weekend, contributors are asked to count the number of each type of bird they observe and submit it online at the GBBC website.  As the name indicates, many people conduct the count in their backyards, although others may do it at local parks or other public spaces.

The Pine Cone Experiment

One of the other things the girls have been collecting during our recent explorations are pine cones.  In our community, there are some beautiful and prolific pine trees that line the main thoroughfare.  Have you ever noticed how pine cones change after a few days of rain?  This is an easy experiment to do with very common (and free!) materials.

Materials Needed:

• pine cones, at least 8 - 10
• small kitchen towel
• container with water (we used a plastic storage container)
• magnifying glass (optional)

From Caterpillar to Moth: Ctenucha virginica

 

I call him "Stan". 

Yes, yes, I have heard the arguments against anthropomorphizing, especially with children, but, really, "Ctenucha" is such a mouthful. 

So, Stan he is. Until he hatches anyway, and then he might just be "Stanette". 

Maya found him yesterday clinging to the side of our plastic pool.  It is the larvae ("caterpillar" or, as Maya says, "killerpatter") form of the Ctenucha virginica moth. We found our bug jar and the girls dug out their magnifying glasses and spent some good quality time investigating our new friend.

Dissecting Bean Seeds

Spring has definitely arrived here and I am itching to get outside in the garden.  We have big, maybe too big given our newborn, plans for the garden this year including a square foot gardening project for the older girls.  (That particular project involves power tools - hooray!)  We just received some seeds we ordered in the mail this week from Seeds of Change (a great source for organic seeds - we got some San Marzano tomato seeds this year because I hear they make an amazing sauce!) and I made the comment about every seed having a baby plant inside.  The girls, as you can imagine with a new baby in the house, are fascinated by babies right now and wanted to see the baby plant so we decided to dissect some beans!

Materials Needed:

• variety of dried beans - we used a bag of mixed dried beans intended for soup
• water
• paper towels
• 5 plastic containers
• magnifying glass
• markers - I recommend permanent (for adult use!)
• science journal

The Great Backyard Bird Count

Do you have an extra 15 minutes this weekend?  Perhaps you have no school on Monday for President's Day and are looking for something to do?  If so, think about participating in the The Great Backyard Bird Count.  This is a great citizen science project run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (in my hometown!).  Basically, all you need to do is observe the species and birds you see over a 15 minute (or more) period and then submit the data online.  The data needs to be collected by the end of the day on Monday, February 20, 2012, but you have a bit more time (until March 5th) to actually submit the data.

The ornithologists at Cornell will use the data to create a picture of where the birds are during this weekend from all over the country.  The data from this weekend, and from counts in the past, help answer questions like how the winter's weather has affected bird populations, if migrations will be similar or different from previous years as well as if any species are showing worrisome declines in population.

The Great Backyard Bird Count website has a wide variety of resources to help you in your task.  There are more detailed instruction for collecting and submitting the data, including some PowerPoint presentations.  Not sure of which birds you might see in February in your area?  You can type in your zip code and get a regional bird list.  There is also a whole section for kids, including coloring pages.  And, you can watch the data as it comes in and see other counts that are coming in from your zip code.  How cool!

And, inspired by the bird count this weekend, Maya and I (along with some friends) made some shaped bird feeders for our feathered friends.  We followed the directions from this post on the Eighteen25 blog. Here's a pic of our finished product (I think its supposed to be an apple?):

It is very easy to do (only requiring gelatin, water and bird seed) but I wouldn't recommend doubling or tripling the recipe, unless you have a virtual army of kids you are doing this with.  One recipe made two large cookie cutter bird feeders - but the mixture cools off pretty quickly and, once it does, it loses its stickiness and makes it hard to put into the mold.

Skeleton Models

Originally, we were going to do an activity with seed dispersal this week, but we're going to table that until next week and work on a skeleton activity instead.  We are going to keep our seed samples in a gallon size plastic bag in the fridge (to prevent mold) and next week we will be joined by my friend, plant goddess extraordinaire, Amy, and her son.  In the meantime, let's delve into skeletons!

I probably should have started this out by saying that I love Halloween.  Seriously love it.  And I think its a genetic trait passed on from my mother.  For the last 10 years or so she lived out in the country and  received maybe 10 trick-or-treaters total in all that time but that didn't stop her from coming up with wonderful, zany and original costumes each year.  We also are currently living out in the country and count a grand total of zero Halloween night visitors over the last 7 years, not that it has stopped me either.  

The genesis of this activity idea occurred earlier this week while I was wandering the Halloween aisle at Target, looking for a giant spider for our faux web.  (Incidentally, I found one and love it, but the girls are not so thrilled by it...)  In my browsing, I kept noticing example after example of skeletons, some more accurate than others and it got me thinking about both skeletons and anatomical models.  In this activity, we will compare several skeleton models and identify which model we think is most accurate and in the process talk about both the role of the skeleton and how models are useful.  It will also utilize math skills (counting) so the activity itself may be better suited to children that have a better grasp of numbers but younger kids can get the gist of the idea and there are many extension ideas that would definitely work with the younger set.

Materials Needed:

• 3 skeleton models (we used a "stretchy skeleton" that I bought at Target (8 for $1), a chocolate skeleton lollipop and a miniature skeleton model that I had found a while ago at a deep discount.  The nice thing about this activity is that you really could use anything from stickers to coloring sheets to plastic Halloween decorations.)
• science journal
• pencil
• crayons

Seed Hunt

The weather remains balmy for this Thursday's activity so we are heading outdoors for a Seed Hunt!  In the northern part of the US, September and October are ideal times to do a seed hunt and it can be done in a city park, suburban backyard or a large plot of land in the country.  If, however, you don't have access to a natural space or the weather or time of year is prohibitive. you could use your kitchen as the hunt location - spices, fruits and vegetables and even house plants could provide you with the seeds.  Remember to emphasize (and re-emphasize!) that the seeds should not be eaten as some may be poisonous.

Materials Needed:

To get into the spirit of this activity, the more thoroughly you can "outfit" your little naturalist, the better.  If they think they look like a "real" naturalist, they are more likely to take the activity seriously.  (It's kind of like dressing up, but better.)  Below is what we packed in the girls' nature bags,  

including:

• binoculars
• magnifying glass
• pencil
• sample bags (small and large) with paper id slips in them
• ID books
• camera

This is by no means an all-inclusive list and you could certainly add or subtract items.  At a minimum, you should have a pencil, sample bags and some way to ID the plants.  I happen to have several different tree, plant and shrub guides, including a couple of the Peterson series.  The standard ones are a little too dense for smaller children, but the First Guides one seems a bit more accessible to me.  I recently saw the Fandesk Family Guide to Trees and I'm intrigued by it - maybe a stocking stuffer for the Holidays?  If you are a technology fan, or just don't want to shell out the money on paper guides, there is a great (free!) on-line tree ID guide by the Arbor Day Foundation.  They also have an iPhone app.  The Audubon Society has a series of apps (including tree, wildflower, bird and mammals) that are wonderful, but more expensive; I think you can get all 4 for $20 and I've seen coupons out there.  (If you are curious, the nature bags are sewn from the "Naturalist's Scavenger Hunt Bag" pattern in the book, Growing Up Sew Liberated by the talented Meg McElwee, of the Sew Liberated blog.)