Nature Study

Getting Hands on with History – Hieroglyphs

I’m not a history buff so teaching my kids history this year was a little challenging but we have all learned a lot. It is amazing what a great book can do for perking interesting, I should have known this of course, being a huge book lover! While history isn’t my thing, creativity is, and it also is engaging for kids and my kids are loving how hands on they are getting while learning and revisiting their book and these hieroglyphs are just one example of that.

Getting Hands on with History – Hieroglyphs

*This post contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information.*

We have a really great book for our history lessons this year, The Usborne Book of World History, it came with our Reading with History Level 1 curriculum. This books is full of hands on learning activities and crafts to do with your kids as you’re learning about different periods and cultures in history. Creating stories using the early invention of writing, hieroglyphs, is one of the activities that we turned into our own and was one of our favorites. (It was not done exactly this way in the book.)

We used modeling clay from the dollar store, we just lucked out that they had it in stock when I was looking but Walmart and Amazon are usually my go to place to get it. We also used some playdough toys like the rolling pins and knives.

Each of my kids got a good sized chuck of clay rolled it flat and then proceed to “write” a story on their clay using hieroglyphs. They used a combination of those that were shown in the book and those they created on their own.

Hieroglyphs - Reading with History Level 1

I want to point out that my kids did theirs on placemats because it made clean up easier and I didn’t have to worry about it sticking to my dining room table, which is where we do school. I’m planning on doing this again this summer, outside where the clay will dry faster, and encourage new, nature inspired stories.

What kind of story do you think that your kids would write using hieroglyphs?

Learning about Snowy Owls + Giveaway

by Ashley Mullen Leave a Comment

There is a very common sight on the highways here in Saskatchewan during the winter and that sight would be snowy owls. They sit on the tops of telephone poles in the cold winter weather. Once in a while we get to witness them swiping down to catch prey. I thought it would be a great idea to learn a little more about these beautiful animals since we see them so much (winter being a rather long season here it seems).

Learning about Snowy Owls in Saskatchewan

*This post contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information.*

I was really excited about hosting this link up this year because I have wanted to do nature studies with my kids but just haven’t done them for some reason or other. This is the perfect opportunity to do so at least once a month. As I mentioned we were learning about snowy owls, and did a cute little owl craft as well.

My first stop of course for learning about anything was our library. There I found a few books about snowy owls including:

We learned a lot about the birds we see so often from these two books.

To make our craft, we tore up a couple sheets of white paper into small bits. I rough handed a silhouette of an owl on black paper for the black of night. Added some glue and they filled in the owl with “feathers”.

Austin choose to leave some black showing through to be a female owl, something we learned about these beautiful owls.

Welcome to The Nature Book Club Monthly Link Up No 1.

The Nature Book Club is a monthly link up beginning on the 20th day of each month.

It’s a monthly book club devoted to connecting children to nature.

There is a theme for each month in 2018. We welcome your nature book and activity related links!

The Nature Book Club theme for January: Winter Birds and Nests

The Nature Book Club is brought to you by these 15 nature loving bloggers which are your co-hosts! Are you following them? If you don’t want to miss anything, be sure to follow each one.

Here are the co-hosts, their choices of books, and activities for the month.

Something 2 Offer
Birds, Nests, and Eggs Nest Scavenger Hunt

The Usual Mayhem
The Boy Who Drew Birds Free artist study set (John James Audobon)

Preschool Naturally
Whose Nest Is This? – Nest Building Activity

Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus
(Backyard Bird Series) Cardinals – Free Northern Cardinal Unit Study & Lapbook.

Rule This Roost
Fine Feathered Friends: All About Birds – DIY Bird Feeders

Hide The Chocolate
Those Darn Squirrels Fly South – Free online book club.

The Homeschool Scientist
Birds, Nests, and Eggs – Make a Suet Feeder

Forgetful Momma
Snowy Owls Snowy Owl Craft

Table Life Blog
A Nest is Noisy – Art Project.

Eva Varga
Ravens in Winter: Nature Study Activities and Lessons for Teens – Winter Bird ID

Wind in a Letterbox
Birds for Beginners in Southern Africa – Nature Journal Entry

Rainy Day Mum
Coming Home – Needle Felted Robin

Handbook of Nature Study
Backyard Birds Field Guide for Young Naturalist – Backyard Bird Nature Study

The Playful Scholar
Backyard Birds of Winter by Carol Lerner – How to Make Hanging Suet Ornaments

Freshly Planted
Nests – Nest Weaving

The Nature Book Club theme for February: Small Mammals

WHOOP! – The Nature Book Club Giveaway!

We’re so excited about this month’s freebie. It is an ebook, Backyard Science – Easy Activities for All Ages, by The Homeschool Scientist.
A huge Thank You to The Homeschool Scientist!

Click on the link above. It’s free until February 4, 2018.
Use the coupon: bookclub

Party Rules

- - - Choose an engaging nature book, do a craft or activity, and add your post to our monthly link up.
    - The link up party goes live at 9:00 a.m. EST on the 20th of each month and stays open until 11:59 p.m. EST on the last day of the month. Hurry to add your links!
    - You can link up to 3 posts. Please do not link up advertising posts, advertise other link up parties, your store, or non-related blog posts. They will be removed.
    - By linking up with us, you agree for us to share your images and give you credit of course if we feature your posts.That’s it!
    - Let’s party.
  An InLinkz Link-up

DIY Bird Feeders

by Ashley Mullen Leave a Comment

The weather turned chilly and we got some snow here in Southeast Saskatchewan, I hate to say it but… finally. For the middle of December, we have had unusually warm and dry weather. We got to making some bird feeders for all the birds taking up residence in our yard…

Despite the cats watching them from the windows, or maybe because they are only allowed to watch from the window.

DIY Bird Feeders

*This post contains affiliate links, see my disclosure policy for more information.*

It is really simple, a fun little activity for kids to do, and then an excuse to get outside.

What you need:

2 packets of unflavored gelatin
2/3 cup water
2 cups bird seed

How to make DIY Bird Feeders

Mix the water and gelatin together, not over heat, until it dissolves. Once dissolves heat over medium heat, until it begins to simmer.

Mix in your bird seed.

Use cooking spray to coat the inside of your cookie cutters, then place them on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Spoon into the bird feeders, packing it down a bit to make sure you get it full.

*The pot and the bird food doesn’t get too hot, the bird food barely gets warm, making it great for kids to do. If you are worried about the heat of the pot, you can always transfer it to another bowl.

Once your cookie cutters are full take a piece of straw and place it where you will have the string going through your feeder to hang.

Place in the fridge for at least an hour to set. They will slide out of the cookie cutters easily, as will the straw.

String twine through the hole and hang it up in a tree, or more.

I got a picture! I am working on my photography skills, because what is the point of having a great camera if I’m not going to take great photos? I’m doing Project 365 on my own to get great photos. And here is a picture the bird feeder up close.

Hubby is now thinking we should do more for the rest of the yard.

Bird Feeders

Make some different shaped bird feeders for the birds visiting your backyard all year long.

Materials

2 packets of unflavored gelatin
2/3 cup water
2 cups bird seed

Tools

pot
cookie cutters

Instructions

Mix the water and gelatin together, not over heat, until it dissolves. Once dissolves heat over medium heat, until it begins to simmer.
Mix in your bird seed. Use cooking spray to coat the inside of your cookie cutters, then place them on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Spoon into the bird feeders, packing it down a bit to make sure you get it full.
*The pot and the bird food doesn't get too hot, the bird food barely gets warm, making it great for kids to do. If you are worried about the heat of the pot, you can always transfer it to another bowl.
Once your cookie cutters are full take a piece of straw and place it where you will have the string going through your feeder to hang. Place in the fridge for at least an hour to set.
They will slide out of the cookie cutters easily, as will the straw. String twine through the hole and hang it up in a tree, or more.

Nature Study

Getting Hands on with History – Hieroglyphs

Getting Hands on with History – Hieroglyphs

Similar posts that you may be interested in:

Learning about Snowy Owls + Giveaway

Learning about Snowy Owls in Saskatchewan

Welcome to The Nature Book Club Monthly Link Up No 1.

The Nature Book Club theme for January: Winter Birds and Nests

The Nature Book Club theme for February: Small Mammals

WHOOP! – The Nature Book Club Giveaway!