A Nutty Adventure

Go outside and find out what is on the menu for squirrels.

Look for acorns, beechnuts, hickory nuts and walnuts on the ground. Do you see the differences in the coverings of the different nuts? Sniff the green husks of the walnuts, but be careful with the walnuts with brown husks because they can stain your hands.

Act like a Squirrel

When you find a tree surrounded by nuts, act like a squirrel. See how many nuts you can collect in thirty seconds. Not only do squirrels have to find nuts, but they have to bury them too. To demonstrate this in a fun way get a bowl of potting soil and bury the nuts in the soil. Then try to find them all again.

What Happens to Forgotten Nuts?

Squirrels don’t find all the nuts that they bury so what happens to those nuts? You can find out by burying a nut in a pot with potting soil. Water it regularly and keep it in a sunny spot and in time you will have a sapling. Then you can get a parents help to gently dig the sapling out of the soil and observe what happened to the nut. Then you can transplant the sapling outside and give it lots of room to grow.

What’s in a Nut?

After finding all these nuts, get your parents to help you crack them open. Acorns and hickory nuts are easy enough to crack open with a nut cracker but Walnuts are another story. You will need a hammer and nutpick to get the meat out of them. If you have to have so many tools to open the nuts, how can a squirrel do it with nothing but its teeth?

Source: Newsleaf Vol. 40, No. 4

Trees, Trees, Trees

Have a Tree Feast

Go to the grocery store with your parent and select foods that come from trees. Some examples are maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, walnuts, almonds, coconuts, apples, oranges and olives. When you get home you can prepare some tree snacks and talk about how we use trees everyday such as lumber for houses, furniture and toys; shade and paper.

“Barking” up the Right Tree

Go for a hike and take some white paper and crayons along with you. When you find an interesting tree do a bark rubbing of the tree to show the texture of the bark. You can do this by putting the paper against the bark then gently rubbing the crayon across the paper. It may work best to use the side of the crayon. Along the rest of your hike you can try to match the texture on the paper to other trees.

Artistic Conifers

Make a paint brush with the needles of a pine tree taped to a short twig and then you can create art with natural materials. You can also experiment with different types of pine needles.

Source: Newsleaf Vol. 37, No. 1

Snow’s Insulation

Snow can help insulate plants and animals in the winter by holding body heat, keeping them warm. To demonstrate heat conservation or loss, try this fun Jello experiment. Fill several film canisters with warm LIQUID Jello. Try to find as many different environments for the containers as you can. Place some in the open, in hollow logs, or under snow. After 30 minutes, recover your canisters and shake! Have they solidified? Are they liquid? Animals depend on insulated places to keep warm during the colder months.

Source: Newsleaf Vol. 36, No. 1

Snow Day Adventures…

Capturing Snowflakes

Before going outside, put a black piece of paper in the freezer, grab a magnifying glass, and mix a few drops of food coloring with water in a squirt bottle. Also, gather some various birdseeds like thistle, corn, sunflower, and safflower. Now, layer up, get your supplies (don’t forget the paper in the freezer) and venture into the white wonderland.

You can capture unique, graceful snowflakes on the dark paper, and examine them closely with your magnifying glass. Are any two flakes the same? What shapes do you recognize?

Making a Snow Angel

Lie down in the snow and make an imprint using your body! You may choose the classic “snow angel” model or you can make your own fun shape. Next, bring your shape to life by decorating it with the colored water and birdseed! You can give them hair, eyes, clothes, or a crown, but don’t forget to take a picture because your feathered friends will soon be feasting!

Source: Newsleaf Vol. 38, No. 1

DiversiTree, Fall Fun with Leaves…

Leaf-Rubbings

You can make leaf-rubbings by placing a fallen leaf, vein-side-up, on a piece of paper. Place another piece of paper over it, and rub with a crayon.

Leaf-Match Relay

Play an active outdoor game of leaf-match relay! Hold up a leaf and ask your friends and family to run around and find one of the same shape on the ground. Now see how many different kinds you can find.

Leaf Compost Piles

Rake a big pile of leaves to jump in. Pick up big handfuls of leaves and throw them into the air, then watch them flutter down around you. When you’re done playing with the jumping-pile, add the leaves to a productive sort of pile: your compost! Decomposed leaves turn into rich humus, great for any garden. Your parents can help you set up a compost pile if you don’t already have one.