Lily of the Valley
…from my backyard
My backyard has such a nice sweet smell lately! So many plants, bushes, and trees are flowering. This is the smell of spring that fragrance companies are going for but can never quite achieve.
I’m enjoying it and it seems to be driving the pollinators wild! The bees, butterflies and other buzzy things are very busy back there. I just try and stay out of the way of the bees. Bee stings really hurt!
Are you fascinated with bubbles? Are you running low on stationary? Are you looking for something fun and educational to do after school? Do you enjoy combining art and science? Do you need to sharpen your observational skills? Do you have a bowl, water, dish soap, straws, tempera paint, and card-stock?
Then why not try this fun craft…
It’s fun and relaxing to throw pebbles into otherwise still water and watch the ripples form and grow. I love watching the concentric rings overlap and form patterns as you throw more.
What causes these beautiful round repeating and growing waves? Here’s my…
Winter Water Tower
How a water tower works…
You can (almost) always count on having water from your faucets even when the power goes out.
The water in a community is typically pumped using electricity into a water tower where it sits ready to be used. A typical tower can hold abut a days worth of water. The water in the tower relies on gravity to provide us with water pressure. Continue reading
This gallery contains 12 photos.
Photo essay of vines All of these wild pictures were taken in my backyard. I got lost this morning in our small patch of woods looking at all the twisting vines and I had fun putting my point-and-shoot camera’s focus … Continue reading
Fractal Heart Tree
With printable activity
Reading my children the book Swirl by Swirl: Spiral in Nature yesterday sparked my interest in fractals. I watched the PBS program Nova: Hunting the Hidden Dimension last night and honestly, fractals might be the hardest concept I have tried to understand! The video does a great job of explaining in layman’s terms. Even so, throughout the program, I vacillated between glimpses of understanding and wonder and confusion bordering on terror! If you are interested in learning about fractals, I highly recommend you watch this program. I found it to be a very fascinating way to spend an hour and a great introduction to fractals! Continue reading
Can you see the snowflakes?
We woke to white outside this morning. Just a little dusting but the kids were wildly excited! On the way back from dropping my daughter at school my son kept repeating – it’s a winter wipe-out! I think he meant it’s a winter wonderland but I didn’t correct him. He also wanted to have a competition to see who could see the most snow… Guess who won! Continue reading
