A British Garden, Part Four

I took it a little slower this week because Sunbaby had chicken pox and she had a rough old time of it. The kiddies were very good and helped me all week with her. 

We did however...

...make butterfly feeders complete with sugar water for nectar.

We planted wild flower seeds which came in our 'Little Acts of Wildness' pack which I applied for and which arrived this week.

We made tic tac toe for the garden .

The children were fascinated with our look at ant cities. They watched an interesting programme about ants and drew a complete ant city. We watched some ants pulling a dead wood louse into their nest which The Boy absolutely loved and we've found a new appreciation for these tiny creatures which act as one super organism.

They made a very silly owl and took holiday snaps of him around the garden. 

They made birds' nests in the fork of a tree. We're going to see if they stand they test of spring weather .

 We went hunting for owl pellets. We've heard tawny owls nearby and we've found pellets before at the base of our beloved field tree. 

No luck this time! We searched and searched! We did find a cocoon, woodlice, a centipede, spiders, beetles and a teeny tiny ladybird. Maybe next time! 

Our beans are sprouting! 

The Boy has taken his time with reading. All in their own time. 😊 He's coming on beautifully now and he's been reading all about ants this week. 

Ballet Girl and Monkey Girl have worked hard this week. Lots of exams and dissertations completed. 

Back at the lake for the season now means I'm drying wetsuits all over the place again! 

Ballet Girl is away on camp this weekend as a senior cadet helping younger cadets rank up.

Sunbaby is on the mend and has spent a lot of time outside in the sunshine while she heals. 

21 dance classes happened, Taekwondo happened and The Boy's at Freestyle Gym right now while I update my blog! No rest for the wicked. 

A British Garden, Part Three

Hunting for flowers to inspect under a microscope.

The female part of a flower is called the pistil. It comprises, the stigma, style, ovary and ovule.

The male part of a flower is called the stamen. It comprises the filament and the anther.

A flower with both male and female parts is called a perfect flower.

A flower with only one part is called an imperfect flower.

The children spent a morning identifying these parts in different flowers. It was fascinating.

Pollen on the anther.

The Boy dissected a pistil he found...

And located the inside of the style and the ovary.

He cut open the ovary and found the ovules (eggs). Amazing and so teeny!

Monkey Girl took her studies out into the beautiful sunshine. Please stay, sun!

In search of blossom flowers to investigate. 

We talked about how once an ovule is fertilised the ovary becomes the fruit of the plant or tree, such as a tomato, apple or blackberry.

Consolidating their work on paper.

Cheery mornings are for making teeny fairy doors.

We planted beans against the sides of glass jars so we could watch their roots form and the plant grow.

And the same with carrot seeds.

And cress because it's easy and fun.

Growing marigolds from seed.

The Boy and I researched how to take a cutting from a tree to grow another tree. Watch this space.

Beetle books

We have previously successfully drawn earthworms to the surface by soaking the ground with water but we had no luck this time...

...so we dug some up from our experimental and much loved mud patch...

...and bought them inside for some earthworm experiments.

Using damp and dry conditions in dark and light parts of the the box we confirmed earthworms prefer the dark and damp.

Earthworms have bristles on their bodies which help them move through the soil and cling to their burrow when they are being pulled by predators (we had this issue when a tiny one started climbing into a tiny hole in our microscope!). The kiddies put worms on paper and listened to the noise of their bristles.

Looking for the bristles. 

And looking at the segments and heads. So cool up close!

Earthworm worksheets (life-cycle, vocabulary, labeling, writing and comprehension).

Monkey Girl is off on her Bronze Duke of Edinburgh expedition this weekend.

We finished the week with a trip to the library, a date night for Mummy and Papa, a party with cousins, and a whole lotta' rain. Bleurgh.