Backyard Science Lessons

Some of our best Science lessons have been impromptu in the backyard. We do use a curriculum for Science by Answers in Genesis, which I think is wonderful. And probably because of that curriculum, the kids tend to look at their surroundings a bit closer. The past couple of weeks, we have had several backyard Science Lessons.

Spiders:

We got an up close and personal look at a spider with its prey stuck in the web. After looking closely at it, Paige asked Clay to teach us more about spiders. So he had them all sit around him and he gave a "spider talk". The other three were all ears to what he had to teach them and I even learned some things.

Plants:

One of my favorite is spending time in the garden and watching the change in plants. The kids have enjoyed our fruit trees and few veggies that we have planted, grow and produce their fruit. Lots of lessons on the seasons, pollination and harmful and helpful bugs, etc. I am excited because during one of our recent backyard plant observations, I found 5 lemons on my new tree! This will be its first harvest. And my Bird of Paradise plant that I planted about 1 and 1/2 years ago is now blooming! I have 4 planted, 2 were just planted this summer. Only one is blooming, but it happens to be the one located right outside by bedroom sliding glass door.

Backyard Pets:

Monday, I got home from taking "M" to an appointment and Jathan and the kids were excited to show me their two new finds: a grasshopper and a praying mantis. Jathan and the kids had a science lesson while we were gone. They had researched these insects finding where they lived, what they ate and so forth. They even found out that the praying mantis is one of the five types of Kung Fu taught. If you have ever seen the movie Kung Fu Panda, you can guess what the other four types of Kung Fu are. Apparently there was a reason for making the crane, tiger, praying mantis, monkey, and snake the furious five in the movie. If you watch a praying mantis for a while you will see why a type of Kung Fu is named after it. It looks like that is what it is doing. Ok, that is a bit off of the science talk. The kids and Jathan set the praying mantis up in a home, they decided to offer the grasshopper for food, since that is one of the things they read that they ate. After watching for a while to see if it would eat the grasshopper, we left it alone. Jathan even checked on it before we went to bed. I am not sure if the kids were more excited or he was. Still it hadn't eaten. Well this afternoon, the kids found the praying mantis dead and the grasshopper still moving around. So we will see what will happen with their backyard pet.