Plants in Our Midst #7 - Do You See Me?

One thing that the children really noticed in the forest is how the animals are hard to find. They can hear chirps, rustling in the bushes but they do not see anything. On our walk one day, we heard a tapping sound and wondered who was making that sound. Using our ears, the children followed the direction where it was coming from and they found it! It was a woodpecker! The children noticed that it was perfectly blended into a tree that it was pecking. If it wasn't for the pecking sound, we would have never seen it. Molly said: "The woodpecker is camouflaged! It's trying to protect himself."

Owl

Common Baron Catepillar

Can you find the frog?

To see how animals use plants to camouflage themselves, we played an I Spy game. The children used their keen eyes to spy the camouflaged animals in different pictures. They were able to see all but one! Can you help us?

Stick Bug

For art, the children painted a forest scene on a canvas and camouflaged an animal of their choice.

Plants in Our Midst #6 - Slow, Slimy Slugs!

Sparked by the children's interest, we now have a terrarium full of creepy crawlers! You may find, a caterpillar, wood bugs, earthworms, and the star, a black slug!

Everyday when we walk along the trail in the forest, the children can't help but notice all the different creepy crawlers they see. What do these creatures do in the forest? How do they survive in the forest? To help with our research, we put together a forest habitat in our terrarium and relocated some of our neighbourly creepy crawlers into their new house. The children painted a picture of the terrarium as they observed the tank. Here are some things they noticed:

Theo: I can't see the slug, he's hiding.
Allye: Maybe it's sleeping.
Connor: The slug needs water.
Lucas: The slug eat leaves.