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The Great Backyard Bird Count 2010

The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual “citizen-science” project that the whole family can participate in. This year’s bird count begins tomorrow, February 12th and runs through Monday, February 15th.

What is The Great Backyard Bird Count?

“The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes on one day, or you can count for as long as you like each day of the event. It’s free, fun, and easy—and it helps the birds.”

The GBBC website contains a printable poster, tally sheet and regional bird checklists; a PowerPoint slideshow about the GBBC (or you can watch a video); a kids page with fun activities, games and coloring pages; an educators page with ideas and activities to involve children in the GBBC plus a photo contest to enter!

Have fun –I know we will!

Blessings,

Denese

Have you ever heard of The Happy Scientist?

Science educator Robert Krampf  is well known for making science fun with his exciting shows and hands-on experiments. Visit his website, TheHappyScientist.com, and you can sign up for the free “Krampf Experiment of the Week” newsletter, watch a neat science video and take a guess at the “Science Photo of the Day”.

If the free resources aren’t enough, become a subscriber at the Happy Scientist and get:

• All of the videos –137 so far
• 2 extra “subscriber-only” videos per month
• Hundreds of experiments from the “Experiment of the Week” newsletter archives, sorted by subject –346 and counting

A subscription to the Happy Scientist is only $20 a year and if you subscribe by December 31, it’s only $15 -a fantastic price for a year full of science fun!

(If you’re a school superintendent or teacher, check out the special “school district” subscription price –$100 per school gives complete access for all your teachers and students.)

You can also:

• Follow The Happy Scientist on Twitter 
• Find The Happy Scientist on Facebook

Now let’s go find out about the power of beans.

Blessings,

Denese

Green Thumb Family -Family and children’s gardening ideas, videos and projects.

Grow a Vegetable in a Bottle

The Great Plant Escape –interactive, unlock the amazing mysteries of plant life with Detective LePlant and his partners, Bud and Sprout.

The Adventures of Herman –the autobiography of Squirmin’ Herman the worm.

Composting with Willie the Worm

Start a pond or bog garden –create mini-ponds and a mini-bog garden. Teachers notes, curriculum and activity sheets.

The Butterfly Website: Butterfly Gardening

Related Posts:

A Gardening Conversation And Some Free Online Resources For Gardening With Children

Buy a Can of Campbell’s Soup and Get Free Tomato Seeds

Homeschool/Education Freebies: Flowers and Wildflowers

Neat Links: Nature and Spring

 

Happy gardening,

Denese

A Gardening Conversation With My Children

Me: “Do you like to garden?”

Abby: “Yes!”

Daniel: “No.”

Me: “You don’t like anything about gardening, Daniel?”

Daniel: “Just eatin’ the stuff you grow and tillin’ up the bed and hoein’ –it’s fun.”

Me: “What do you like about gardening, Abby?”

Abby: “I like planting the seeds and watching them grow –it’s fun! I like harvesting vegetables because we can eat them. If we didn’t harvest them, they’d just go to seed.”

Me: “Do you like everything about gardening?”

Abby: “Almost. I don’t like hoeing and I definitely don’t like pulling weeds, I don’t like harvesting peppers –they smell and make my fingers sting, and I don’t like picking tomatoes –I think they stink! Eeeuw.”

Me: “What do you like to grow?”

Abby: “I like to grow flowers because they’re pretty. I like to grow carrots because I like to eat them! I also like to grow cauliflower, the colorful vegetables and the viney vegetables (the ones that climb). I don’t like onions but I plant them for Dad. I like apples –we planted some of them this year!”

Daniel: “More peas.”

Me: “Is there something new you’d like to grow this year?

Abby: “Yes, cotton and red and blue potatoes –fresh potatoes,yum!”

Daniel: “No.”

Me: “Is there  a gardening project you’d like to do?

Daniel: “No.”

Abby: “I’d like to make a scarecrow for our garden!”

Me: “Would you like to make a scarecrow for the garden, Daniel?”

Daniel: “Yeah!”

Guess what we’re going to do today.

Children’s Gardening Resources

Need some ideas for gardening with your children?

Gardening With Small Children – a good article on gardening with your little ones.

Indoor Gardening Projects For Children –simple indoor gardening ideas for children.

Denver Master Gardener’s: Gardening With Children –gardening fun, projects, “All About Honeybees” and more.

KidsGardening.com –from the National Gardening Association. Includes a Classroom Projects Library and Parent’s Primer with info on; plants kids love, structures, projects, theme gardens and gardening safety.

Gardening With Children -Ohio Master Gardeners Resource Guide for beginning or expanding children’s gardening programs with tips on designing gardens for kids and planning children’s programs, downloadable pdf format.

My First Garden -website from the University of Illinois for 4th grade students to learn the beauty, the care involved in planning, nurturing and enjoying the benefits of gardens.

Composting For Kids -slide presentation from the Texas Agricultural Extension Service, also available in pdf format.

Gardening Projects for Children –make mini hothouses, make photographic image cards and make a barometer.

Kid’s Garden Crafts –paint flower pots, make garden markers, wind chimes and more.

Sunflower House & Bean Teepee

Winter Garden Project For Kids: Make A Hanging Carrot Basket

Something we’ve done that’s fun:

Go through the kitchen and plant a little of everything…

• grains -rice, beans, whole wheat, barley
• herbs –poppy seed, celery seed, peppercorns
• seeds and tops from fresh vegetables and fruits -avocado, pomegranate, and lemon seeds, carrot tops, onion bottoms

…then see what grows!

Happy gardening,

Denese

What Are Crystals?

Crystals are ordered structures of molecules or atoms.

What are crystals anyway?

Crystals: Nature Putting Itself in Order

What types of crystals are there?

Crystals Experiments

Grow Your Own Crystals -free e-book from Homeschool Freebie of the Day, available today only.

Crystal Growing! – a slew of experiments here, from Wayne Schmidt.

Experiments in Growing Crystals -from Rockhounding Arkansas, a neat rocks and minerals website.

Science Projects for Kids: Crystals and Minerals -from How Stuff Works.

The Baby Diaper Secret: Polymer Crystals -from Steve Spangler Science.

Create Crystal Ornaments -from Education.com.

Crystal Painting -grades 4-6 , from About.com

Recipes for Growing Crystals -from Chemistry and New Zealand, great site.

Lessons on Crystals

Sugar Crystal Science Lesson -elementary grades, from Susan Hyde.

Observing Crystals -for grades 2-5, from Teacher Vision.

Crystals: What Are They and What Holds Them Together -for grades 5-8, from Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.

Crystals -for grades 5-9, from Illinois Institute of Technology SMILE Program

What Materials Make the Best Crystals? -intermediate level science, exerpt from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Science Fair Projects.

Light and Crystals -middle level science, from Teachers.net.

Images of Crystals

Microscopic Science Pictures: Crystals

Lab-made Curvy Crystals

Cave of Crystals

Crystal Filled Cave in California

Photos from Crystal Mountain

Sunlight and Ice Crystals

Big Ice Crystal

Also See:

Science Page: Snow

Denese

Mouth Experiments -Eeew! Free e-book of experiments and fun facts about our sense of taste, from Homeschool Freebie of the Day. Available through the weekend.

The Milk Taste Test -Teach your preschooler that different kinds of milk tastes different with this easy and fun preschool science experiment, from Preschool Rock.

Lifesavers Experiment -Simple experiment to demonstrate relationship between taste and smell. An Exploratorium Science Snack.

Apple Pie without Apples -trick your senses, make a chemical apple pie.

Does a mint make your mouth cold? -kitchen science experiment.

Taste of Outer Space -a neat experiment that illustrates why it is harder to drink in outer space, from Easy Fun School.

Facts and News

Your Tongue -all about the tongue; talking, mixing food, swallowing, tasting, and germ fighting; from Kids Health.

Girls have superior sense of taste to boys -results of Danish study.

New Bacterial Species Found In Human Mouth -ScienceDaily, Aug. 11, 2008

Denese

Let’s blow some bubbles!

Bubble Activities and Lessons

Incredible Bubbles -mini-e-book of bubble experiments and activities from Homeschool Freebie of the Day, available today only.

Bubble Stationery -make homemade stationery and envelopes with soap bubbles.

Bubble Mill -make a homemade bubble mill; harness the power of the wind for maximum bubble blowing efficiency.

Bubbles in the Wind -science lesson for grades K-4.

Bubble, Bubble Oh How They Bubble! -learn scientific method, graphing using bubbles; science lesson for grades 4-6.

Bubbles: Science or Fun? -science lesson for middle grades.

The Life of a Soap Bubble -high school lesson plan.

Bubble Geometry -experiment with bubbles; make wands in different shapes.

Bubble Sites

The Bubblesphere -all about bubbles including several recipes, history, references, games and much more.

Soap Bubbles -the science of soap bubbles, from Exploratorium.

Bubble Town -more bubble fun; recipes, games, how to blow big bubbles and free poster.

The Art and Science of Bubbles -bubble art, telescope, “Bubblearium”, games, recipes and more.

Frozen Bubbles

I’m Forever Freezing Bubbles -activity for cold weather.

Make Frozen Bubbles -chemistry experiment with dry ice, adult supervision required.

Dry Ice Crystal Ball Bubble -make a giant bubble using dry ice, adult supervision required.

AntiBubbles

AntiBubbles -all about antibubbles.

Making Antibubbles -a simple science project.

Bubble Photography

Just Bubbles -beautiful bubble photography.

Bubble Frenzy -a beautiful picture, very creative.

Bubble Art Photography -Created by Fan Yang, check out the rest of the site for more bubble fun and science.

FreezeBubbles -beautiful photographs of frozen bubbles.

Bubbles Trapped in Ice -picture of air bubbles in ice, O’Dell Lake, Cascade Mountains, Oregon

Denese