Friday afternoon is the perfect time to get outdoors... especially if you're a kid! I wanted to focus on the nature shapes. What the heck are nature shapes? Well that's what I call them. I am BIG TIME into recycling, upcycling, eliminating too much waste from products that I use at home. SO, I cut up a pizza box and the cardboard liner from a pizza box and duct taped them so they could be used over and over. I call them nature shapes because I have the kids toss them like frisbees onto the ground, (sometimes they land in trees!). Where they land matters because we then inspect everything within the nature shapes, it all depends on where it lands and what they discover. What I'm hoping to illustrate with this exercise is that when you look at a relatively small plot of land, there is a LOT going on in there. Sometimes the nature shapes land over trash that was previously un-noticed. Sometimes there's a bug within the nature shape's area, sometimes there are mushrooms. Why point this out? How are the things discovered in the nature shape space part of the habitat of the birds and creatures living nearby. How are they affecting the living creatures nearby? Adversely? Positively? What can be done to insure that the birds and other local wildlife are able to exist so close to humans? I want the kids to see a small area, but think big thoughts about how to improve where and when necessary. Kids are often not given enough credit for their observations and ideas. They think big thoughts all of the time!
(double-click photos to enlarge)
Old Man's Beard lichen on a fallen tree branch
Too small to see, but pointing out ants - BIRD FOOD!
Young bird nerds - practicing their binocular techniques
What do you see in this small frame of the ground?
Look closer, it's not just the bug, grass, sand, rocks, pine needles, sticks
- anything else I'm missing?
Tiny mushroom in the nature shape
Happy Birding young Bird Nerds!
