bees

We are looking at bees now.
M. and I read a very interesting and simple book about bees. it is called The Bee and is in a series in First Discoveries. I have also bought other titles in the series because I found them to be explained very well for little children.
We then went and observe bees in the park. We looked at the flowers and touch the pollen.
This is an art and craft work we made. We used cartboard from yougurt packages to make the hive.
M. had the idea to draw a bee larvae (what she calls baby).

the birth of a butterfly

All our caterpillars made their crysalids a couple of weeks ago. I have hung them in a fishing net so when the butterflies come out they will have space to fly and we can observe them for a couple of days. We have also found some funny looking caterpillars and added them to our collection. these ones made the crysalids very quickly and they have already come out. They look like butterfly but with no wings...never seen something like this! I have release them immediately because I didn't know what they were.

these are two crysalids made by the funny looking caterpillars on the side of the box




This is the crysalid made by one funny looking caterpillar at the bottom of the box. It didn't need to make a net around it because it didn't hung hiomself anywhere.





The inset is coming out from the crysalid






The previous caterpillars, instead, are starting to come out as beautiful butterflies. They have an orange body and black and white wings; when they open the whole wing you can also see a red part.
M. and I saw the second butterfly when she was coming out from her crysalid: she struggled her way through and then she was out. She started moving her wings very quickly, and then she walk to the top of the net where she remained.

mini beasts hunts

We went to this fascinating mini beasts hunt event taking place in the local country park. M. enjoyed it so much...it seemed impossible but for more than an hour she went around the area looking at every leaf, flower, stone etc to find some sort of insect, then she would put it into the container with the magnifing glass (the ranger gave one to all the children) and then run to the ranger to show her findings!
Of course, all the names of all these different insects didn't mean anything, but sure, the fact that you can find so many different insects in a small area of grass meant everything!








We also went to hunt for some rabits and just have a jolly good bike and tricycle ride around the paths of the country park!

some more caterpillars

I found some stange looking caterpillars and decided to see what kind of baterfly will come out! Those ones took only a few days to become cocoon...

simple water experiments

It is never too early to learn, and difficult science can be made simple by doing it hands-on.
Water can change into different states: it is liquid and everyone knows, but can become solid and like air....
1.get some water and add some paint on it...just for fun
2. show your child how the water is liquid and wet and how it takes the shape of the container is in
3. pop it in the freezer for a couple of hours
4. show it to your child, let him feel it and let him describe the state of the water
5. let it melt it
6. explain why it melts
7. pop the water in a pot and show your child the steam, let it touch it carefully
8. show the empty pot and explain that the water when is warmed up is trasformed into air!

How fabulous!