Lick Creek Park
|
Psalm 104:24- "O LORD, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom have You made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures."
Romans 1:20-"For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." It was a glorious day out at Lick Creek Park for our Science On Site class with parents and their students. I am always amazed at God's wonderful creation and how every piece was intentionally thought out. If you are local to the Bryan, College Station, Texas area or even if you are visiting. Grab this printable, some friends, and head out to Lick Creek Park. This printable includes: A wonderfully detailed map of the Yaupon Trail Animal tracks and how you can label them on the path. Suggestions for how to have a great nature walk, A place for leaf rubbings, Directions on how to build a bird's nest, Information on rocks and rock identification and Directions on how to make a solar oven. |
|
Nature Walk
Nature walks with friends and groups of people is so enjoyable. I love how many observations others see and share. There is so much than just what I can point out or call attention to.
One student told me about the tall grasses and how they were a great place for deer to hide and rest.
Another mom, who is very knowledgeable about plants, identified a winged elm and showed me how you can see the 'wings' on the branches.
Another mom, saw the tiny buds on the trees as they are getting ready for spring.
Some students were enamored with the different kinds of rocks, others were looking up and counting all the bird's nests.
Some students were gathering grasses and twigs to make their own bird's nests.
One student told me about the tall grasses and how they were a great place for deer to hide and rest.
Another mom, who is very knowledgeable about plants, identified a winged elm and showed me how you can see the 'wings' on the branches.
Another mom, saw the tiny buds on the trees as they are getting ready for spring.
Some students were enamored with the different kinds of rocks, others were looking up and counting all the bird's nests.
Some students were gathering grasses and twigs to make their own bird's nests.
On our nature walk, we came to this clearing with a nice path leading to a boulder-type rock and a nice bench respectively. This immediately reminded me of the Gospel. We are on the clunky big boulder and God is represented by the bench. We want to be where He is, sitting next to Him on that bench but it is IMPOSSIBLE to get to God on our own. We need help. God, in His goodness, sent Jesus, His Son to die on a cross, to be a bridge for us to have a relationship with God. What a gift! But we have to accept it. We must admit that we cannot make it to the bench on our own, that we sin and keep ourselves on the boulder and need Jesus to take away our sin, give us His righteousness and then a miracle happens. We have a relationship with God.
We brought some wood to lay down to represent a bridge in the shape of a cross.
And Jesus said, "Let all the children come to Him"
Signs of Spring
|
Winged Elm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A bird's nest at eye level for us to see up close
|
|
This is a communal tent caterpillar community. Can you see the little caterpillars inside? These can become a pest but there are many animals that eat these so they are good to have around as long as the trees are healthy and animals that aren't supposed to eat them stay away from them.
|
|
These are just a few of the tracks that you can find along the sidewalk at Lick Creek Park. Our printable Springing Into Science above has these and based on where you find them, you can mark them on the map on the handout. Lick Creek also has a handout there about all the tracks along with signage around the park that identifies them as well.
Butterfly Release
A few weeks ago, I purchased some painted butterfly caterpillars and today, they were ready to fly.
My 6 year old has been reciting the Christina Rosetti poem
'The Caterpillar'
Brown and furry
Caterpillar in a hurry
Take your walk by the shady leaf or stalk
May no toad spy you,
May the little birds pass by you
Spin and die
To live again a butterfly
It was amazing to release them at this park with all my students.
You can't see the butterflies in these pictures but look at all the faces of those that saw them fly.
When we know Jesus as our Savior, He transforms us. In a way, we are caterpillars before Christ and when we are saved by His blood, we turn into beautiful new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17) and are able to fly above the clouds of frustration and stress and free to love like God loves us.
My 6 year old has been reciting the Christina Rosetti poem
'The Caterpillar'
Brown and furry
Caterpillar in a hurry
Take your walk by the shady leaf or stalk
May no toad spy you,
May the little birds pass by you
Spin and die
To live again a butterfly
It was amazing to release them at this park with all my students.
You can't see the butterflies in these pictures but look at all the faces of those that saw them fly.
When we know Jesus as our Savior, He transforms us. In a way, we are caterpillars before Christ and when we are saved by His blood, we turn into beautiful new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17) and are able to fly above the clouds of frustration and stress and free to love like God loves us.
|
|
Pizza Box and Pringles Solar Ovens
The activity that we did after our nature walk was make some solar ovens. We made the traditional 'pizza' box one and also a 'hot dog' solar oven.
Supplies needed:
Pizza box
X-acto knife
black construction paper
foil
packing tape
newspaper
saran wrap
Pizza box
X-acto knife
black construction paper
foil
packing tape
newspaper
saran wrap
Cut a flap out of the top of the pizza box. I bought these boxes on Amazon which had these helpful holes to help guide me in cutting out the flap.
The boxes are 8x8x1.5 thin cardboard.
The boxes are 8x8x1.5 thin cardboard.
|
|
Tape the black construction paper on the bottom of the pizza box.
|
Line the inside of the flap with foil.
Roll up newspaper for insulation and tape. Place loosely in the box, you don't need to tape them down.
|
|
|
|
Place saran wrap over the top of the box and secure with packing tape
|
|
|
|
One student wants to warm up her taquitos in her solar oven. Exciting! These aren't microwaves so it might take a few hours to get it completely heated up.
However, if you want to make s'mores. Place your s'more's material in your box and place in the sun. Check on your s'mores every 30 minutes. When the marshmallows are soft, your s'mores are done. Put another graham cracker on top and enjoy.
However, if you want to make s'mores. Place your s'more's material in your box and place in the sun. Check on your s'mores every 30 minutes. When the marshmallows are soft, your s'mores are done. Put another graham cracker on top and enjoy.
Pringles Can Hot Dog Solar Oven
Supplies:
Pringles Can Skewer Packing tape Scissors Saran Wrap Drill |
First, drill a hole into the top and bottom of the Pringles can. It should be about 1/8 inch drill bit.
|
Use a box cuter or an X-acto knife and cut a flap in the Pringles can.
|
Place saran wrap over the hole and affix with packing tape.
|
Place a skewer through and it is ready for a hot dog.
Directions to cook:
Place the skewer lengthwise through the hot dog and put in the solar oven.
Place the hot dog solar oven in the sun.
Rotate the hot dog every thirty minutes.
It should take about 2 hours to warm up.
If you want to be scientific about this, you could warm up a hot dog to your desired temperature on the stove or in the microwave. Take the temperature with a meat thermometer. This will be your aim for heating up your hot dog in the solar oven.
Then figure out how long it will take to get your hot dog to your desired temperature.
Directions to cook:
Place the skewer lengthwise through the hot dog and put in the solar oven.
Place the hot dog solar oven in the sun.
Rotate the hot dog every thirty minutes.
It should take about 2 hours to warm up.
If you want to be scientific about this, you could warm up a hot dog to your desired temperature on the stove or in the microwave. Take the temperature with a meat thermometer. This will be your aim for heating up your hot dog in the solar oven.
Then figure out how long it will take to get your hot dog to your desired temperature.
|
|
Solar energy is radiation from the sun that generates light and heat. The amount of energy that we receive from the sun is amazing! It has been said that we receive more energy from the sun in one hour than humans could use in an entire lifetime! However, we have only been able to harvest a tiny fraction of that energy. These solar ovens use a tiny fraction of the sun's energy we can harvest in order to make s'mores or warm up hot dogs.
I found these solar oven activities here
building Bird Nests
|
|
|
|
|
|
Family fun for the whole flock |
Family-Friendly Activities You can Pair with Robert McCloskey's classic book, Make Way for Ducklings
|
|
Both our Finding God's Fingerprints (1st-2nd grade) and All Creatures Great and Small (PreK-Kindergarten) science classes at the Community Homeschool Center learned about five different groups of vertebrate animals. Robert McCloskey's Make Way for Ducklings was a perfect way to kick of our summer as an extension on the study of one of those groups of vertebrates: birds. We have six children ranging from 18 months to 12 years old. These activities involved all of my children but I particularly focused on engaging my 4 year old.
I read the Robert McCloskey's book aloud to my younger children and worked through the activities in this free Pre-K pack . I followed the Five in a Row model of reading the book each day focusing on a different aspect of the book. Another activity we enjoyed was making healthy homemade duck feed and sharing this fun treat with our local ducks at Texas A&M University's Research Park. We also were able to visit two different local families who are raising ducks. Lastly, if you are wanting something a little more for a Kindergartener or First grader, I highly recommend these lapbooks from Homeschool Share. They have been my favorites for years. Homeschool Share also has a separate lapbook if you just want to do a unit study about ducks. See if you can find God's Fingerprints in how He created the ducks. |
|