Fall Science Part 1

I noticed yesterday, that it had been exactly a year, since we'd gone a our fall nature walk, to gather pine cones for a wreath.

I thought it might be fun to take the little ones out again, for a comparative walk. But this time, instead of carrying a newspaper basket, to gather pine cones, G was good enough to outfit the the younger ones (ages 4-7) with masking tape bracelets, sticky side out, for collecting "samples" of fall.

We noticed right away, that we seemed to have caught autumn in its earliest stages. Most of the leaves are just beginning to change color.

Here is a picture of the same tree we photographed last year. The picture on the left is from the same day last year, and the picture on the right, is this year.

We also observed quite a few toadstools...

...found a penny...

...and decided to turn the pine cones into impromptu boats, instead of wreaths, this year.

Although, some plants had already dropped their flowers, in favor of seed pods, we still found enough blooming, to add to the few colorful leaves on the ground, for some very pretty (or in the case of D, who is far to boyish to wear something "pretty" - scientifically interesting) bracelets.

I hope very soon, to follow this walk up with some deeper experiments, and reading into the changing colors of autumn leaves. I hope you'll come back, and join us for "Fall Science Part 2", later in the week.

But, in the meantime, you can find more scientific exploration, and discovery for children, at this week's Science Sunday link-up, at Adventures in Mommydom.

It's great to be a homeschooler.