Friday, March 13, 2015

Sidewalk Chalk Flowers from the Field Guide - Getting Ready for Spring


This is that time of year when it's getting warmer, and starting to feel like spring, but still looking like...


...well, not winter exactly, but not spring either.  While we're enjoying the sunshine, and the arrival of a few spring birds - (can you spot the killdeer in the empty lot behind our house?)...


...we're ready for some color.  It's early though, and we have a while to wait.  Not to mention, that between the deer, the ground squirrels, and the wild rabbits roaming the neighborhood, there really won't be much point in trying to plant flowers in the yard.  That doesn't mean we can't draw a few.


Since the girls wanted to be outside in the fresh air anyway, I pulled out a new box of chalk, and our Montana Field Guide...


...and had them sketch out and label a few of the flowers we hope to see later in the summer...


Then, when they tired of that, I set them loose to cover the rest of our poor, dilapidated patio with free-form flowers.


It's not much of an improvement to the patio, but it did add some color to the backyard...


...and gave the girls an excuse to be outside, and a chance to sure up their field guide knowledge.

8 comments:

Phyllis said...

It still feels like winter around here. The flowers are beautiful and I like how you added a field guide to the activity.

Ticia said...

We finally got a day in the 70s today, and we spent most of it inside because of sick boys.

I love adding in the field guide to this activity.

Anonymous said...

Awesome idea, maybe this way we'll learn to tell flowers apart at last, instead of "the one with purple petals" :)

MaryAnne said...

This is an activity my Emma would enjoy! New boxes of chalk are always inspiring.

claireshomeeducation said...

Ha, love it! An outdoor, eraser-ble nature journal!

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

The flowers look beautiful. We, on the other hand, enjoyed real wild flowers last week during the hike!

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

Natalie - We made a trek into the mountains last weekend. It was sunny and beautiful, but still very white.

Beth said...

Great idea! My kids will like this activity!