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As the children and I did our calendar and weather routine this morning we figured we were in for another misty, moisty morning, but we were wrong!
After we completed our morning routine, we talked about what butterflies eat. Some guesses were "little bugs" and "dirt." We looked at a few pictures of butterflies on we brought out the parts we'd need to make a homemade butterfly feeder. We looked at the spraypaint, ball jar, lid, and wick and talked about how the parts would work together to make a nice place for butterflies to stop and get some "nectar." For safety, I spraypainted the lid as the children looked on.
We set the lid aside to dry and in the meantime the children and I went on a hunt for changes in the vegetable and flower gardens. In the flower garden one child noticed buds on the cornflowers and another saw buds on the geraniums. We all noticed that many of the plants were looking bigger and stronger.
In the vegetable garden, the children immediately noticed there were tiny tomatoes forming where only flowers had been last week.
I lifted a leaf on the zucchini and the children saw one of its enormous orange flowers. It was such a surprise to find a flower as big (or bigger than!) our hand, and near it a baby zucchini!
I pointed out the beginnings of a jalapeno pepper and some new flowers on the strawberry plants.
One last peek in the leaves revealed the prickly beginnings of a cucumber.
We all agreed we are excited to taste the veggies when they're ready.
After that, the children and I practiced hitting a badminton birdie with a racquet. I worked with the children one at a time on keeping the racquet flat and using a simple down-up motion to hit the birdie as I dropped it. The children were surprised to see how far the birdie could fly with just a gentle hit, and all of the children were able to hit the birdie several times.
We gathered the butterfly feeder lid up and headed back inside to make butterfly nectar on the stovetop. We used the recipe here to make our nectar.
The children helped pour the water and sugar into a pan, then another stirred it until the sugar had dissolved.
After lunch and naptime, it was time to fill up the feeder and hang it outside the window. We're all happy to help our butterfly friends and hope we get to see them using the feeder!
Later in the day, we read Just Me and My Dad by Mercery Mayer and we discussed camping. We also enjoyed the rhymes in One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss.
See you tomorrow!