Crab Apple Creations

We found some crab apple trees with branches low enough for Ian & Eric to easily pick apples.  The boys made triangular and square towers with crab apples and toothpicks.  Ian connected all of the towers into one big structure.

Another day, I made crab apple prints while the kids painted natural disasters (tornadoes, forest fires) with their apples and brushes. 

We also made apple crisp with granny smith apples.  Ian loves using the apple peeler, corer, slicer!

Books:  The Apple Pie Tree by Hall

Trout in Yellowstone Lake

The program at Museum of the Rockies this week was about trout in Yellowstone Lake.  We learned how to identify native Yellowstone cutthroat trout and non-native lake trout.  Then we made magnet fishing poles and fish with paper clips.  At home, the boys play fished in a spot where there's enough cutthroat fish for the grizzly bears and people, so the boys could eat all the caught fish at their fish fry!

Books:  River Song by Van Zandt;  Trout Are Made of Trees by Sayre;  Trout, Trout, Trout!: A Fish Chant by Sayre

Grasshoppers

Grasshopper Activities:

• collected & observed live grasshoppers
• created nymph & adult grasshopper puppets
• "Nymph Grows Up" puppet show (Small Wonders by Garrett & Thomas)

Insect information and rearing sheets:
Using Live Insects in Elementary Classrooms

Books:  Insects: A Close-up Look by Seymour;  "Bugs" in Fun with Nature by Boring

Construction Sites

There's been many opportunities for observing construction work this summer: parking lot and road repair/paving, street painting & cleaning, building repair with tower crane,  roofing.

Ian enjoys blocking off our neighbors' sidewalks with cones for various pretend construction work and vehicle accidents.  Ian and I have been making road signs and oversize load signs for his vehicles.

At Digger Days, Ian and Eric sat in several different kinds of big machines and actually operated a mini excavator.

Books:  Machines at Work by Byron Barton;  Big Digs & Construction Sites by Fortunato-Chisena