Nature Study Outing :: Back to the Pond

We have explored this same park so many times.  It amazes me how we always find something new!

This guy was hanging out in a puddle in the gutter where we parked!  He wasn't moving and looked in pretty bad shape, but he turned out to be okay--just out of his usual habitat.  (Well, and he only had one eye. But that didn't seem to be slowing him down!)

We deposited him in a grassy area by the pond where he seemed much more comfortable.

My friend told me that she saw the wild cucumbers had their fruit when she was out a couple weeks ago (yes, this is what CM-homeschooling nerd friends text to each other!), but I hadn't had a chance to check them out yet.  Sure enough...

We brought a few home: one new ball, one full-grown ball, and one already split open.

I also brought a pretty bit of rose clover home to draw (shown below), and the kids gathered bits of scarlet pimpernel (an old favorite).  We also saw thistle, plantain, and groundsel.  And new today: the first little white buds atop long, thin stems from a plant in the wild carrot family.  We'll have to check on that last one once it's in bloom to narrow it down.

And a peek into my 6yo's nature journal from this outing, since I didn't show hers when I did my last big nature journal share a couple weeks ago...

The green frame on the second page, ready for me to write her narration in, was all her idea, and she was so proud of her artistic ingenuity. :)  She usually devotes one page to each specimen (as you might imagine, this wastes uses paper very quickly!), but lately she has decided to clump her findings for the day all onto one spread like I often do.  She is a very detailed and comprehensive little Keeper. :)