Coastalgirl

the making of a hallowe'en branch and tree....

Yesterday involved a nature walk around our property and Leah collected dead branches to decorate for Hallowe'en. She insisted on decorating her own branch and wanted me to hang it on the wall. It just so happens that we moved into a house with an orange bathroom (egad), so very fitting for Hallowe'en. This is her branch....

And these are dead spruce branches collected from the yard, stuck in a pail with beach rocks and decorated with things we had on hand.

Yesterday also marked another Hallowe'en party; this one at preschool and she wanted to go as a kitty cat:

A very easy costume to put together with things on hand. Add a touch of face painting and voila there is a black kitty cat.

A few favourite Hallowe'en books we are reading this week:

On the first stroke of midnight, ten children, two dogs and a cat enter a haunted funhouse. On their journey through the rooms, they encounter bats and witches and goblins. As the clock strikes, the children bravely sing, “Oh, nothing frightens me!” — and one by one they disappear. By the twelfth stroke of midnight, only one brave child is left — and he’s about to get a big surprise! This Halloween story is spooky and fun, and just right for young readers (Amazon.ca). We sing it to the tune of "The twelve days of Christmas." It's a hoot!

Preparing a costume for Emily is an event for her entire family. Grandma brings her a purple cape and Grandpa brings a skirt to match. In a pattern akin to "This Is the House That Jack Built," striped socks, a red purse, and, of course, a big black hat are added. Then, "This is a snake that's long and slim-/To go with the hat with a big, black rim-/To go with the purse with the strings untied-/To go with the socks with stripes on the side-." Mom decorates and Dad looks on. Each alternating page is black with a colorful trim and the words for each accessory pop out from the otherwise white print in bold colors along with skeletons, bats, or ghosts. A boldly colored, full-page illustration of the child and the cumulative action appears on the opposite page. This is a great read-aloud for the younger set and a good choice for newly independent readers. It has all of the fun and none of the fright of Halloween (Amazon.ca)

a part of robin fest: nature challenge #23

a part of robin fest, originally uploaded by coastalgirlimage.

When we woke up this morning, the cars were covered in spit-out seeds from the thousands of robins that fell out of the sky ahead of the storm. They feasted on the trees all over our yard. This robin posed for a photo and let me tell you, if I tried to get a little closer, they would have no part of it. Have you ever tried to photograph a robin? This one stayed as far away as he could and was photographed at 400mm on the telephoto lens. I tried to sneak up on a few robins and cedar waxwings, but they weren't game for portraits either. Here are a few more pics. Lots of movement and getting the depth of field was tricky in low morning light. This was a great nature lesson for Leah seeing all these birds everywhere.

to the sea

to the sea, originally uploaded by coastalgirlimage.

This is one of those fleeting moments...I'm walking along enjoying the breeze coming over the beach, my little one is chasing gulls, and there is no one else on the beach....A total heavenly experience! Looking up from my search of sea urchins and sand dollars I spy my daughter running to the sea. Such a magical moment. The sea is such a part of us.

a little geological teaching

a little geology, originally uploaded by coastalgirlimage.

    All kids need to learn a little geology....it doesn't matter that the rocks aren't that interesting in the backyard. Instead, I took a tray from one of my collections (igneous-intrusives and extrusives) and showed her how to use a hand lens to look at the mineral grains.Can you tell that Mom is a geologist?         She is looking at smooth granite cobbles collected from a  location in the NE. These make great paper weights and look like eggs. Next lesson: looking at the lava I've collected from hiking volcanoes all over the world. Lots of pumice, obsidian (black glass), and crystal-laden basalts.

Nature box

Nature box, originally uploaded by coastalgirlimage.

In a little free time this week, I worked on painting up this empty egg carton and then personalized it with stickers. This idea has been around for a little while in the children's nature literature. It's a fun way for the little
ones to collect bits of nature around the backyard, in the woods, on the beach, in the meadow.....you get the idea. Our first outing with it was a great success. Leah was excited to find things and then categorize them by colour....much like an "I spy" game. We were searching down low, in branches, up in trees. It's so nice to see such enthusiam and spirit when I start these little projects with her. Very inspiring and time well-spent.

trees at the park

trees at the park, originally uploaded by coastalgirlimage.

Another chilly day, but the perfect sort of day for us to go for a walk in the park and do a little nature collecting.  We have been collecting acorns for months now and add them to this bowl:

Aren't they just wonderful? A thing of real beauty. No wonder squirrels like them so much and collect them too! We never tire of collecting acorns and looking for the ones that still have their caps. Then we look to find the biggest, smallest, most colourful, most striped...etc. To add to the collection we've found sweet gum seed pods, holly berries, and abandoned insect homes (we lost our hickory nuts). Every day of nature hunting brings a new discovery either to observe and photograph or to bring home and add to our revolving display.I think a project in the very near future will be to paint up some acorns, use the acorn caps with pipecleaner dolls, hmmm....what else? The ideas are endless.