Explore Outdoors ~ April Showers

 It's been a rainy spring here in the northeast - and some mornings are still on the cold side. (Snow, anyone?) But spring flowers are shaking off the raindrops and holding their faces to the sun.

 

What spring flowers are blooming in your neighborhood? 

 

Two Fun Books to Tuck in a Tote

A couple of books came out last month and I think they’re perfect for spring.

Odd Bugs: Meet Nature’s Weirdest Insects 

by Laura Gehl; illus. by Gareth Lucas 

22 pages; ages 2-4

Abrams Appleseed, 2026   

A few years ago I chatted with Laura Gehl about her book Odd Beasts. This one is the third in her series of “nature’s oddballs” and it’s about my favorite critters: bugs!

Odd Bugs presents eight insects, each with a particular adaptation. Among them is a moth with painted wings, and a caterpillar that stings. There are ants that weave with silken strands and a butterfly whose wings look like panes of glass. And then there’s the robber fly – a true thief. Even their babies steal from other insects!

What I like about this book: Using fun and playful language, each spread presents a single bug. Read aloud, page by page, it’s a single poem about the insects. My favorite part is at the end where Laura points out that we don’t have six legs or antennae or wings or any of the buggy attributes they do. So … who’s the real weirdo? What’s more, this board book has Back Matter! Two spreads present additional information and photos of each insect featured. Laura will be one of the guests at the Annual Arthropod Roundtable over at the GROG on Earth Day, April 22nd.  (Review copy from the author)

What's the oddest bug you've ever seen? 

A spiky caterpillar? 

A moth the size of  a hummingbird? 

This summer, draw pictures of the truly odd bugs you find around your neighborhood.

Big Brain Puzzles: Plant Pandemonium! 

created by Camille Pichon 

10 pages; ages 6 and up

Twirl, 2026

Flowers, butterflies, earthworms … all in puzzles that mix things up. Spin the dials on a lily pad, pull butterfly tabs, slide worm parts through the soil to match the challenges. Five puzzles times nine different ways to play makes a total of 45 different challenges – adding up to complete pandemonium! Great for logic and problem-solving. (Review copy from Blue Slip Media)

Have fun!

Explore Outdoors ~ a salt marsh

 One of the things I try to do wherever I am is to find a bit of wild. Even if - especially if - I'm in an urban area. So the other day we drove down the shore drive to a small natural area in Quincy, MA: Passanageset Park at the Broad Meadows Marsh.

 

Passanageset Park boasts flat trails to and around the marsh, and signs that tell of the history of the Massachusett people who lived there long before European settlers arrived. Others describe the ecology and wildlife ... but on a windy day in late March there weren't any birds clinging to tall stems and calling.

A salt marsh is a coastal wetland that is flooded and drained by the tides. We were clearly there at low tide. 

 

 

 

This week find a piece of the wild where you are.