Explore Outdoors ~ Millipedes!

 

The millipedes living in my neck of the woods are about three inches long and round, with pretty stripes marking the edge of each segment. They have dainty antennae and feet that will tickle if you let them crawl up your arm. Some folks think millipedes have 1,000 legs, but they don't. What they do have is 2 pair of legs per segment. Centipedes have one pair of legs per segment, and tend to be flatter - and faster. 

Millipedes tend to spiral when they die, and their colors fade. But, even dead, they are cool to observe. For one thing, their faces look like they have smiles. And for another, you can see how the legs attach.

This week ~ look for bugs with lots of legs. Maybe you'll find roly-polies (pill bugs) or centipedes or millipedes, or daddy longlegs. 

Give it a name. Mine is named Millie.

Spend some time watching your critter. How do the legs attach to the body? How fast does it move? What does it look like when you put your eyes at ground level?

Ask questions.

Draw a picture or take a photo so you can continue to study your leggy critter.

Messing around in my Nature Journal

 Have you ever smooshed a marigold or buttercup across a page in your journal or sketchbook? Maybe it left a yellowish smudge… And while you may have done it by accident, a couple weeks ago I smooshed plant parts onto the page on purpose.

It was part experiment, part “artist date” a’la Julia Cameron, and a whole lot curiosity. I wanted to know would blue pigments in my bachelor button blossoms smear blue pigment on the page? Would the centers of oxeye daisies make as nice a yellow as buttercups?

Materials

I began by collecting a variety of plants that I thought might provide some color:

bachelor button flower

bleeding heart flowers and leaves

oxeye daisy flower

buttercup flowers and leaves

yellow hawkweed flowers

creeping charlie leaves

wild strawberries

Method

 I knew I could extract pigments by boiling the flowers and adding a mordant (a mordant is a chemical that helps keep the pigment from fading, such as vinegar or alum). But I wanted something more immediate. So I pressed and smeared, smooshed, and squashed petals and plant parts directly onto the paper.

Results: Yellow hawkweed and buttercup petals left bright yellow smudges; the yellow center of the daisy left only a faint mark. Bachelor button petals left a bright blue. Strawberries left pink smears, not the red I expected. Bleeding heart flowers left no pigment on the page. As for the leaves, creeping charlie and bleeding heart leaves left different shades of green.

The Buzz about Bee Books

If you’re a longtime follower of my blog, you know I am passionate about bees. I spent a summer at the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab (RMBL) near Crested Butte, Colorado following - and tagging -bumble bees. So I’m ending Pollinator Week with a couple of picture books that focus on bees. 

theme: bees, mystery, nonfiction

Honeybee Rescue: A Backyard Drama

by Loree Griffin Burns; photos by Ellen Harasimowicz 

40 pages; ages 5-8

‎Charlesbridge, 2022

This is Mr. Connery, and that is his ramshackle barn… a few days ago, on the way to his vegetable garden, Mr. Connery noticed that the rickety old structure was buzzing.

When he looked inside, he discovered that honeybees had taken up residence in a corner of the barn. Now, Mr. Connery raises bees, so he knew that this was a new colony. And he wanted to save it. This book tells the story of how a honeybee rescuer removes the colony of bees from the barn and relocates them into a hive. There is mystery. There is adventure. There is a honeybee vacuum!

What I like about this book: I like how Loree Burns turned a swarm of honeybees into a tale of drama and suspense. Why are the bees in the barn? She explains swarming. How will Mr. Connery get them back into a hive? Loree introduces a beekeeper who specializes in rescuing honeybee swarms – whether they’re in a church steeple or the wall of a house or, as in this case, clinging to the rafter of a derelict barn. 

We get to see the insides of a honeybee hive and meet the queen. We see a Honeybee Sucker-upper in action! And there is a wonderful interview with the bee rescuer, plus lots of great back matter.

Not only does Loree write amazing books for kids, but she is also a scientist. So I had to ask her One Question.

Me: How is writing a book for kids like being a scientist?

Loree: I’ve begun to think about writing as being like a scientist in its iterative nature.

When I was doing bench research, I designed experiments that I hoped would help me understand how something worked. (In my case, how do cells regulate the expression of genes inside their nuclei?) Once I’d done my experiment, I usually had a bit more information about how cells achieve that regulation … but I didn’t have the whole answer. Just enough to think about how to design a new set of experiments that would expand on what I’d learned even further. And so on and so on until a story began to emerge, ever so slowly, about the ways that cells regulate their genes.

Similarly, when I’m writing, I go through a long process of incremental progression. I have an idea for a story I want to tell, and I draft it on paper. Once it’s all written out, I put it aside for a hot minute. When I’m ready, I pull it out to re-read, scouring the storytelling for sentences and paragraphs and pages that work … and also for ones that don’t. Then I revise. With each revision, as with each set of experiments, I get closer to telling the whole story in the right way. It’s all trial and error, fits and starts, bit by bit.  But eventually I get there!

One of the skills I picked up during my summer at RMBL was how to identify bees by their sounds. So I was intrigued by this book.

After the Buzz Comes the Bee: Lift-the-Flap Animal Sounds 

by Robie Rogge; illus by Rachel Isadora 

32 pages; ages 2-5

Holiday House, 2022

After the buzzzzzzzzzzzz… (lift the flap) comes the bee.

Each spread presents a sound: ribbit-ribbit, ah-ah-ah, munch-munch-munch. But you have to lift the flap to reveal who makes that sound. A frog, for sure, but ah-ah-ah? Who could that be? And what’s fun is that the inside of the jacket cover is a poster.

Bee-yond the Books:

Listen to the sounds bees make as they fly by and as they visit flowers. Write down the sounds you hear and see if you can create your own list of buzz-words for pollinators visiting your yard or neighborhood. Check out this article to learn more about why bees buzz and hear two different bees.

Go on a Pollinator Scavenger Hunt. Here's one list you can use to inspire your discovery adventure.

No Bees, No Picnics. Here are some of the foods we eat that depend on bees for pollination. How many do you eat?

Apples, apricots, avocados, beans, blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupes, cherries, cocoa, cranberries, cucumbers, grapes, lemons, limes, mangos, nectarines, peaches, pears, peppers, plums, raspberries, strawberries, tangelos, tomatoes, walnuts, and watermelons  

More books about bees:

Turn this book into a Beehive

Where Have All the Bees Gone? Pollinators in Crisis

Begin with a Bee

books about pollinators for emerging readers

The Queen Bee and Me by Gillian McDunn

and another by Loree G. Burns, Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe

Loree Griffin Burns is a member of #STEAMTeam2022. You can find out more about her at her website. 

Today we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers.

There are Flies in my Flowers!

 

Flies are important pollinators. Many of the flower flies (syrphids) are yellow or orange and black, mimicking bees. Some even look like fierce wasps.

This week pay attention to the flies you see on flowers in your garden and neighborhood. 

• Take their photos. 
• Draw a picture of them. 
• Write a short fly-ku!
  

Thank a butterfly this week!

 

Butterflies are busy pollinating flowers all summer long. Some, like the swallowtails, have wingspans nearly as big as my hand. Others are tiny.

 

This week pay attention to the butterflies and moths you see on plants in your garden and neighborhood. 

• Take their photos. 
• Draw a picture of them. 
• Write a fluttery bit of music for a lepidoptera!

Appreciate your local pollinator

 

I love bumble bees, and there are so many different kinds collecting nectar and pollen in my garden. This week pay attention to the bumble bees you see on plants in your garden and neighborhood. 

• Take their photos. 
• Draw a picture of them. 
• Write an ode to a bumble bee!

Happy Birthday FUNKY FUNGI

Two important things are happening this week. It’s Pollinator Week – and that means I’ll be posting photos of pollinators and otherwise celebrating them all week long!

And secondly – it’s a Book Birthday! That’s right, tomorrow Funky Fungi hits the shelves of a bookstore near you. To celebrate, we’re having a Blog Book Birthday Party with cake and party favors, and even a song. It being a blog, you'll have to bake-and-make your own... so gather your art supplies and join in the celebration!  

First, grab a cupcake. They look like yummy mushrooms, right? That’s because I over-filled the cupcake papers so the tops spilled over. Then I poked white chips into the frosting. (you’ll have to bake your own)

I was going to set up a game of pin-the-spots-on-the-mushroom, but I dropped the bowl of spots and they’re all over the floor. So how about a rousing round of the mushroom song instead? 

Mushroom Song (Sung to: Down by the Station)

Out in the front yard just above the garden,

See the little mushrooms standing in a row.

Down comes the rain and up sprout the fungi,

Each by itself but connected down below.

Party Favor Time!

If you’ve got some plain colored cupcake liners, craft sticks, glue, white paint and a paint brush or Q-tip, you can make a collection of mushroom fans. Here’s how.

You can download this free mushroom coloring sheet here.

And if you like glitter globes, here’s how you can make one. All you need is a jar with a lid, a waterproof mushroom toy, some glitter, and some waterproof glue. 

Remember to check out our Funky Fungus Fridays over at my author Facebook page, and Alisha’s #FungiFriday posts on Twitter

Funky Fungi, 30 Activities for Exploring Molds, Mushrooms, Lichens, and More is part of the part of the Chicago Review Press “Young Naturalists” series. Look for a copy at your favorite bookstore.

The Natural Genius of Ants

The Natural Genius of Ants 

by Betty Culley 

240 pages; ages 8-12

Crown Books for Young Readers, 2022

The minute I saw the title of this book, I knew I had to read it. Because: ants. I mean, you read my blog – you know my passion for arthropods!

And while this book is full of ant wisdom, nay, ant-genius, it is not really about ants. It’s a story about life and love and parents and hope and worry and …. Okay, how about if I just share a few sentences of jacket copy:

Harvard is used to his father coming home from the hospital and telling him about the babies he helped. But since he made the mistake at work, Dad has been quieter than usual. And now he’s taking Harvard and his little brother, Roger, to Kettle Hole, Maine, for the summer. 

Here’s the thing: Harvard is very observant; he notices that Dad brings his doctor bag with him. And Harvard wants to make his Dad be happy again. So when they decide to build an ant farm as a summer project, and the mail-order ants are dead on arrival, Harvard decides to substitute some local ants. Very local… as in: carpenter ants that scurry around the house. When Dad is ready to fill the ant farm frame with sand, Harvard thinks quick and suggests creating a “Maine habitat,” complete with dirt from outside and some chunks of wood.

Ryan Hodnett / Wikimedia  

What I LOVE about this book: 

• Betty Culley’s descriptions of place are so real that you feel like you’re there – whether it’s in the cozy house or the Maine woods. I mean, you can smell the wood rot and leaf mold!
• The characters are so three-dimensional I kept expecting them to poke their heads out of the book and say “Can you believe there are 15,000 kinds of ant?”
• The ant facts and tidbits of info sprinkled throughout the pages. And the wonderful observations of ant behavior. 
• The chapter titles, from Ant Poetry to Camponotus pennsylvanicus (eastern black carpenter ant). I actually have a few of these that run around my kitchen every now and then, and have whipped more than a few into frittatas.
• The ant puns and ant jokes. They are a good ant-idote to a bad day.
• But here’s what I liked the best: while writing The Natural Genius of Ants, Betty kept an ant farm and cared for a carpenter ant queen. You can check it out here on her website. Immersion journalism at its best!

I give this book 5 pair of antenna! (waaaay better than stars) Run, do not walk, to your nearest book seller and get yourself a copy. Then grab a large mason jar and a smaller jar that can fit inside, and a few more things and make an ant farm. Here’s how. 

Thanks for dropping by today. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so scurry over to see what other people are reading. Review copy provided by Media Masters Publicity.

Explore Outdoors ~ What does the Pond see of the world?

Delighting in Oddities ~ by Laura Gehl

 My journey to writing the board books Odd Beasts and Odd Birds started nearly twenty years ago, when I first read in a scientific journal about a poop-shooting caterpillar. I went on to write about that caterpillar for a children’s magazine -- my first published nonfiction for kids. And that article kicked off a career as a children’s book author that has resulted in many happy hours reading and writing about weird creatures.

It was such a delight to work on Odd Beasts and Odd Birds. I love writing simple, rhyming text, which pairs perfectly with Gareth Lucas’ beautiful art. And I had room to add more detailed information (and photographs!) at the end, giving me a reason to dive deeper into my research. 

It was easy to find strange animals and birds to write about…like the glass frog with its see-through skin and the anglerfish with a fishing pole sticking out of its head in Odd Beasts, and the blue-footed booby and poop-smelling hoatzin in Odd Birds. 

The hard part was having to cut out many of the amazing creatures I discovered, because each of these board books only has 22 pages. 

That’s why I’m excited to share some of the creatures that didn’t make the cut!

One amazing animal that didn’t make it into Odd Beasts is the Dumbo octopus. While all octopuses are a little odd, the Dumbo octopus has ear-like fins above each eye. They look like the ears of Dumbo the flying elephant.

photo: NOAA Ocean Exploration and Research

Another adorable-in-an-odd way animal that I did not have space for is the star-nosed mole. This small mole is nearly blind and uses the sensitive, star-shaped organ to feel its way around.

A bird that didn’t make it into Odd Birds is the helmeted hornbill. This bird looks a bit like a toucan and a bit like a rooster. But what really makes the helmeted hornbill stand out is the big red “helmet” (called a casque) on top of its head. The helmet is so big that it comprises about 10% of the bird’s weight. Unfortunately, poachers kill these birds for their casques, which are carved into jewelry, belt buckles, and ornaments.

photo: Francesco Varonesi

Another fabulous bird I had to leave out is the ribbon-tailed astrapia, with tail feathers that are about three times as long as its body. If you’re thinking, “Wow, if I had a tail that long, I would trip on it,” you’re absolutely right. The male birds, who have these long tails to impress female birds, actually do trip on their tails once in a while. Even worse, the males may need to untangle their tails before taking flight, making a quick escape from predators more difficult. 

These are just a handful of the odd beasts and odd birds I couldn’t include. But with luck, some of these wonderful weirdos will find their way into a future book! 

Thank you for joining us today, Laura. Laura's newest book, Odd Birds flies off the shelves tomorrow. Laura is a member of #STEAMTeam2022. You can find out more about her at her website. 

It's Strawberry Season!

 I LOVE Strawberries 

by Shannon Anderson; illus. by Jaclyn Sinquett 

32 pages; ages 4-8

Feeding Minds Press, 2022

theme: gardening, responsibility

“Mom, can I grow strawberries of my very own?”

Jolie loves strawberries so much that she would eat them every day if she could. Her solution: grow her own. But that’s a lot of work, and mom and dad think she should wait until she’s older to tackle such a venture. So Jolie sets out on a mission: to show her parents that she is able to take on the responsibilities of a berry grower. She starts by cleaning her rabbit’s cage. Then she devises other ways to demonstrate that she is “old enough” to grow strawberries.

What I like about this book: I like the scrapbook-like entries Jolie puts in her journal. And I love how she sets herself specific missions to show her parents what she can do on her own. And what she does when she finally gets to plant her very own strawberries. Of course there’s a dose of reality: bird attacks, insects, too many berries (seriously, Jolie? too many?)

And I like the backmatter: tips on growing strawberries, some explanation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), and some tips for locating U-pick berry farms. Plus there are links to educational activities and videos.

Beyond the Books:

Make strawberry ink. If you’ve eaten all your strawberries, you can use other berries to make ink. Here’s how.

Plant a strawberry seed, or a couple hundred. Here’s how.

Visit a U-Pick berry farm and pick your own strawberries! Then eat them!

Today we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by Media Master’s Publicity

Explore Outdoors ~ Looking Closer

 Last week I met a writing friend up at Sapsucker Woods (Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca NY). We both write about nature and science, so what could have been a half-hour walk stretched to well over an hour as we stopped to look at flowers, ferns, fungi, and frogs. Also bugs, because what's a walk in the woods without insects? Before we even reached the start of the trail I was down on one knee checking out this flower, called a Ragged Robin, and the spittlebug home tucked around the stem.

 

This week, as you pass by flowers in lawns and gardens, take a closer look. Do you see any interesting insects hanging out on the stems or leaves?

Making Connections ~ by Matt Lilley

 

My book, Good Eating: The Short Life of Krill, is all about Antarctic krill and the Southern Ocean food web. Most of the animals in the Southern Ocean – including whales, seals, sea birds, and penguins – gobble down tons of krill. Most of those that don’t eat krill themselves eat something else that eats krill (like orca eating penguins). 

Krill are small, but very important. Learning about what eats what in nature can be a way to see how the plants and animals in an ecosystem are connected.

Another example are purple sea stars. These live from the coast of California to southern Alaska. They live in tide pools and eat mussels (and other things too). Without purple sea stars around to eat mussels, the mussels take over their ecosystem. They crowd out everything else. Then species like sea slugs and anemones can’t survive there anymore. If you take sea stars out of their ecosystem, most of the other species disappear too. Understanding one piece of that food chain helps us see how that whole ecosystem works. 

You can learn about the ecosystem in your own neighborhood by figuring out the food chains. Start with one creature and see how far you can get. In my neighborhood, we have dragonflies in the summer. One great thing about dragonflies is that they eat pesky mosquitoes. With their four wings, dragonflies are great hunters. One dragonfly can eat dozens of mosquitoes every day. 

But then, what eats dragonflies? Dragonflies get eaten by many animals, including birds, bats, and spiders. If you watch the birds outside, sometimes you can see them catch their food, including dragonflies. 

            

Another animal I find sometimes is the ground beetle (carabids). Many of the carabids are black beetles. I accidentally dig them up when I’m gardening in the spring. Before, when I found them, I would wonder if I should squish them. Once I found out what ground beetles eat, I knew they were good to have around. They are predatory beetles that eat many garden pests, such as slugs and flies. Animals, like moles and toads, eat ground beetles. Ground beetles are nocturnal, and so are many of the predators that eat them. Learning about the ground beetle's place in the local food chain tells me about what other creatures might be coming out to hunt at night.

The next time you are outside, think about the creatures you see and how they are connected in the food chain. Understanding food chains can show you a lot about how an ecosystem works.

I'm happy Matt could share his love of natural history with us, today. In addition to writing STEMmy books for kids, Matt is a Minnesota Master Naturalist. You can find out more about him and his books at his website. And you can check out my review of Good Eating here.

Some Flowers are Just Weird

It's gettin' on towards summer, and that means... flowers! Sure, we've had some flowers blooming in and around our yard. Dandelions, violets, wild strawberries, dead nettle. But now that the weather's warming up, I expect to see lots more flowers blooming. It's the perfect time to grab a copy of...

Flowers Are Pretty ... Weird! 

by Rosemary Mosco; illus. by Jacob Souva 

36 pages; ages 4-8

Tundra Books, 2022

theme: nature, flowers

Hi! I’m a bee. And there’s one thing that a bee adores more than anything else … FLOWERS!

For bees, there’s so much about flowers to like: their bright colors and their sweet nectar. But here’s the truth about flowers: they are fascinating, disgusting, complicated, and some are downright weird. They have strange shapes. They could be poisonous. Or stinky. They might grow way up in the sky, or open only at night when bees are snoozzzzing in their nests. What good is that? In addition to learning about strange adaptations of flowers, readers gain insight into how pollination works.

What I like about this book: I like the bee as narrator – and the sassy commentary he (she? they?) provides as they lead you on a tour through the flower world. I also like the way they offer readers an opportunity to opt out of the tour: “if you want to join me, turn the page. If you don’t, close this book and buzz right off.” 

I like the flowers chosen as examples of the weird: Dragon Fruit and Wolfsbane, Starfish flowers and the Corpse lily. And there is Back Matter, where kids can learn more about the flowers highlighted in the book as well as where to find them.

And did I say I love the illustrations? No? Well, I do! The bee may be a cartoonish character, but the flowers are spot-on.

 

Beyond the Books:

Visit a greenhouse or conservatory and look for weird flowers. You can meet 40 of the worlds weirdest flowers here. 

Go on a flower walk. Admire flowers growing in your neighborhood and draw a picture of your favorite. Or take photos of the flowers and create a flower map for visiting bees (and butterflies).

Use flower petals in art – and check out more activities here.

Invent a weird flower and explain what its Flower Powers are.

Go on a flower scavenger hunt, but instead of bringing home samples, bring home photos of what you find. Here’s one list of things to look for.

Today we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Explore Outdoors ~ Wild Strawberries

One of the things I like about our "lawn" - the area we mow now and then - is that it isn't a monoculture of grass. In the spring, it's a carpet of purple violets sprinkled with bright yellow exclamation points of dandelion. There are always treasures to discover, like patches of wild strawberries. This is strawberry season, when some flowers are blooming and others have lost their petals and are starting to form fruits. In a couple weeks our yard will be sprinkled with tiny red gems of fruit.

This week, take some time to look at what grows in the grass in your yard or the back part of a school yard or park. You might find violets, or some of the "garden weeds" I posted last week. Or, if you are lucky, you might find a strawberry pocket-patch. 

What wildflowers do you find in your lawn patches?