Explore Outdoors ~ Signs of Spring

 I know, I know! I made a big deal about the First Day of Spring a couple weeks ago. And for a minute there, it looked like spring might be on its way.

And then it snowed. And sleeted. And possibly hailed somewhere across the valley. But a few days ago I was out walking and noticed .... 

Spring sneaks in at different times, depending on where you live. My friends in the southern US have flowers blooming in their gardens, while those farther to the north are still sweeping snow off their porches.

 

What Signs of Spring do you see in your yard and around your neighborhood?

Celebrating Poetry

April is National Poetry Month. There are so many ways to celebrate.

You could read a poem a day. You can find a new poem every day at the Poetry Foundation. If you’re looking for new work by contemporary poets, check out poets.org.

You can celebrate National Poem in your Pocket Day (this year it’s April 28). Traditionally, people carry a small poem in their pocket, one they can pull out and share with others. Here’s a great resource for activities related to pocket-poem day.

You can write your own poems. They can be small enough to carry in your pocket or long enough to take up an entire page. The cool thing about poetry: you don’t have to be an expert to write poetry. In fact, you don’t even have to write things that rhyme! All you need is a pencil, a scrap of paper, and this handy-dandy poetic license.

Here’s one I wrote a couple years ago about springtime around my house:

Mom says I have muddy feet – 

playing in the garden feet,

chasing Monarch butterflies 

and watching tiger beetle feet,

standing still while crickets hop across my toes

with tickly feet.

But when mom hollers “grandma’s here”

I race back home on speedy feet.

I invite you to share one of your poems in the comments below. Have fun!

Busy Bugs are All Around You

Hustle Bustle Bugs 

by Catherine Bailey; illus. by Lauren Eldridge 

40 pages; ages 4-8

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2022

theme: insects, nature, 

Secret cities buzz and bustle /with itty-bitty hard-work hustle.

In rhyming couplets, Catherine Bailey shows bugs busy at work. Ants build a colony. Ladybugs on pest patrol. Dung beetles rolling … yeah, dung. Butterflies and bees, fireflies and caterpillars… every bug has a job to do, even if it’s a cricket crooning a tune to the moon.

What I like about this book: There is back matter! Kids – and parents – will want to know more about the insects introduced in the pages. So Catherine provides Buggy Facts, and highlights the best bits that make great sharing at the lunch table: did you know grasshoppers have ears on their bellies?

I also like the illustrations. They look like a mix of toys, like plastic insects, and landscapes.

Lauren: Yeah, but I didn’t use any toys. I made everything by hand.

Turns out that Lauren tells all about how she did the illustrations in her “Note from the Artist” at the back of the book. Because the book is about exploring the environment, she decided to incorporate as many things from the natural environment as she could: dried flowers, sticks, dirt, grass. 

me: But what about the ants and beetles and butterflies?

Lauren explains that, too. She used wire, epoxy putty, tinfoil, polymer clay, mini foam footballs, and vellum to construct the bugs. Except for the butterfly wings, she says. For those, she used yupo paper and alcohol inks. 

I’ve played around with yupo paper and alcohol inks, and it is a lot of fun! You can get some nice stained-glass effects.

To pull it all together, Lauren began by photographing the settings. Then she photographed the bugs and the human characters, and pieced several photos together to create each scene.

Usually at this point I would ask the author a question. But Catherine will be over at the GROG blog on the 20th to talk about bugs and how she came to write this book. Catch her there...

Beyond the Books:

Where do the bugs hang out in your neighborhood? Look for spider webs, ant mounds, caterpillar tents and other evidence of bug homes in your backyard or at a local park. Be careful if you find a wasp nest – wasps have sharp stingers and some of them are not averse to using them.

Spend time watching a bug. If there are ants in a line, where are they going? What are they doing? I once watched a crew of ants drag a large, dead butterfly home. Supper maybe?

Make your own Busy Bug illustration. Use clay and things from the recycling bin ( tinfoil, plastic containers) to construct a bug. Pipe cleaners come in handy – so do toothpicks and beads, grapes, raisins, tissue paper, and heavy paper. Once you’ve built a bug or two, create a scene with grass and pebbles or soil, and take a photo.

Catherine Bailey 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. Reviewed from a pdf provided by the author.