Backyard Nature Study

We found a different type of mushroom growing in the backyard's mulched area.  They were a tad dried up by the time we found them.  C wanted to see if watering them would help, so we did that.  It also rained later in the day, so we'll check in a few days to see if they revived at all or if any new ones sprouted up.  It was neat, because this was her first self prompted science experiment.  I love that these nature studies are encouraging that type of thinking.  We also happened upon some tiny spiders.  C was amazed that within a few square feet of us at one point, were about half a dozen spider webs that we could see.  We also noticed quite a few dragonflies flitting around as well.

Green Gilled Mushroom

These popped up in our front yard after a lot of rain from the previous week or so.  I took the girls out in the heat to do a quick nature study.  We talked about the parts of the mushroom and the environment's conditions that were favorable for it's growth.  We identified it as a Green Gill Mushroom, which apparently is extremely poisonous, but we discussed why we should never eat wild mushrooms.  I had C sketch this as her very first entry in her nature journal.  I'll have to scan it in later.