Nature Net News
Your portal for nature tips
& tricks for exploring nature with kids
May 2010
Sprouts and Seedlings
"One generation plants the trees,
and
another gets the shade."
Chinese Proverb
Dear Reader, What's got us all excited about the beginning of spring? The sprouts and seedlings popping out of the ground! Remember when you would count down the days until the first tulip or crocus popped its head out of the snow? That feeling of wonder when that inert-looking bulb last fall turned into a soft, delicate bloom? Take a look at this month's Nature Net News and explore local nature centers to discover brand new seedlings as well as in your own backyard. Who knows? Your children's interest in nature may sprout faster than this spring's seedlings. Enjoy! Kathe & Sarah |
A pack of 500 lettuce seeds cost the same as a head of romaine. What's more, that same packet of 500 lettuce seeds will produce 500 bags of pre-washed, bagged salad greens!
What to Do This Month:
Go on a Seedling Search. Take a nature walk and try to count how many seedlings you see!
Celebrate May Day! An old tradition states that if you wash your face with the dew on the morning of the 1st of May, you'll stay forever young!
Tricks of the Trail for Parents:
Plants Need Dirt
Plants need soil to survive, but dirty little hands leave messes everywhere. While working with soil, wear gloves of the gardening variety. Plastic gloves tear easily and allow dirt to slip up under fingernails. If you feel gloves aren't needed, be sure to use a nail scrubber to get dirt out from under nails.
Instant Outdoor Expert:
All Contained Inside the Seed
All plant seeds come equipped to sprout immediately! Inside the seed coat (the hard shell outside) the baby plant, called an embryo, grows leaves called cotyledons inside its coat. Until it grows roots, the embryo will stay inside the seed coat. See this diagram of the inside of a seed for a better illustration.
Featured Nature Net Site
Nature Craft
Bethel Horizons
Bethel Horizons is nestled on over 548 acres of hills, valleys, and cliffs inside the “Driftless Area” of Wisconsin.
Many plant and animal communities make the forest, prairie, and wetland areas of Horizons their home.
Horizons provides many unique opportunities to explore and discover the wonders of nature by striving to teach others the importance of the earth's wild places and by reconnecting people to the earth in which we live.
All are welcome to take part in the many nature programs offered at Horizons. Whether you are a part of a school, business/organization, church, or scout troop, they would love to coordinate a program that will fit your needs.
How Does Your Garden Grow? In a flowerpot, of
course!
What you need: acrylic paint, flowerpot, brushes,
soil, seeds.
1. Make sure your flowerpot is clean and dry.
2. Paint your flowerpot with whatever design you want to. It's fun to paint the flowers you plan to plant in your pots on the pots.
3. Allow the paint to dry for 24 hours.
4. Add soil to pot and plant seeds as instructed to on package.
5. Water and put in a sunny spot!
Suggested Reading:
"The Tiny Seed" by Eric Carle (all ages)
"Miss Rumphius" by Barbara Cooney (all ages)
"Small Seeds" by Judith Nicholls (baby)
"The Carrot Seed" by Ruth Krauss (baby)
"Planting a Rainbow" by Lois Ehlert (baby)
"Seeds Sprout!" by Mary Dodson Wade (4-8)
"How a Seed Grows" by Helene J. Jordan (4-8)
"From Seed to Plant" by Gail Gibbons (4-8)
"The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds: A Book About How Living Things Grow" by Joanna Cole (4-8)
"From Seed to Plant" by Allan Fowler (4-8)
"How a Plant Grows" by Bobbie Kalman (4-8)
"The Seed Vault" by Bonnie Juettner (9-12)
"Seedfolks" by Paul Fleischman (9-12)
