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Winter Nature Walk: Sensitive Fern and Willow Pine Cone Gall

This site contains affiliate links that benefit my family if you purchase through them. Read my full disclosure here.This site contains affiliate links that benefit my family if you purchase through them. Read my full disclosure here.Sensitive fern is a good thing to look for on a winter nature walk. Sensitive fern gets its name because it’s very sensitive to…
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in Life Unplugged· Nature Calendars

“I Wonder” Nature Journal Page

Sometimes you run into something in nature that has you puzzled. You can still add your discovery to your nature journal and include your questions about it. Actually, adding a few “I wonder” statements to any nature journal page is a good practice. Then you will be more likely to discover the answers later. Recently, we came across these unusual…
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in Life Unplugged

Small Winter Stoneflies: Insect Life in Winter

Most insects hide in winter. Winter stoneflies are one of the few insects that are active. Special compounds in their blood act as anti-freeze and keep them from freezing. The adults emerge from the water in midwinter and mate. The female returns to the water to lay her eggs. After the eggs hatch, the nymphs live underwater and molt anywhere…
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in Homeschool· Life Unplugged

Great Backyard Bird Count

A Citizen Science Project For All Ages In anticipation for the Great Backyard Bird Count, I’ve designed some materials to help you prepare. I’ve included a watercolor bird poster of common birds, bird flashcards, and a copywork poem. First you may be asking… What is the Great Backyard Bird Count? The Great Backyard Bird Count website says this about the…
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in Life Unplugged

Nature Journaling: A Close-up View

Smoky Eye Boulder Lichen Nature Journal Page We’re surrounded by so much beauty and diversity in nature that sometimes it can be hard to know what to focus on. It can be easy to forget to examine the details. A great nature journaling idea is to zoom in on a certain feature of an item you see in nature. It’s…
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in Life Unplugged· Nature Calendars

Investigating Rehydrated Lichen

A Winter Nature Activity A fun nature project to do in winter is investigating rehydrated lichen under a microscope. We’re exploring lichen in our nature study this month. One of the extra projects is rehydrating some lichen and examining the water droplets under a microscope. You don’t need an expensive microscope to enjoy doing this. First, you need to rehydrate…
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