Science Photos and Other Stuff for Kids: 2010

Monday, July 12, 2010

Swallowtail Butterfly

this one in central California

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Camouflage

This Buckeye Butterfly thought she was hiding from me! Right out in the open! If you have trouble finding her in the top picture, click on the picture, and it will enlarge . . . then you'll see her!

A closer look.

She is very well disguised, and hidden in this dry grass. This is called camouflage.

When birds and animals and even insects are almost invisible in their environment, it makes it more difficult for predators to find them.

For more information on Buckeye Butterflies, click here. There you will find information, and photos of their open wings, along with photographs of their caterpillars and chrysalises.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Feeding Baby Bird

This is a female House Finch feeding her baby. They're perched on the back of a garden chair.

For more information, and a lot more pictures of House Finches, including; their nests, eggs and hatchlings, click here!

Photographs courtesy of Jack Thompson.

Stages of opening . . . in the fourth photograph, you can tell that the thistledown can just be blown away like the fluff of a dandelion! At this stage, the seeds (the thistledown) are a favorite food of Goldfinches and other bird species. For more information on thistles, click here.

Ladybug

For information about Ladybugs, also know as Ladybirds, and Ladybird Beetles, click here.

My Advice to Parents

Take your children on walks in nature. It can be at the neighborhood park, just as long as there are bushes and trees. Encourage them to look closer, closer!

Point out little natural objects like spider webs, and the spiders in them. Notice little things, like acorns, feathers, rocks, tree bark, flower blossoms, anthills. You will find yourself noticing these things all over again.

Buy your child a magnifying glass. Very young children understand how to and LOVE to use them. You can usually find inexpensive plastic magnifiers at dollar stores and department stores (like Target) and of course drug stores. A nice glass magnifier has much better definition, but of course, they are breakable.

When they are ready, buy them a camera, and encourage them to use it. I know a five year old boy who has had a Fisher Price Digital camera for over a year, and his photographic observations just simply amaze his parents. It will be exciting to see what it is that your child sees as noteworthy.

Read The Barefoot Boy, By John Greenleaf Whittier. (also posted below.)

Be a child again with all the newness and wonderment attached. You will see their observation skills and curiosity increase exponentially. Their knowledge of the natural world will begin to rival The Barefoot Boy.