Newsletter 4

Brought to you by pumpkin seeds, collages, leaf art, music and some great learning links-even a live web cam of sharks.

Fall has arrived in Colorado. The aspen leaves are starting to turn yellow and the nicest part of the year is here, cool nights and warm days. Whether it is spring or fall, here are some activities that you might enjoy with your child.

Crunchy Pumpkin Seeds-fun to make and eat. You'll need: Oven Pumpkin seeds Cake pan or cookie sheet Soy sauce or salt

1. Wash seeds from a pumpkin. 2. Put seeds in a bowl and season with soy sauce 3. Gently toss. 4. Oil or butter pan. 5. Pour seeds onto the pan. 1. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes or slightly golden. 2. If you didn't use soy sauce, sprinkle with salt. 3. Cool and eat! (You can try this with other edible seeds, such as sunflower seeds) Try this with your child: Save a few raw seeds. Eat a raw seed and a toasted seed. Do they taste different? Which one do you like better? Which one is crunchy? Count out 10 cooled pumpkin seeds and eat them. Science Activities: Put some fresh raw pumpkin seeds in a plastic bag with a damp paper towel. Leave on a window sill and see what happens to the seeds. Can you see the leaves or roots? Observe that the pumpkin seeds came from the pumpkin plant.

Art Fun: Make a collage with seeds-dried beans, nuts, bird seeds, apple seeds, orange seeds, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. You can trace out a leaf, pumpkin, sun flower, tree or just go abstract.

Sensitive Period for music. During the preschool years it is important to let your child explore music spontaneously. You probably have observed your baby moving to music as a toddler or even younger. Movement to music is one of the first building blocks to music readiness. Turn on your favorite music and move. Your child will develop a knowledge of where his or her body is in relation to the surroundings.

For older children you can use props for movement. Use a long scarf or flag to flow with the music.

Create a costume to represent the music. A tail pined on your child's back for an animal, a bracelet made of bells, or a hat. You can easily make a costume using a sun visor. Glue on ears- long ears for a rabbit or a puppy-short ears for a kitten or mouse and googley or buttons for eyes.

Use musical percussion instruments for a kids marching band. Let the children play their instruments and march to rousing marching music or folk music.

Here are some other music activities: Skipping, hopping, tip toeing, marching, moving forearms up and down, clapping, stamping feet, and so on. This musical mat

would be a great foot moving experience for your energetic musician. These are great activities to do outdoors. Music Tip: Have music makers around the house. Musical instruments are magnets to children. Let them just enjoy music creatively. This site has free software http://www.anvilstudio.com to compose music. Make your own instruments from recycled items around the house. 2 wooden blocks clapped together, 2 pan lids smashed together, drums made from a cylinder container- anything that makes a sound. Here is a link for making your own musical instruments from recycled items http://montessorimom.com/junkyard-art.html

Baby music- You can attach baby safe bells to booties or shoes to encourage musical movement for your baby. Hold, sway, and dance with your baby. I'm sure you will get a great reaction. This musical mirror also encourages movement and music

Family Activity: Plant a tree or bush in your yard or get permission to plant it at a park, nursing home, school or hospital. Here is an interesting link showing how planting trees helps with the air we breathe. http://www.co2science.org/journal/2001/v4n52b2.htm Trees absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen when they go through photosynthesis(how a tree makes food). Trees are natural air filters that help make the air you breathe cleaner.

Take a walk where there are trees. Collect leaves and observe how they are changing.

Talk about the two types of leaves, deciduous and coniferous. Deciduous leaves are the broader leaves that grow in the spring and turn golden colors in the fall and drop off the tree. Coniferous trees (pine type trees) have needle leaves that stay green all year and don't fall off in autumn.

This link shows what leaves match the correct tree http://www.schoolsliaison.org.uk/woodgate/leaves/leaves01.html It also shows the seeds and nuts from the trees.

Here is a link for deciduous leaves http://mbgnet.mobot.org/sets/temp/lftypes2.htm

Here is a link for parts of a deciduous leaf http://mbgnet.mobot.org/sets/temp/lftypes.htm You can make a matching game with the print outs or science cards to identify real leaves on your nature walks. Also, you can make sewing cards out of the shapes and let your child sew them with long colorful shoelaces.

Talk about the different shapes and colors of leaves. What makes a leaf turn colors and fall off the tree? The days get shorter and cooler which makes the leaves stop making food. They turn from green to golden colors. Soon they fall off and the tree goes to sleep for the winter. In the spring, the tree wakes up and the leaves burst out because the days are warmer and the sun is out longer. The leaves grow and make food for the tree all summer.

This link shows the gradual changes of color during the fall. http://www.mortonarb.org/color/fallsequencing.htm This one shows some great October Blooms http://www.mortonarb.org/color/oct2003.htm

Look for this: When walking about the forest, rural or urban, look for coniferous and deciduous trees. Look for nuts or seeds, such as acorns, walnuts, chestnuts, hickory nuts, pecans, beechnuts, and so on. Look for cones (pinecones) from the conifer trees (Spruce, Ponderosa Pine, Juniper and Fir). Check each month how different trees change in your neighborhood.

Leaf Stained Glass

Display your child's leaf collection with this tried and true method. Materials: Brightly colored leaves (the freshest ones-if they are too dry they will crack) Tape 15 inch by 11 inch piece of waxed paper An iron and old newspaper

Have your child fold the wax paper in half. Then have him or her open the paper. On one half arrange the leaves with a space of a finger between them. Refold the waxed paper over the leaves. Put between newspaper. Press with a hot iron. The leaves will be sealed between 2 sheets of waxed paper. Tape on glass window or door. The sun will make the leaves even brighter.

Parent and Child Activity Look into a nature center where ever you live. Often there are classes for children and parents to take together. If not, start a nature group with your friends and study the changing environment, flora and fauna where you live. Here is one where I live in Colorado- http://www.steppinoutmag.com/02OCT/02OCT/10II.html Look under your favorite search engine under "nature center" and your state or country and see what pops up. I found many under "nature center" using google.com. This one has nature centers listed for the UK &USA http://dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Environment_and_Nature/Nature_Centers/

Here is a great nature and bird watching site for the Middle East http://www.osme.org/osmeweb/promise.html

Asia National Parks site has great links http://www.nps.gov/oia/around/asia.htm Where ever you live you can find a park or nature center through this Park Net link from the world wide National Park site- http://www.nps.gov/oia/index.htm

Here are a few links for nature centers- http://www.auduboninstitute.org/lnc/ for New Orleans, LA http://www.cayuganaturecenter.org/ for Ithaca, New York http://www.ernc.org/ for Eagle River, Alaska http://www.valleynaturecenter.org/ for Weslaco, TX http://www.gpnc.org/ Great Plains, Kansas http://www.chulavistanaturecenter.org/ San Diego Bay, CA http://www.placernaturecenter.org/ Auburn, CA http://www.explorenature.org/ for Irvine, MD http://www.stamfordmuseum.org/home.html Stamford, CT http://www.dodgenaturecenter.org/ St. Paul, MN http://www.geocities.com/sevenponds/Center.html Dryden, MI http://www.ar.audubon.org/naturecenterlr.html Little Rock, AK

Here is a great link from the Chula Vista Nature Center of a live web cam showing sharks http://www.chulavistanaturecenter.org/webcams/webcam.asp The sharks are best viewed during the day.

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