Monday - Butterflies, Moths and Ladybugs

This morning I was excited to grab by bag and my boots and head off to camp.  The wonder and mystery of what we may find is always a joy.

We started off our morning sharing a story about our favorite animal that lives in our woods.  Campers from previously years shared the favorite discovery we have made.  #1 pick was definitely the snake we found last year.  We are a team for the week so we all signed our camp sign and also started our bunk nature graffite mural.  The picture we draw are of critters we like and those that we have found and observed as the week goes on.

We spent some time reviewing the habits of butterflies and reviewed some of the butterflies we may be able to find in our garden.  We were keeping an eye out for Monarchs, Swallowtails and Painted Ladies.  We searched the garden and also checked our fenced garden's Milkeweed patch.  Unfortunately we could not find any eggs.  We did search for ladybug eggs on a tree that I had spotted ladybugs eggs on earlier in the year.  At first we couldn't find any but we found many ladybugs and ladybug larvae!  Later in the afternoon Finn and Sylvia found a leaf with many eggs!

Ants were marching up and down and in and out of this tree.  We watched them for quite awhile! 

Quite  collection of spiders were living in this web.  We counted at least 6.  

Ladybug Larvae

Our Milkweed is blooming.  

After all of that investigating the campers were ready for a quick hike in the woods.  We discovered the creek is deep (above the top of our boots) and there is a lot of mud so make sure to have extra socks and clothes on hand.  I wouldn't be suprised if we had a splash or two this week.  

In the afternoon we enjoyed a wealth of play and exploration time outside as well as time spent cycling through a few art stations in the classroom.  We decorated our treasure boxes to hold any tiny keepsakes we may find in our days together.  We will mostly leave everything we find in the woods.  The critters need their habitat!  We also attempted to make special butterfly and ladybug magnets but the paint proved hard to control on the small surface so we made a new goal of a beautiful pattern.  Patterns are important in nature, afterall!