Outdoor Hour Challenge: Focus on Garden Flowers

"A child who makes a garden, and then becomes intimate with the plants he cultivates, and comes to understand the interrelation of the various forms of life which he finds in his garden, has progressed far in the fundametal knowledge of nature's ways as well as in a practical knowledge of agriculture."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 20 in the section "Gardening and nature Study"  

Outdoor Hour Challenge:
This week pull out your Handbook of Nature Study and make a list of a few garden flowers you would like to study this month. If you have your newsletter, you can use the printable list to coordinate your study with the Outdoor Hour Challenges from previous years or the "Garden" button on my sidebar. After you make your list, pick one flower that you can observe in person...either in your yard, at a near-by park, or at a garden nursery. Use the notebooking page from the newsletter to record your flower study.

Special Activity:Garden Nursery Field Trip

The reptile field trip mini-book was such a success that I thought we could do another one at the garden flower nursery. Print your mini-book and put it together. Then, take your mini-book with you on your field trip. Have fun! 
Garden Nursery Field Trip Mini-Book

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #8. Be sure to take along a magnifying lens with you for your garden nature study time. Take a closer look at any flowers you find, looking for flower parts, insects, or pollen. Use the notebooking page in the ebook to record your careful observations.



You are welcome to submit any of you blog Outdoor Hour Challenge blog entries to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. Entries for the current month are due on 5/30/13.