The Great Backyard Bird Count

The Great Backyard Bird Count begins this Friday. What a perfect way to observe nature with your kids and participate in a national science project. Just last week, I noticed a huge number of American Robins in my backyard. There were hundreds of them, many more than I usually see, so I researched online to find that many robins migrate. While some may stay in an area all winter long, most move in flocks place to place to find tree and shrub berries that ripen in late winter.

Science is that simple with children. I observed something in nature, had a question about it and looked for the answer. Answers can come from many different sources. Check a book out of the library or keep watching those birds to see if you can come up with your own answers. The important thing is to keep watching nature with your children and talking to them about what they see. With spring coming, the animals outside are all busy getting ready, and the plants are starting to awaken. I just saw my first flower yesterday!

How can I participate? All you have to do is identify and count the birds in your backyard over a 15 minute time period and log them into the website (www.birdsource.org/gbbc). Details, instructions and bird activity ideas can also be found on the website.

Why does it help scientists for us to count birds? Birds move over vast areas and can do so with great speed.  This makes tracking them difficult for a small group of scientists, but if they have help of people across the USA, they have more data to work with and can gain an understanding of our bird populations. This bird count is done every year, so data can be compared year to year to study the effects of weather, diseases, migration patterns and timing, as well as how populations in rural areas compare to suburban areas.

Clean Mud

Clean Mud

• 1 Roll of Toilet Paper
• 1 Bar of Ivory Soap 
• Vegetable Peeler 
• Water 
• Large Bowl

1. Take the roll of toilet paper and tear the sheets in to small pieces.
2. Place the pieces of paper in a large bowl.
3. Use the vegetable peeler and shave about a quarter (1/4) of the bar of soap into the bowl filled with the paper.
4. Add warm water to the mixture. Start out with just enough water to dampen the paper.
5. Have the child mix the ingredients, working the “clean mud” in between her fingers.
6. Slowly add more and more water to the mixture to create a slimier feeling.

 Less Mess: Place the mixture into a Ziploc bag and allow the child to feel the “clean mud” from the outside of the bag.

 More Mess: Mix small items (such as coins or small plastic beads) into the mixture and have the child find the hidden objects.

Karo Syrup Color Mixing

At a recent training with teachers involved in the PNC Grow Up Great with Science grant, we explored the properties of liquids and some unconventional ways to experiment with color mixing. Karo syrup provides a unique experience, because the colors don’t mix immediately but instead slide over one another creating a variety of shades and patterns and sometimes allowing the primary colors to re-emerge. If you are looking for an activity that is mesmerizing, try this one out. Just look how transfixed these teachers are!

Materials: Karo Syrup, Food Coloring, Large Waxed Paper Plate

Instructions:

• Put a large drop of Karo Syrup in the middle of a paper plate.
• Add one drop of yellow, one of red, and one of blue food coloring on opposite edges of the syrup. 
• As the child holds the plate vertically and lets the syrup run, the colors begin to mix and make other colors. 
• Keep turning the plate so that the syrup does not drip off. 
• What colors do you see? Can you make any new colors?
• Turn it again. Do you see any of the colors you started with?