Nature Study 1: Squirrel Tree Frog

Goals: 

We decided to add a nature study into our home-school curriculum. We hope to do this once or twice each month. A bigger goal is to hit all the National Parks in Florida in one calendar year. A little ambitious. Time will tell.

Today was our first attempt at a nature study. Despite the brutal late-July-in-Florida heat and our inability to properly pack for a hike, it was a success. We realized we needed more water, more snacks, better shoes, better hats, a decent backpack, and trash bags. Next time.

We hiked one of the trails that is part of the Chinesgut Conservatory. It was beautiful. We can't wait to go back and explore more. Maybe in the autumn.

Definitely Probably not again in July or August.

Our hike wasn't long (in distance, parts seemed long due to excessive whining). With a four year old and a six year old long hikes are out of the question, at least without proper planning (inability to pack noted above).  It was 10:00 AM and already 90' F. Almost half the trail we covered was in direct sunlight. So we went as far as we could (about 2 1/4 miles round trip). Next time we will make it to the lake. Brice was disappointed we didn't make it to the lake.

Nature Study subject:

Luckily we found the subject of our nature study about 10 feet into the trail. The park rangers had a wooden box set up with a clip board inside for hikers to sign. When I took out the clip board this little guy was starring at me, not flinching. I was oblivious to him. Brice had to point him out, which startled me and in return startled the frog. 

We watched the little guy and discussed him ( I keep calling it a "little guy", I really have no idea if its male or female). We all took turns taking pictures of him. The kids liked this part. I loved it. I am always in awe of the quality of pictures we can get with our cell phones. He (or she) looks really large in this picture, he was actually only about an inch and a half long. 

At one point he hopped on Brice's arm. He seemed to like it there, or maybe he was too scared to jump off. Either way, he was in a good position for a photograph. 

Observations: 

This time I wrote the observations as the kids came up with them. This would probably be great writing practice especially for P. However, I wanted them to look forward to doing this again and recently writing has been a chore for her and also a chore for me (to deal with her stubbornness). 

After we wrote our observations we did some research. We looked at several tree frogs and think the frog we found is a Squirrel Tree Frog. We aren't positive, but pretty sure. I am not really sure how to be positive without asking an expert. What is a frog expert called? Herpetologist (yay Google). 

Sketches: 

We looked at some sites and watched some You-Tube videos. Then we worked on our sketches. I think the sketching was  P and S's favorite part. 

S's Drawing - he copied the letters that I wrote on a separate paper. I drew most of the frog and he colored him in. 

P's drawing - She drew most of the frog herself. I helped her by talking to her about scale and perspective and making suggestions only when she asked me for them. We talked about looking at the subject (we were looking at our photos) and drawing "what is there".  She was proud of the suctions on the feet. I think "he" looks great. 

P's Thoughts - 6 years old

The frog felt sort of wet and a little sticky. I learned that these frogs make noises that sound like a duck quack to me. We saw a video that showed the frogs making noises by filling up with air. It looked a bubble almost popping out of their chest. It was kind of gross. 

My favorite thing about the frog was his color and trying to make the same noises we saw the frofg make on the video we watched. 

S's Thoughts - 4 years old

I thought the frog was cute and he hopped a lot. He was green with some brownish dots and he had a little red near his eye. His eyes were black and gold. The frog was kind of cold and slimy. He went and hid in a wooden post and then we didn't see him again.  There were spider webs and a spider egg in the post.  I learned that snakes sometimes eat frogs. We turned off the video that should that  because it was a little scary, but I think that is cool. 

Other photos from the hike: 

Deer tracks 

One of two Gofer Turtles we met. 

                 

Family selfie during our apple break.