OHC - Goldfish

Toby and Bubbles were the stars of today's nature challenge. They were closely observed and and doted on. Fingers were hung in the water as they popped to the surface and nibbled on by fishy lips :o) We were interested to learn some things that we did not know about the Common Goldfish previously. We are always amazed when we focus on a new part of nature, in it's commonness, we think we know more than we do about it. So here's some new facts that came to light in today's lesson:

* Goldfish come from China - we had never really thought about where they came from before
* Goldfish are various splendid shades of orange, silver, gold, yellow etc due to man's breeding. They are not naturally this colour. If they are left in their native rivers they can be found to be a dull olive colour.
Of course this makes all the sense in the world, a brightly coloured glittering little fish in a river would not stand a great chance at survival.
* Goldfish can live as long as 7-9 years! Wow - that is quite a time!

We watched this little video on how to take care of our goldfish...

We read from The Handbook Of Nature Study and I used the lesson questions to lead the girls into closer observation of their goldfish. The girls then copied our labeled drawing into their notebooks along with some of our newly learned facts.

Miss J-L's Journal

Miss V-L's Journal

After lunch we worked on making some cute little fish kites, a cute idea from our Nature Smart book.

All you need on hand are some long pipe cleaners, glue and tissue paper. We clipped a long stick each from the garden. These kites are super easy to make. If you don't have a copy of this book but would like to make a fish kite with your children I found a tutorial here and here. Their methods and materials are slightly different but you will achieve the same thing ;o)

I think our fish kites are super cute, they are currently pegged in the front garden to provide a fun little bit of garden decor. We will bring them in at night but hopefully they will bring our patio a fun, joyful, lighthearted feel all summer!

Thanks to Barb for the Outdoor Hour Challenge newsletter and challenges. If you would like to start nature study in your homeschool but are not sure how, visit Barb's Handbook of Nature Study blog to find out more.