Oh, a Web we Weave: Fun with Spiders!

Here are some spider activities you and your child can do together!  Have fun!

Let's get Batty about Bats!

Here are some fun bat activities to do with your kids.  Enjoy!

Whooo want some Owl Fun?

Here are some fun activities with owls.  I hope you enjoy them!

Pumpkinology: Fun with Pumpkins

Here are some fun activities you and your children can do before you carve your pumpkins.  Enjoy!

Find me on Facebook

I have created a Facebook page to widen my audience.  I hope to see you there!  Please share!

More fun to come

I am so sorry that I haven't posted much for kids recently.  I have been busy at work and at home.  My goal is to post some activities for parents, teachers and kids this weekend.  I will be posting themes, such as Owls, Pumpkins, Bats and Spiders.  I hope this will help you get some ideas for you, whether you are a parent or a teacher.  So please stay tuned for these posts.

Also, I am hoping some of you out there will share any ideas as well.  I love to share ideas so that I don't get into a rut.  Please feel free to share any ideas, stories or photographs.  I would love to see them.

Have a great day and I hope to hear from you soon.   Linda

Camping at Chatfield State Park

My husband and I decided to take a quick camping trip, okay, its an overnight, at Chatfield State Park.  We had to wait until noon to check in, so we found an area to park in and walk around to see what we could find.  As we were walking down to the lake, we saw large flocks of American White Pelicans, Double-crested Cormorants, Canada Geese, American Coots, along with a few Bald Eagles, a Belted Kingfisher, and some ducks that I haven't been able to identify yet.

  

American White Pelicans can weigh as much as 30 pounds and have a wingspan of 9 feet!

American White Pelicans can hold 3 gallons of water in their bill.  They tilt their bill downward to drain the water and then upward to swallow the fish.

 Canada Geese flying around the lake before they land.  There are 11 subspecies of the Canada Goose that have been recognized.  They also have 13 different calls.

While their eggs are incubating, females lose their flight feathers, so they cannot fly until after their eggs have hatched.

Bald eagles can live up to 40 years in the wild and even longer in captivity.

The White Pelicans like to follow each other in a straight line when swimming to a destination.



Busted the Raccoon!

This morning, I was taking my daughter to school when I turned out of our street and saw a big animal by our mailbox. At first I thought it was a big, fluffy cat.  But as we both looked harder, we noticed the mask and the rings on his tail.  It was a very large raccoon.  He noticed that we had stopped and was watching him and then realized that he should get out of there.  Busted!  He took off around a corner and we decided to follow him in the car.  But once we rounded the corner, he was gone.  We looked down the street and up in the trees.  He must have climbed over a fence and into someone's yard.  It was so cool to see him.  Of course, I had no camera on my body, so I couldn't get any pictures.  I always see wildlife when I don't have my camera on me.  Thanks Murphy!

Let me know if you see anything exciting.  I would love to hear about it!  Please share!

Camping in Idelia, Colorado

So we decided to go camping out east of Denver, despite what the weather was going to be.  We just wanted to get out of town and try a little fishing.  Got to our campsite really late, so we just leveled the camper, had a beer and a glass of wine and went to bed.  The next morning, the skies were still cold and gray with 5o mph winds.  It was really hard to get the worms out into the ponds.  By noon, the skies cleared but the wind continued.  My husband and I decided to go on a small hike through the cottonwood trees and poinson ivy to see if we could find any deer or turkeys.  While walking, my husband either stepped on or flipped over a big bullsnake.  He was not a happy snake.  He coiled up and was hissing at us for a good ten minutes (see photo below).  We continued on and found a couple of white tailed deer, bounding through the trees.  On our way back, we found some gourds growing in a field, by the road, so I picked a few for my house.  On the road back, we ran across a small garter snake, sunbathing (see photo below).  Later in the evening, as the sun was setting, the whole family decided to walk down the road to see what we could see.  My daughter looked up into a cottonwood tree and asked "are those turkeys?"  Sure enough, there were several hens roosting in the trees and talking to each other (photos below).  We must have seen at least ten or more hens roosting right above our heads.  I have never (nor my husband) been so close to a wild turkey.  It was so cool!  We also saw a group of white tailed deer, grazing in the field.  That made the whole trip exciting!  The next morning on our way out, a Great Blue Heron flew right in front of us, landing in the field.  The last great adventure was on one of the dirt roads, heading home.  We got stuck behind some ranchers moving a large herd of cattle down the road.  When they finally got to the destination, they had the truck of hay go into the pasture first, followed by a couple of big bulls, and then the cows.  It was quite entertaining to watch.  What a fun weekend we had, despite the horrible strong winds.