Outdoor Hour Challenge ~ Winter Series ~ One Small Square

This week we took part in the Outdoor Hour Challenge by completing the One Small Square study. We gathered some yarn, rocks and a measuring tape and measured out a small one foot square in our own backyard. We looked at it closely and wrote down what we saw, starting with on top of the grass.

Here is what we wrote for what we saw on the surface:

grass, some green, some dead

a little snow

dirt.

We then started to dig a little. The ground was still frozen so the digging was difficult.

Once we had a little hole dug up, we looked a little closer and recorded what we saw :

dirt

roots

clay

pebbles

We didn't see any bugs where we dug. We all agreed that we should do this study every season and see the differences in what we can find.

Celeste was walking around our backyard and called me over at one point to ask me to see what she had found under a pile of snow.

That looked like rabbit droppings to us!

Andre looked at our square a little closer with my father's magnifying glass and told me that there were "little caves" in the dirt.

This was another interesting nature study for us, taking the time to observe nature right in our own backyard.

For more nature study ideas, visit the Handbook of Nature Study blog.