Thistles and Milk Weed

Tabbi, Becca and I went out today to look for thistles for the Outdoor Challenge. We found some, but they were pretty far gone already. We did however get to pull what was left of the flowers apart and see the fluff.

We also found some Milkweed pods that were split open. The seeds were spilling out and the wind was taking them away. So silky, the girls liked the feel of the soft fluff.

Collecting leaves

We collected some leaves, ironed them between wax paper and added them to our nature journals.

Mailbox

I found this mailbox at a thrift store in town. I cleaned it up for Tabbi to play with. Today, she and Becca, her niece, played with it all afternoon. I gave them some paper and a stack of old envelopes, and they wrote LOTS of "letters" to each other!

Leaf painting

We used some pressed leaves for our art project today. Tabbi painted lots of fall colors on the leaves and then pressed them to a piece of paper.

Chalk picture

We found a tutorial on line and decided to try using chalk to make a Marsh picture. Our chalks weren't exactly the right colors, but I still like the way they turned out. The turtorial is here: http://www.hodgepodge.me/2011/07/marsh-a-pastels-tutorial/

The finished project.