Science For The Little One

I have had my eye on R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Life  from Pandia Press for some time now.  The activities look fun, it covers all the topics desirable for a typical course of study.  And Satori Smiles has made it look so enticing with her great photo chronicle of hands on.  However...I just haven't gotten around to ordering it yet.  Why?  Well, we just keep running into topics of interest "around the house" that we are covering easily without a curriculum.  (And I really should start blogging a little more about them, right?) I may still order R.E.A.L., but for now we're good.


Most recently Charlie has been completely smitten with all things owl.   We have been reading some great picture books like Owly, Owl Moon and Little Owl...

As well as very informative books like Gail Gibbons' Owls and Jim Arnosky's All About Owls.  I love all the Gail Gibbons books, by the way.  Great, no nonsense info on so many topics for young kids.  Love her.

We worked a little bit on a lapbook, which seemed like a great idea at the time, but we're not so much lap-booky people.  We might go back to it, but then again maybe not. 

If you are the lapbooky type, Living and Learning blog has some nice ideas and links to make it come together.  Her lapbook is very cute and maybe if I still had a color printer I could measure up. Oh well.  


I hope to get around to making this cute owl pillow for Charlie yet as well.  

This link is of a baby Barn Owl coughing up a pellet. It is pure genius.  We had to watch it over and over.  (This is an amateur video, so mute the sound)

Speaking of coughing up pellets, no study of owls would be complete without dissecting an owl pellet!  I scored a new Owl Puke book and pellet set at our local curriculum sale on the cheap and so was able to have it on hand for our studies.

I remember doing this same project kit with Ben and Will when they were Charlie's age, but they were too squeamish to finish dissecting it.  Not so with Charlie!  He was eager to start and was very engaged in his work.  Too bad the Kidwings virtual pellet dissection activity wasn't around when Ben and Will were young.  With a low yuck factor, this activity lets you uncover bones and reconstruct the skeleton while naming each part. 

Unwrapping the pellet.  Unsure of what he'll find.

The look of A Crazed Scientist. Mwahahaha!

Finding "good stuff" right away.

Almost like a little pet, no?  OK. The teeth sticking out did gross me out a bit.

That owl's a killer! Just look at the bones!!!!!!

All told, Charlie excavated three mouse skulls, hip bones, vertebrae, leg bones and a myriad of delicate little various other bones.  I don't think we'll attempt to reconstruct the skeleton, but we will keep some of the better examples in Charlie's nature box for future study. 

To wrap up, Charlie drew a picture and wrote a bit in his nature journal about his experience.  The first sentence was "This was really, really, really cool!"  Glad you enjoyed it, Chaz!