Outdoor Hour Challenge No. 8

As we start off the new school year (OK, actually we started three weeks ago) I'm planning to continue with the outdoor hour challenges as found on the Handbook of Nature Study blog. So far we're up to challenge number 8, which is all about using magnifying lenses and microscopes.

“In elementary grades, nature study deals with objects which the children can see with the naked eye. However, a lens is a help in almost all of this work because it is such a joy to the child to gaze at the wonders it reveals.” Handbook of Nature Study page 9.

So, armed with their magnifying glasses, Sophie and Charis marched off into our garden with instructions to find something interesting to look at. It took a while to show them the proper distance you should hold between your eye and the glass and the object and the glass to see it at its best. Charis (4) lost interest fairly quickly, but Sophie (6) kept going a bit longer because I'd asked her to sketch a few things in her nature notebook.

 Sorry it's a bit faint, but you might be able to make out a dahlia flower, an empty spider's web amongst the ivy leaves and a spider in the grass.

The girls wanted to take their magnifying glasses along on our next walk around the village, although they didn't actually use them in the end, so I'm hoping that this is something that will grow on them. I'll keep the glasses in our nature study bag so they're always available. We do also have a little bug jar, which has a magnifying lens attached, but it's not very clear, especially by the time the girls have added grass, leaves and water to keep the bug happy!