I didn't think we'd do this challenge as the boys are normally in bed right about or even before the sun is setting. However, a late night at the fair provided the perfect opportunity. When we got out of the van in our driveway, Short Pants stood stock still and asked, "What is that?"
"That" was this, which I recorded so that the boys could listen to it again later.
Around here at night the sound of katydids is deafening. If we are watching tv in our living room after the boys have gone to bed we have to turn it up to hear over the insects! And that is with the windows closed.
The boys also noticed the fireflies flashing in the woods, as well as the moths circling our porch light as we opened our door. We talked for just a moment about all the animals active in the woods that we weren't seeing or hearing, like raccoons, bats, skunks, etc.
We did some reading in The Handbook of Nature Study about katydids a few days later and listened to the sounds I had recorded. The boys were very interested to learn how the katydids could make such a loud noise and liked the description of how they hold leaves and flowers in their front legs to bite them off and eat them. We also noted that like ants, katydids use their legs to groom their bodies and antennae. I brought up an image of a katydid on the computer to sketch from. Short Pants thought it looked just like a grasshopper and liked how the katydid's wings look like leaves:
I had borrowed 2 books about fireflies from a friend, which the boys really enjoyed - Firefly at Stonybrook Farm and Fireflies. We learned that only male fireflies fly and that fireflies actually spend their first two years as glow worms living on the ground. We followed that up with some more facts from The Handbook of Nature Study while the boys sketched.
To learn more about Outdoor Hour Challenges, follow the link below:
