When I read that one of the Outdoor Hour Challenges for this month was cattails, I was very excited as I knew we had the perfect place to study them. The nearby monestary that we visit oh so often for its wonderful trails has a large lake with lots of cattails growing. Before we went searching for them we read the section on cattails in Handbook of Nature Study. We also read about cattails in our More Fun With Nature book. The boys were very interested to learn that both geese and muskrats eat cattails. Short Pants wasn't so sure that cattails really could grow up to 6 feet tall, so he wanted to test that idea out once we found some.
They were just a little excited to run down to the lake!
We studied the long brown flowers of the cattails and talked about how they will turn fluffy in the fall as they get ready to release the seeds inside. Then we broke open one to examine the seeds:
The boys had fun trying to blow the seeds away:
We spent some time journaling:
Then we walked along the cattails trying to guess what animals might live amongst them. We saw lots of dragonflies:
The Mister talked to the boys about how fish might hide amongst the cattails that were in the water:
Pita Pocket also found several crayfish holes that they stopped to examine:
It was a gorgeous day with the sunlight sparkling on the water and the cattails blowing gently in the breeze. I'm so glad we have such a beautiful place to enjoy nearby. To learn more about Outdoor Hour Challenges, check out Handbook of Nature Study!
