One of our challenges this month was to study the milkweed plant. Luckily, I knew just where to find some!
As it had rained earlier in the day and I'd forgotten our galoshes, we decided to do our observations on the paved boat road next to the field. The first part the boys wanted to examine, of course, was the pods:
We were amazed at how many seeds were packed into the pods!
We'd read in The Handbook of Nature Study that the "milk" from the milkweed plant is very sticky. The boys found that to be quite true! Short Pants did not like the feeling on his fingers, but Pita Pocket liked it a lot and kept picking leaves. I showed the boys how the milk worked to help the plant heal from small cuts by acting as sort of a super-sticky band-aid; I'd read in our book about that also.
We did a bit of journaling before heading home, pods in hand:
I should add that we did some minnow catching down at the lake before leaving too:
Once home we waited for a nice windy day. Then the magic happened! We took the pods out to our little meadow and watched the milkweed seeds dance in the breeze. The boys said they looked like fairies:
Watching the milkweed seeds flying about was truly a beautiful sight:
Hopefully we will have milkweed of our own next year!
For more info on outdoor hour challenges, check out the Handbook of Nature Study blog
