"One-Small-Square" Nature Study Activity!

We had so much fun last week completing the Outdoor Hour Nature Challenge, that we decided to participate this week as well! The assignment this week was to mark one square foot somewhere on the ground, and then observe, prod, dig around in, examine, and discover what we could find there!



Here's what we found:

Lots of pine needles (which we moved aside)
rocks
a large root
many small roots (after we began digging in that area)
a twig
leaves
a piece of pine bark
a maple tree seed ("helicopter")

We dug into the dirt some, but didn't find any insects. Nor did we find any worms. My son decided it was too dry for worms there, and he was probably right! Since we didn't find any bugs, we decided to look around for bugs elsewhere.

Here's one thing we found:


This tree had been lying here for quite some time and was already well on it's way to turning back into dirt. It was so interesting looking at the layers of wood that were left!



Here's what we found when we lifted up a section of the tree.


It's a millipede! Look at all those legs!


Look at how the main part of the tree has decayed, and left just the center core.

My son knew where there was another tree that was decaying, and so we went to have a look at it.



He had found this tree while out playing a previous day. He and his friends had discovered that when they stepped on it, it was bouncy - spongy - springy. He had me stand on it too, and it did indeed feel very much like a sponge. (Note: I didn't get a photo of the part that we stood on. It wasn't the core, as is seen in the photo above.)

I don't know about my son, but I certainly learned something new from our nature study. I learned more about the stages that a tree goes through as it decays!