Week 4 Nature Scavenger Hunt for Families and my week 3 entries

Exploring ponds proved to be a bit of a challenge it seems for us all this week. For myself we were time challenged as it was a very very busy week for us and we only made it to the pond one day. We may make it out again later today but I need to get these challenges out to the participants.

This week we are going to change things up a bit. Since this is my first time hosting this scavenger hunt it was brought up that perhaps having new tasks on Mondays and allowing photos to be added until Sunday night would be helpful so that is what we will do from now on. I'll give you 8 tasks this week and will give you next weeks tasks on Monday. Every week photos can be uploaded until Sunday night. It makes way more sense so thank you for the suggestion.

This week we will explore colours in our natural surroundings. The point is to look for colours around as we are out and about exploring. Please try to refrain from taking a picture of your flower gardens but rather go on a hike and see what wild flower colours you can find, or butterfly colours or even dragonfly colours. You could also visit a beach and look for colourful shells or rocks depending on where you live. The point is to get out in nature and see what colours you can find.

Remember to upload all your photos by July 27th with the hashtag #2014naturehunt and the date your picture is for as well as a description of your picture to help me award points more easily.

Bonus points added this week for each item you find of the days colour!
July 20th: Red 5 points 
July 21st: Orange 5 points
July 22nd: Yellow 5 points
July 23rd: Green 5 points
July 24th: Blue 5 points
July 25th: Violet or Purple 5 points
July 26th: Indigo or Pink 5 points
July 27th: White and Black on same object 5 points

Week 4 BONUS: Go outside and paint a picture of a rainbow. Your entrance photo should show me: you with your painting outside. Finger paint, brush paint, try making natural paint brushes, use hand prints...the choice is yours 50 points


Don't forget about the overall bonus's which may be uploaded at any time during the 9 week period:
EXTRA bonus 1: A family portrait with a waterfall 25 points
EXTRA bonus 2: Discover a cave 50 points
EXTRA bonus 3: Make art with natures bounty 25 points
EXTRA bonus 4: Go camping... show us your favourite experience while camping 25 points
EXTRA bonus 5: Explore a hiking trail and share with us some of the wonderful natural things you saw while hiking 50 points
EXTRA bonus 6: Use natural items (rocks, sticks etc) to spell the word for how being in nature makes you feel 25 points
EXTRA bonus 7: A family portrait at either a National Park or a Provincial or State park. Let me know at least one thing you learned while at this park  100 points.

Have fun and enjoy your time exploring the colours around you. I look forward to seeing all your pictures.

Here are our week 3 pictures:

July 13th: A frog. Ours is a Green Frog

July 14th: A duck (bonus points if it wasn't a mallard but all we saw were Mallards) At least we saw some babies

July 15th: A turtle (bonus points if two in the same picture

We did get two in the same picture but they were so far away they just look like bumps on a log. You can see it in the top right of my photo collage below. I added a couple other pictures to show some close ups.

July 16th: An interesting pond plant. My girls chose cat tails...not very interesting as they are so common but they thought they were interesting because every part of the plant is useful for survival as food, or bandages as they learned on our Wye marsh trip and remembered when we saw them here.

July 17th: A dragonfly or Damselfly with bonus points for mentioning a difference between the two. I believe the one I was able to get a picture with on my phone is a Meadowhawk. 

Here are some differences we learned:

Differences Between Dragonflies and Damselflies SOURCE OF TABLE HERE

Characteristic	Dragonfly	Damselfly
Eyes	most have eyes that touch, or nearly touch, at the top of the head	eyes are clearly separated, usually appearing to each side of the head
Body	usually stocky	usually long and slender
Wing Shape	dissimilar wing pairs, with hind wings broader at the base	all wings similar in shape
Position at Rest	wings held open, horizontally or downwards	wings held closed, usually over abdomen
Discal Cell	divided into triangles	undivided, quadrilateral
Male Appendages	pair of superior anal appendages, single inferior appendage	two pairs of anal appendages
Female Appendages	most have vestigial ovipositors	functional ovipositors
Larvae	breathe through rectal tracheal gills; stocky bodies	breathe through caudal gills; slender bodies

July 18th: A swan (Heron or Egret added in) bonus points for a pair of swans or an in-flight egret or heron
The Great Blue Heron i captured on my phone was a bit far away so my picture is not the greatest but it is there :)

July 19th: A canoe (paddle boat or kayak) on the pond with bonus points if its a family selfie in one.

Well I failed on this...no picture this week as we have had a crazy busy week. We are hoping to get out later today but right now I need to get you your new tasks!

WEEK 3 BONUS: Build a boat with natural materials and float it in the pond. well we completed half this task and if all goes well we will go to a pond to float it later today but so far all we did was practice floating it in a pretend pond. We made ours with some friends when they visited on Friday. 

Here is a close up of our boats before they got their leaf sails.

Remember keep uploading week 3 pictures until Sunday nights from now on and I will give you the next new tasks on Monday morning with totals.

Have a great week exploring colour around you!