Week 6 Nature Scavenger Hunt for Families Tasks and my week 5 photos

Did you enjoy your bug hunt this week? Was it a little out of your element? I had my brother visiting this week and barely completed our own tasks but we did get to explore a little bit. I haven't had a chance to even look at your pictures yet but will get the points up sometime on Monday.

What will be doing this week? This week we will focus on our senses. We tend to take in nature with our eyes but you can experience so much more by using more of your senses.

Remember to upload all your photos by Aug 10th 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.

To gain bonus points this week it will be like the colour week. Please choose one photo to upload with proper hashtags and descriptions. Please add all your additional pictures in the comment thread for each tasks main picture. This will keep everyone's photos together and hopefully make point counting a bit easier on my end :)

Aug 4th: Things in nature that feel smooth
Aug 5th: Things in nature that feel rough
Aug 6th: Things in nature that feel prickly
Aug 7th: Things in nature that are camoflagued
Aug 8th: Things in nature you can hear...describe what it sounds like
Aug 9th: Things in nature you can smell...describe how it smells
Aug 10th: Things in nature you can taste... describe how it tastes and also identify to us what you are tasting and DO NOT TASTE ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT POSITIVE WHAT IT IS!!! I'm thinking like wild blueberries, raspberries, apples etc that you KNOW are not poisonous. PLEASE DO NOT try anything you are unsure of as there are a lot of plants etc that are poisonous and we don't need any accidental poisonings!

WEEK6BONUS: Show us a picture of something you found interesting in nature this week. Tell us: Why was it interesting to you? Try to use all your senses to explore this item you found. Explain how your item feels, smells, tastes (if possible), looks and sounds. 50 bonus 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.

May you all enjoy week 6.

Here are my week 5 photos:

July 28th: Beetle 5 points (10 bonus points if you can identify it)

We found a ground beetle.

July 29th: Snail 10 points (10 bonus points if your find a snail for each family member and have snail races. Take a picture of the winner crossing your line)

A fail for us this week. we did find this big slug

July 30th: Ants 5 points (10 bonus points: how many body parts do insects have and what are they?)

We found many, many, many ants! Insects have 3 body parts called the head, thorax and abdomen.

July 31st: Worm 10 points (5 bonus points if you find a worm over 5"long...use a measuring tape in the picture)
We found a couple worms but none of them were big enough to break out a tape measure.

Aug 1st: Pill bug aka rollie pollie 5 points (1 bonus points for each additional pill bug in the same picture up to 25)

I forgot to do this and ran out in the dark tonight. To be honest I got lucky in having three in the picture :)

Aug 2nd: Spider 5 points (10 bonus points if he is pictured in his web)

We have lots of spiders around Wasaga Beach but I found this little guy building his web over the top of a rotting tree stump which I found quite interesting.

Aug 3rd: Centipede or millipede 10 points (5 bonus points if you tell me what the difference is between the two)
We found a large round millipede. He was all curled up and he wouldn't open up but you can see all his legs tucked in around his body.

Here are some differences between centipedes and millipedes which came from HERE.

Characteristic	Centipede	Millipede
Antennae	long	short
Number of Legs	one pair per body segment	two pairs per body segment, except for the first three segments, which have one pair each
Appearance of Legs	visibly extend from sides of body; trail backward behind body	do not visibly extend from body; rear leg pairs in line with body
Movement	fast runners	slow walkers
Ability to Bite	can bite	do not bite
Feeding Habits	mostly predatory	mostly scavengers

WEEKLY BONUS5: Invite bugs to your back yard (your birds will thank you). Make a "bug hotel" and take a picture of your finished hotel 25 points

We made our bug hotel out of leaves, sticks, pine needles, pince cones and bark. we used bricks as the walls and added a feather for the chimney. We nestled in between a couple ferns so it would feel at home in our yard.

A few more pictures of some of the things we saw on our bug hunt this week.

A field cricket:

 Not sure what this green bug is or the reddish beetle

We did find a garter snake in our neighbours woodpile down by their dock one day.

 This moth had beautiful orange under wings but I couldn't get a picture of it in flight. I think it may be a Once-Married Underwing.

I look forward to hopefully having a bit more time to explore our senses this week. I can't believe how fast the summer is flying by and I have so many extra bonus activity points to complete...Where has all the time gone? I hope you are enjoying your time out in nature exploring as much as you can.