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Celebrate winter with a craft stick snowflake
During the holiday break, my mother-in-law was putting her former-teacher skills into action. After a Christmas cookie decorating contest for the family in which she gave out awards such as “Most symmetrical tree” and “Most wordy,” she broke out a snowflake craft for her three granddaughters to work on while Read More »
Snow slime recipe to make at home!
We have a little snow outside, but sometimes that makes us hungry for even more snow. We want to play in the white stuff! If you’re itching for some fun snow to play with, why not make your own? To make your own snow slime, you’ll need just a couple Read More »
How to create snow masterpieces
It looks like snow is on its way this week, so we’re all going to be wondering how to have fun once we’ve done the obligational snow angels, sledding, snowball fights and tubing! One of our favorite ways to have fun in the snow is to let out some colorful Read More »
How does a hedgehog roll up?
Pretty much every time that we pick up the hedgehog animal ambassador, she rolls into a ball. Her pointy spines stand erect, and you can’t see any other part of her. (See a video of Honey the hedgehog here.) The reason that hedgehogs do this is the same reason that Read More »
How to make your own hatching dinosaur egg
Bryanna and Ashley had been working hard making hatching dinosaur eggs for Nature Tots and had tried a couple of recipes to get the desired texture. I went to the kitchen at the Dickinson County Nature Center and picked up their egg creations. One felt quite firm, and I was Read More »
Toilet paper tube butterfly ornaments
My fingers are stained orange like I just ate a bag of Cheetos. At least that’s what naturalist Ashley Hansen said when she looked at me. But it was for a good cause. See, I just spent 10 minutes coloring an empty toilet paper tube orange to make a super Read More »
How honeybees survive the winter
The numbers of bees in the indoor beehive have gone down. But that’s pretty normal this time of year. It just means that our bees have entered winter mode and are getting ready to survive cold weather. Baby, it’s cold outside. As the weather cools down, a honeybee hive starts Read More »
My Giving Tree craft
Crafts don’t always come together the way you think they will. I had a brilliant idea this morning to make place cards with leaf etchings on them, and I tried it out. Yikes. Ugly. If you come up with something pretty with that idea, let me know. So instead, I Read More »
7 things Teddy the ornate box turtle wants you to know about him
When kids who have been to the nature center before return, many of them beeline to see Teddy the ornate box turtle. (Teddy has some lessons for us to learn in this video.) But how much do you really know about the ornate box turtle (terrapene ornata ornata)? Long live Read More »
It really works: Leaping frog origami
I am by no means an origami expert, but I always feel accomplished when I complete a new project. We’ve tried butterfly origami (you can find that blog entry here) and today decided to attempt making interactive origami — a leaping frog! Steps 1-4: Fold your paper hot dog, then Read More »
Ten turkey facts we bet you didn’t know
If you want to be the stand-out at Thanksgiving, bring these 10 turkey facts with you. Soy de Mexico. All turkeys originated in Mexico. Now it imports about 400 million pounds of turkey from the U.S. for consumption. They were wanted for their feathers. Wild turkeys can have a wing span — Read More »