Outdoor Hour Challenge: Winter Weather Walk; Silent Walk Challenge

We started our Outdoor Hour Challenge by discussing the winter challenge series and filling out the Winter Wonder notebooking pages from Harmony Arts Mom's Winter Challenge 2 series.

We started our Nature Study by looking over the Winter Wonder notebooking pages and filling them in. Then I explained the Silent Walk Challenge that we were about to undertake. The boys were not keen on the idea at first, but then the older one thought of a way that would make it more fun for him: duct tape! So the boys all administered duct tape, with the sweet princess declining.

Then the youngest decided to stay home with his mom, and then there were three. We first headed to the big oak (that makes me think of the tree we often see when watching "Little House on the Prairie" old episodes).

And it became clear that this would be a walk to challenge my zoom lens, because the kids were in a mood to run! And I just couldn't keep up. I also was going back and forth between wanting to catch the size of the tree in comparison to the child and wanting to capture photos of the child.

So point of interest #2 was a puddle in the field. The edges had a thin layer of ice. The tap, tap of the foot seemed to say, "Oh look! It's so thin it breaks under my weight!" (Yeah, could you please keep your shoes dry? Please?)

Barely time for me to catch up, and their off at a run again. So far, nature items spotted: oak tree, ice on puddle.

So, back to the notebooking page, man-made items spotted: tennis court, bridge...

Nature items spotted, maple tree, man-made items spotted, playground...

 man-made items: historic barn; nature items: conifer trees and
a gnarly old oak!

 Then there was this amazing tree on the slope of a hill. It offered so much fodder of interest. It's angle made its trunk climbable to a certain extent.

Its size was massive, and around on the other side of it was makes it what I call a "Peter Pan tree", as in a tree that offers the imagination the possibility that Peter Pan's cave might be underneath and this might be the secret entrance door...

Around the time I spotted the man-hole cover in the middle of the field, my son was discovering the drainage ditch above, which actually became an item of interest for the three for about ten minutes of silent plan and climbing. In the distance, up the hill, there was one more tree of interest, possibly a maple:

And then my camera gave me the message that we all dread: "Recharge Your Battery!" - and it would not talk to me any more.

So, we finished the walk, went home, and filled out the Notebooking Pages from Harmony Arts Mom's Winter Outdoor Hour Challenges #2.

I hope you have enjoyed this review of our nature walk!