What is Frogwatch? Frogwatch is a program that involves kids in citizen science. Citizen science is when people watch animals and report what they find to scientists. The number of frogs is steadily declining and since frogs are vital clues to other environmental problems it is very important that we understand this decline. Frogs are amphibians like salamanders and newts.

Frogwatchers spend three minutes each day they go frogwatching, listening to frog calls. Then they record the information they found on the information sheet and send it into frogwatch. Of course you can listen to frogs as long as you want, but three minutes is all you need to record. We might try this and I hope you will too.

Click here to sign up!

Amphibians are very beneficial to the environment and to people by eating many of the insects that are harmful to humans and our gardens.

A single toad might eat up to 1,500 earwigs in a summer! In addition to the above insects, larger female toads also tackle Japanese beetles and June bugs. Although a toad will unfortunately eat the occasional beneficial insect, over 81% of its diet consists of unwanted insects (Organic Gardening, May/June 1994).  Urban Outback

It would be difficult to keep frogs or newts or salamanders in your garden unless you had a pond.  It is relatively easy to attract toads, however, because they do not need as much water.  They need water to lay eggs in, but once they go through their metamorphosis they leave their pond to live and hunt on land.

A Toad image courtesy of wikipedia.org

Toads are nocturnal, which means they are awake at night and asleep during the day.  During the day, they find a cool dark place to sleep.  To attract them to your garden, you can make a toad house!

All you need is a flower pot.  You can even use a broken flower pot.  You can also paint it.  It is better to use natural colors, but it will make the flower pot look nice rather than just something buried in your yard.  Then find a shady spot to place your toad house.  Bury it half way so there is an entrance for the toads to go in.

Hopefully this will help you attract toads to your garden to help control slugs, snails and other pests that harm your garden!

One day my mom took out our wooden bird feeder. I thought I could make
one out of a bottle! Here is a good way to make a bird feeder.

1. Gather supplies.

You need:

A plastic bottle with a cap
Sharp scissors or knife
A stick
A rope

2. Our first feeder’s seeds sprouted, because the moisture did not
drain, so poke small holes in the bottom of the bottle. Be careful not
to cut yourself.

3. About 1-2 inches from the bottom of the bottle, make holes for the
perch. Insert stick and make holes bigger, if needed.

4. Cut holes above the perch for the birds to get the seeds. Holes
should be slightly bigger than the seeds.

5. Tie tether or rope around the top of the bottle, where the cap is,
and tie a loop for hanging.

6. Carefully fill the feeder with sunflower seeds using your hands as
a funnel or get a real funnel.

7. Replace cap and hang in a high tree.

8. It may take three weeks for the birds to find it. Be patient.

Happy bird feeding!

We went to Home Depot to build a birdhouse.  This is how I did it.

First, I opened the package.

Then I hammered the side to the front of the birdhouse.

Then I hammered on the other side.  My brother is working on his birdhouse next to me.

Then I used a screwdriver to screw on the bottom.

Then I put on the plastic back of the birdhouse.  The plastic back lets you see in to see the birds.

I used wood glue to put a board on top.

Then I had to twist in special screws.  It was hard.  I couldn’t do it and needed Daddy’s help!  The special screws are so I can hang up my birdhouse.

I did it!  I nailed in the nail by myself and my birdhouse is almost done!

I just had to glue in the perch.  That is where the birdies will land before they go in their house.

Then I wiped the glue off the perch.

I put the suction cups on so I can hang up my birdhouse.

All finished!  I liked peeking through the back.

I hope a bird builds a nest inside so we can watch it raise its babies.  I hope they will be comfortable in my birdhouse.  I like making birdhouses!

Bug is a three year old homeschooled girl who likes to play with her friends and loves the colors pink and yellow. . .and pink.

You can help the birds make their nests warm by making a bird nesting bag.  It is very easy to make and you probably do not have to buy anything you do not already have.  It is a good recycling project as well.

Instructions

You will need:

1) A mesh bag.

2) Hair.

This actually came from my toy ponies after I brushed them out.

3) Fur.

This is my puppy, Copper.

This is Hunter. I had to brush him because he got jealous.

4) Scrap paper, ribbon and anything else a bird might like to make a nest with.

Cutting up some left over paper from our lapbook project.

5) Put it all in the bag.

My finished nest bag!

6) And hang outside for the birds to find.

I hope the birds can make a cozy nest from our recycled materials!

Here is a very simple recipe for making a suet substitute which will attract insect eating birds such as woodpeckers and nuthatches.  It provides them with the oils and fats they need.  It gives them a yummy treat while you watch!

He said, “It was one of the quiet, colorful afternoons of sheer beauty which we have in October in New England, and as I looked toward the fields at the east, I imagined how wonderful it would be to make some device which had even the possibility of ascending to Mars, and how it would look on a small scale, if sent up from the meadow at my feet.”

He was trying to make a rocket because a airplane couldn’t fly without gravity.  He took apart Chinese fireworks. They were powered by gunpowder, but gunpowder wouldn’t work for the rocket, because the rocket needed a strong steady push to keep it going. Finally he decided to use liquid oxygen and hydrogen. But fuel was hard to get because liquid oxygen had to be stored at -297′ F and hydrogen at -423′ F.

His first successful rocket was 10 1/2 feet tall and weighed 10 pounds. It was launched in 1926. His assistant lit the fuel with a blow torch. It went 41 feet high. The first flight lasted only 2.5 seconds but the space age had begun. He died in 1945 and never sent a rocket to space but but the Russian satellite Sputnik in 1957 and the American satellite Explorer in 1958 were descendants of Goddard’s rocket.

Here is how to make a a model liquid fueled rocket:You need :

• An empty wine bottle and cork
• baking soda
• tissue paper
• vinegar

What you do:

1. You take the wine bottle and put a half cup of vinegar in it.
2. Then you take it outside roll up a teaspoon of baking soda in the tissue paper.
3. Drop the packet of baking soda in the bottle and quickly stick in the cork; wait awhile;  the cork will fly through the air.

Submitted by The Swordmaster

Making solar cookies with my brother and sister while learning about the sun.

To make your own edible model of the sun, all you need are a few basic ingredients and a good cookie recipe to start with.  Any recipe will do fine, just remember that you will have to frost it.  A simple recipe for sugar cookies and butter frosting may be found at the end of this entry.

Once you have cooled your cookies and frosted them, you are ready to make your own solar cookies!  Assemble the following ingredients:

1. Mini M&M’s
2. Twizzlers
3. Red & yellow colored sugar

The surface of the sun has a granular appearance because of temperature differences.  Sprinkle the colored sugar on top of your frosting to show this on your cookies.

Next, place the dark M&Ms in pairs on your solar cookie to represent sunspots.

Then take the Twizzlers and cut them to size.  Bend them into small arcs and press both ends into the frosting to represent solar prominences erupting from the surface of the sun.

Finally, enjoy your solar cookies!

My brother's finished solar cookie. Looks goo0od!

(Solar) Sugar Cookies

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup margarine softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg unbeaten
• 2 teaspoons lemon extract or 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Cream margarine and sugar.  Add next five ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Add flour and baking soda.  Roll dough and flatten.  Bake on ungreased cookie sheet 12 to 15  minutes. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Next you will need some icing to hold the decorations on your model.  This recipe makes a LOT of frosting because it is meant for cakes.  You can either make lots of cookies, or you may want to halve the recipe.

Butter Frosting

• 3/4 cup butter softened
• 9 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

In a very large mixing bowl beat butter until smooth.  Gradually add 2 cups of the powdered sugar beating well.  Slowly beat in the 1/4 cup milk and vanilla.  Gradually beat in remaining powdered sugar.  Beat in enough additional milk to reach spreading consistency.  A few drops of yellow food coloring will make your icing look more like the surface of the sun.