Studying squirrels

That squirrel in the park was a recent nature highlight for us. Last Sunday night we were talking about it again, and we decided to draw what we had seen. Of course, we can't draw squirrels in real life, when we've only seen two in nine months of living here. So, we turned to the internet. Just for fun, we watched a bunch of videos of red squirrels. Then we looked at photos, and finally chose this one from Wikipedia:

(Look closely, so that you can compare it with our drawings.)

From there we took off drawing. Raia is our artist these days, so she was in her element. Don't you love her squirrel?

Jaan's not very interested in drawing, so I wasn't sure what he would do. When we work on art projects, I usually make him start out sitting with us, but that's about all. He insisted that he couldn't do this, so I just had him watch, while I began sketching. We discussed every line I drew, and before long, he took over! We continued to work together, with him actually leading and directing. Our drawing is quite detailed, and it took several days and several sessions to finish, but we're both pleased with it now.

In doing this, I rediscovered a blog that I was really impressed with before. I love "The Outdoor Hour" challenges there. In the preschool stage where we are now, nature study is just spending time outside, discovering and enjoying creation as much as we can. The Handbook of Nature Study blog was above our level. However, as I was looking at it this time, I realized that a lot of our recent observations fit in with what she's been writing about.  This post goes with the squirrel challenge.  (But only 10-15 minutes on a nature walk?  We usually spend hours!)  I added Jaan and Raia's artwork to her gallery.  We've also just recently seen two hares (one this morning!) and some bats.  Maybe we'll study those, too.  So, you might see even more nature posts here, as we learn and record. Of course, our focus is still on the time we spend outside, not the study part. Recording our findings is just a side benefit, but we'll see. . . .  And, yes, there's a whole lot more to our life than nature study, but it's one of the areas that we really love!

Oh, and just wait until I write about skunks and other stinky creatures!