Five days down!
Good job everyone!  We took it a little easy over the weekend and did mellow outdoor activities.  But we are ready to rev it up again this week with some fun stuff!

We're Going on A Butterfly Hunt
With all the late summer flowers in bloom, we have an abundance of butterflies in the yard lately.  Today we caught and gently observed them up close and personal!  We have several species that frequent our yard, so I helped the kids identify them with our New England Butterflies & Moths: An Introduction to Familiar Species identification book once we had them in our nets.  I like this guide because it is geared toward children, uses simple drawings and descriptions and is light weight, yet sturdy.  The drawings are clear and detailed, so it makes easy work of comparing the butterfly in your net to the one in the book.



Here is what we caught:
1) Zebra Swallowtail
2) Black Swallowtail
3) Cabbage White
4) Little Yellow
5) American Copper
6) Northern Meltmark

I would say that was a successful butterfly hunt!  In catching and examing the butterflies that live in our yard, we learned that butterflies are amazing creatures!


Helpful Links:
How to Catch a Butterfly
North American Butterfly Association
Butterfly Conservation Initiative
How to catch a butterfly on a finger

Check back tomorrow - we are heading out and about to do something really cool!

How are you doing with the Challenge?  Let's share our outdoor challenge ideas with the whole crew.  If you did a fun outdoor activity you would like to share with the group, please post it below.  If you have an idea for an activity, but aren't sure how to get started, post it here and get some assistance from all the outdoor Einstein's out there!