Wylde Center Activity Book by Wylde Center

ACTIVITY

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FINDING THE RIGHT OVER 30 PAGES OF

Scavenger Hunts Nature Studies Garden Activities

Crafts Food Activities Journal Prompts 29 | Steam

Native Pollinator Scavenger Hunt Can you find these native pollinators? When you find them, mark each square with an X. There are two free spaces so you can record other insects you see pollinating!

Carpenter Bee

Bumblebee

Mason Bee

Ceratina Bee

Hummingbird

Beetle

Butterfly

_________________

Leaf Shape Scavenger Hunt

Ovate

Truncate

Lobed

Lanceolate

Saggitate

Orbicular

Obcordate

Lyrate

Reniform

Scavenger Hunts and Nature Studies

Botanists are scientists who study plants. They use taxonomy to categorize them. Sometimes they categorize them based on leaf shape. How many leaf shapes can you find outside?

Shape

Hunt Triangle

Let's go out and explore nature! Head out to your yard or a nearby park and see if you can find cool items - maybe leaves, flowers, or little critters - that resemble these shapes.

Square

Circle

Oval

Rectangle

Diamond

Hexagon

Star

Heart

Color Hunt Dark Green

Pink

Blue

Brown

Yellow

Red

Blue-Green

Purple

Light Tan

Scavenger Hunts and Nature Studies

Can you find these colors in nature? If there are some colors that you can't find, why do you think that is?

Find 2 different critters in the garden. Draw and answer questions about each. Use as much detail as you can in your drawings! Draw Critter #2

Count the number of: Legs:_______ Wings:_______ Antennae:_______ Eyes:_______

How does this critter move? ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________

How are these critters different?

____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ 6

Find 2 different critters in the garden. Draw and answer questions about each. Use as much detail as you can in your drawings!

Count the number of: Legs:_______ Wings:_______ Antennae:_______ Eyes:_______

How does this critter move? ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________ ________________________________

How are these critters different?

Scavenger Hunts and Nature Studies

Draw Critter #2

Garden Creature Scavenger Hunt

Let's go exploring! Can you find these insects and other creatures? When you find them, mark each square with an X.

Bee

Ant

Caterpillar

Dragonfly

Ladybug

Spider

Snail

Butterfly

Worm

Springtime Scavenger Hunt Mushroom

Flower

Frog

Clover

Squirrel

Hummingbird

Strawberry

Pinecone

Mulberry

Scavenger Hunts and Nature Studies

What a beautiful time of the year! Check out your yard or local park for these plants and animals. When you find them, mark each square with an X.

Go For A Micro Hike! There are so many things to discover, even in the smallest spaces! Go for a micro hike in your yard or at a local greenspace. Lay on your belly in the grass and take a bug's-eye-view of the world around you. What can you see? Now move to a different spot--even just a few feet could open up a whole new world. Where did you go on your micro hike? ____________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ What did you see? _________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Was the second spot any different from the first spot? How?_____________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Were you surprised by anything you saw? ________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________

LIVING VS. NON-LIVING Nature is full of living and non-living things! Gather some items from nature and sort them on this page. You can even tape down what you find (but don't tape down any creatures)!

NON-LIVING

Exploration Prompts

LIVING

Plants and trees can be some of the best friends ever. They help take in carbon from the atmosphere and use it to feed themselves, which cleans the air we breathe, and they add so much joy and beauty to our lives. Plants also keep secrets like no one else can! Find a plant friend and tell it a secret--perhaps they will share their secrets, too. Visit your plant friend often, and pay attention to how you feel when you are around it.

Exploration Prompts

Whisper

Food Friends

Do you have a friend you love spending time with? Many foods have best friends, too! Sometimes they get along for different reasons: they grow in the same season, like peas and carrots, or they just taste good together, like peanut butter and jelly.

Choose 5 of the foods below and list or draw a group of friends for each one. Apples Cheese Avocados Bread Carrots

Chicken Lettuce Yogurt Chocolate Berries

Example: Peanut butter

Jelly Peanut Bananas Butter Pasta Peanut Butter Apples Celery Radishes Sweet Potatoes

Plant Part Pantry Quest!

What plant parts can you find in your kitchen? Try to find one item for each plant part, and don’t be afraid to ask for help from someone in your household. After you’ve worked up an appetite, prepare a snack using several different plant parts. Inside your pantry lives a whole world of plants! Many foods come from plants, not just things like spinach or strawberries. For example, popcorn is corn seeds and flour is the ground seed of grains like wheat.

Roots Ex: pickled beets

Stems Ex: sugar

Leaves Ex: tea

Flowers Ex: honey

Fruits Ex: raisins

Seeds Ex: black beans

Food Activities

DID YOU KNOW?

No-Recipe Hummus

Beans are a staple ingredient all around the world, meaning they're an important part of the diet of many different cultures. This is a "no-recipe" recipe, so you can use any bean you can think of to make it! Interview an older family member or friend to find out what kind of beans were an important part of meals when they were a kid. Then work with them to make this recipe using that ingredient from your family’s history.

Experiment, use what you have on hand, and have fun!

You'll Need: 1 can of beans garlic 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 2 tbsp lemon juice 1 tbsp water tahini salt Tools: food processor or blender Mix-ins: pesto, olives, hot sauce, herbs, spices, or roasted veggies Snacking: Veggies, crackers, or pita bread for dipping

Directions 1. Rinse and drain the beans. 2. Add all ingredients to your blender, but don't add the mix-ins yet. 3. Blend until the mixture is creamy and has no clumps. 4. If it's too thick, add more olive oil, lemon juice, or water one tablespoon at a time. Remember: you can always add more liquid if you need it, but it’s impossible to remove it. 5. Season with your mix-ins.

Mango-Avocado Salsa Mangos and avocados are both tropical fruits, meaning they grow in hot and humid places, and they are both delicious additions to salsa! Prepare this sweet and crunchy recipe with one of your grown-ups, and share it with the people in your house!

You'll Need:

Directions

4 diced avocados 2 diced mangos 6 diced strawberries 1 diced bell pepper 1/2 cup diced onion 3 tbsp lime juice 1/4 cup cilantro 1 tsp salt

1. Finely chop avocados, mangos, strawberries, bell pepper, onion, and cilantro. 2. Add to a large mixing bowl. 3. Squeeze in lime juice and sprinkle with salt. 4. Mix thoroughly and enjoy!

How did your salsa turn out? Write down 5 descriptive words (for example: salty, sweet) to describe the taste, texture and appearance of your salsa. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 17

Food Activities

Tools: a large bowl, measuring cups and spoons, a knife, and a big spoon

Hibiscus Tea

Hibiscus tea is made from the dried flowers of the roselle plant. There are many variations of this drink originating in places like Senegal, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. It can be served hot or cold, and is a popular drink during the holidays.

You'll Need: 2 cups hibiscus flowers 8 cups water 1/2 orange, cut into slices 1/2 cup sugar 1 inch ginger root, peeled and grated 2 cinnamon sticks 1 tsp cloves

Directions 1. Add all ingredients to a large pot on the stove. 2. Let simmer for 15 minutes. 3. Strain and serve hot or cold.

What other variations of this recipe can you find? Do some research by looking up the different names this drink is called and see if you can find another recipe that you'd like to make. How is that recipe different from this one? 18

Your Family Recipe

Does your family have a recipe that you love to make? Work with your grown-ups to write down the ingredients needed and directions for making this meal, and don't forget to give your recipe a name! Our recipe is called:

Ingredients:

______________________ ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ ______________________

Directions: 1.

What do you love about this recipe? Where does this recipe come from? ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ 19

Food Activities

Tools:

Build A Pollinator Oasis

Just like all living things need food, water, and shelter to grow and thrive, so do our pollinator friends! We can help by filling our gardens with the things they need to survive and thrive, like lots of flowers so they have nectar and pollen to eat and a place to lay their eggs. I like different colors at different times, so plant blue, purple, violet, yellow, and white flowers for me!

I like flowers that bloom spring through fall so I can lay eggs on a built-in food supply.

I love red flowers! Plant red, tube-shaped flowers in the sun and I'll be happy. We are nocturnal, and eat from flowers like moonflower that bloom at night.

Other Ways To Help:

Keep your yard messy: Let your veggies bolt, let your leaves pile up and stack sticks to provide winter habitat, allow bare soil for solitary bees to use in their nest building, and let your lawn go a little wild (violet and clover flowers are great early sources of food!) Sow sunflowers: they’re a great height for all pollinators. Offer a water source with pebbles to perch on. Plant flowering native plants or heirloom varieties in the spring, summer, and fall!

Build A Mini Greenhouse

plastic jug scissors tape

Adult: Poke several holes in the bottom of the jug using scissors, then cut the jug horizontally about 5 inches from the bottom, leaving the handle in tact. Discard the cap. Student: Wet the soil that you will use in your greenhouse.

marker popsicle stick

seeds soil

Kale

Materials

Student: Fill the bottom half of the jug with wet potting soil, and plant the seeds, following the instructions on your seed packet. Put a label inside the jug.

Kale

Student: Tape the jug back together with masking or duct tape. Label the outside of your jug and place in a sunny spot outside.

Student: To water your seeds, place your jug in a bucket or tray with a few inches of water and let it soak through the holes in the bottom. Remove when the soil is fully soaked.

Start your seeds at least a month before you want to put them in a garden. When it gets warm enough, open the lid to let more sunshine in. When your plants have 2 sets of leaves, move them into the garden!

Gardening Activities

Kale

Planting Tropical Favorites Tropical plants grow in climates near the equator, but we can grow them in Georgia too! They may not produce flowers and fruit as easily, but they are still beautiful things to grow.

To grow an avocado, Instructions: 1. Fill a jar with water, almost to the top. tree you'll need: A clean avocado pit A jar or water glass 3 toothpicks A 10 inch plant pot Potting soil

2. Push toothpicks into the pit so they are equally spaced. 3. Place the pit into the jar with the wide side down. The toothpicks should be resting on the opening of the jar, and about 1 inch of the pit should be in the water. 4. Place the jar in a sunny window and refill water as needed. Your pit should sprout roots and a stem in 2-6 weeks. 5. Once the stem is 6-7 inches tall, cut off the top half. 6. When the roots have grown thick and the stem has leaves again, fill a 10-inch pot with soil and plant your seedling, leaving half the seed still exposed above the soil.

Now try a pineapple! Use a smartphone camera to open this QR code and plant a pineapple top with Mrs. Nichole! 22

SEASONAL GARDEN PLANNING

There's something to do in the garden all year round! Check out these suggestions to see how you can get gardening right away.

Plant peas, strawberries, carrots, radishes, beets, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, kale, lettuce in early spring Plant tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, okra, corn, squash, cucumbers, and flowers in late spring Add finished compost to enrich the soil

AUTUMN Plant peas, beans, carrots, radishes, beets, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, kale, and lettuce Harvest as veggies become available Add finished compost to enrich the soil

SUMMER Harvest and enjoy veggies that you planted in the spring Water regularly and surround your plants with a layer of hay to protect your soil from drying out Plant more tomatoes, peppers, flowers, etc

WINTER Plant garlic and cover crop Put down a thick layer of straw around plants to protect from cold Collect seeds from leafy greens that have flowered. Store in a cool, dry place for later replanting

Gardening Activities

SPRING

Positive Ponder Find a spot in your yard, a favorite park or bench, or a nearby garden. Take a seat, empty your hands, and try to turn off your thinking mind. Watch, listen, and take deep breaths. What do you smell? Is the breeze blowing? How do these things make you feel? Use the space below to draw a picture or journal about what happened when you took a few moments to be quiet in your body and in your mind.

Proud Cloud

Art and Journal Prompts

When warm air rises, it expands and cools. Cool air can't hold as much water vapor (an often invisible gas) as warm air, so some of the vapor attaches to tiny pieces of dust that are floating in the air and changes (or condenses) to form a tiny droplet around each dust particle. When billions of these droplets come together they become a cloud. Find a safe, comfy place to watch the clouds and observe what shapes are floating up there. A turtle? A pie? A wave in the ocean? Use the space below to draw what you see.

Write A Nature Narrative

Collect 4 objects from nature, and tape them in the box below. Think about ways these objects could be related, and write a short story about them using the word bank to help guide you.

Your Objects:

Beginning Words First One day

Today Once

Middle Words Then Next

Soon Suddenly

Ending Words Finally At last

As a result In the end

Create A Nature Print

Go for a nature walk and collect interesting items that look like they could be used to stamp paper with. Then, grab some paint or ink and make your own work of art!

Materials White cardstock or fabric Acrylic paint Paint brush

Nature materials Straight stick (optional) Glue (optional) Yarn (optional)

Instructions

These items can include leaves, flowers, pinecones, seashells, or anything with a cool pattern that you want to print.

Paint one side of your item and then press it down onto paper Hold your item down for 10 seconds, and then gently peel off to reveal your print.

Hang your print If using fabric, glue the top of your fabric to a stick, and then tie a piece of yarn to each end so that your print can hang on a wall.

Art and Journal Prompts

Collect items from nature

BUILD A MASON BEE HOTEL Materials: A reused cylindrical container like a can or a plastic bottle with the top cut off Paper straws Scissors Thin sticks from outside Twine

Step 1: Cut a small hole in the back of your plastic container. *Adults should do this step* Skip this step if using a tin can.

Step 2: Thread twine through the hole and out the opening of the bottle. Tie a knot. If using a can, tie the string around the middle of your can.

Step 3: Fill your bottle with straws. Your straws should be slightly shorter than your container. Trim them if needed. You don't have to fill the whole container.

Step 4: Fill extra space with sticks. You should be able to hold your container upside down while keeping the straws in place. If they fall out, add more materal.

Step 5: Secure your hotel to an outside area, facing south. Place it under an awning or somewhere else protected from too much rain. year, but otel every h r u o y e s and Reu the straws e c la p e r arch! be sure to ready by M e m o h r u o have y

Paper Mache Bowls Materials: newspaper flour water bowls (2) spoon measuring cup scissors aluminum foil cooking spray paint and brushes flowers and leaves

Step 3: Wrap a bowl in foil and coat outside with cooking spray

Step 4: Dip strips of paper into paste and layer onto bowl

Step 2: Mix your paste out of 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup flour

Step 5: Once dry, remove bowl from the mold and decorate with paint, flowers, and leaves.

Art and Journal Prompts

Step 1: Cut paper into strips

Visit A Wylde Center Garden! Most of the activities included in this book can be done in a Wylde Center garden. We have 5 beautiful gardens; their addresses are listed below, and the following 5 pages have hand-drawn maps for you to color and links to videos of a tour of each garden with Ms. Jillian. We hope you'll visit us! Oakhurst Garden

435 Oakview Road, Decatur, GA 30030 Check out the: chickens, stream, pond, trails, honey bees, vegetable garden, pollinator garden, cobb house

Edgewood Community Learning Garden

1503 Hardee Street, Atlanta, GA 30307 Check out the: chickens, vegetable garden, pollinator garden

Hawk Hollow

2304 1st Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30317 Check out the: stream, trails, native plants, Hobbit houses

Mulberry Fields

1301 Iverson St NE, Atlanta, GA 30307 Check out the: chickens, goats, vegetable garden, pollinator garden

Sugar Creek

415 East Lake Drive Decatur, GA 30030 Check out the: herb garden, vegetable garden, honeybees

All Wylde Center gardens are open to the public from sunrise to sunset. 30

Take A Tour with Ms. Jillian!

Open a smartphone camera app and hold your phone up to this QR code to watch a video, or visit bit.ly/OGtour

Garden Tours

Oakhurst Community Garden

Edgewood Community Learning Garden

Take A Tour with Ms. Jillian!

Open a smartphone camera app and hold your phone up to this QR code to watch a video, or visit bit.ly/ECLGtour

Take A Tour with Ms. Jillian!

Open a smartphone camera app and hold your phone up to this QR code to watch a video, or visit bit.ly/hawkhollowtour

Garden Tours

Hawk Hollow

Mulberry Fields

Take A Tour with Ms. Jillian!

Open a smartphone camera app and hold your phone up to this QR code to watch a video, or visit bit.ly/mulberryfieldstour

Take A Tour with Ms. Jillian!

Open a smartphone camera app and hold your phone up to this QR code to watch a video, or visit bit.ly/sugarcreektour

Garden Tours

Sugar Creek Garden

Our Story Wylde Center connects people to nature through education, gardens and greenspaces to inspire environmental stewardship and build more resilient communities. In 1996, Sally Wylde was at a meeting in Oakhurst, a neighborhood in Decatur, when she and Louise Jackson started talking about the neighborhood kids that were walking through and throwing trash in Ms. Jackson’s garden. They both decided that the best way to reach the children was to get them involved, and so they did. Students from the nearby elementary school were recruited to plant a garden and paint a colorful fence for its perimeter. Seeing the enthusiasm, Sally was inspired to turn a lot near her home into a garden for the community. In 1997, she started our first garden, the Oakhurst Community Garden Project. In 2012, we renamed our organization Wylde Center to honor Sally, our founder, and in the last 20+ years, our organization has grown to include gardens and greenspaces in Oakhurst, Edgewood, Kirkwood, and Candler Park (check out the maps inside for more information!). We hope you use this activity book to explore your own neighborhood, and, if you can, visit us at one of our gardens to see what nature can teach you.

Ways to Get Involved: Learn more about volunteering, school programming, and community events by visiting wyldecenter.org

Wylde Center

Support our work by becoming a member or make a donation at wyldecenter.org/donate.

@wyldecenter