Happy Summer Solstice! What better way to celebrate than creating art with sunlight? Follow along and harness the power of the sun to create your own sun prints using objects found in nature, construction paper, and sunlight.
Astronomically, the June solstice marks the first day of summer for the Northern Hemisphere, but many cultures consider this event to signal midsummer. This year, solstice occurs at 2:34 p.m. PDT on Saturday, June 20, 2020, which is the exact moment that the Earth’s North Pole is leaning most toward the sun.
Materials:
Construction paper
Nature objects
Optional:
Saran wrap
Plexiglass
Tape
Scissors
Post by Marisa
In honor of the halfway point between the start of spring and the start of summer, make an ecologically conscious flower crown.
Post by Marisa
Reuse materials from your home to create a tool to help you observe the secret world of insects more closely — a bug net!
Post by Marisa
Sourgrass (Oxalis sp.) is a plant of extremes: children love its strong flavor, pollinators gorge on its abundant nectar, many adore its ability to overwhelm a field when in bloom, and many still detest the invasive qualities of some of its species. Oxalis pes-caprae, native to South Africa, has made itself comfortably at home in California, forming dense mats that outcompete native plant species for light and space.
Whether you love it or can’t stand it, sourgrass has an interesting hidden quality that is both useful and exciting: it dyes fabric a vibrant, neon, highlighter-yellow color. Watch our video tutorial to learn how to play with its pigment and explore more resources below:
Post by Marisa. Explore other resources from The Museum At Your Side.
Explore science illustration with artists featured in our annual exhibit, The Art of Nature, and get tips for how to make your own science illustrations at home. This post is from Megan Gnekow, recipient of the Museum’s 2019 Laura Hecox Naturalist Award.
I make scientific illustrations because I want to inspire folks to look closely at the world around them. I want to make complexities and relationships more clear, helping people understand that all organisms are connected to each other. — Megan Gnekow
Prompt: Sequential Observations
There are so many great ways to use a nature journaling project to connect to your local habitat(s). One of my favorites is sequential observations — making notes and sketches about an organism you observe over time. Spring is a great time to do this because there are so many visible changes happening in our environments.
Choose an organism that you can observe regularly over a period of time (the period of shelter-in-place is a good place to start!). Observe the organism you have chosen as frequently as you are able to and make notes and sketches about what you observe. Note date, time, location (macro-habitat and micro-habitat). Use as many of your senses as you can and record what you learn!
Recording your observations over time gives you insights into an organism and the environment in which it lives. Hopefully this plants a seed for further observations and exploration. Don’t worry about making beautiful drawings. Just sketch and/or note what you observe!
If you can’t get outside or have other limitations to observing organisms, there are plenty of webcams available to inspire you — I would suggest a bird camera hosted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology or the falcon cam at UC Berkeley.
Read more about Megan Gnekow here and visit her website here. Explore all of her illustrations from this peregrine falcon series here.
Experiment with creating art from nature! Many plants and rocks have pigments inside of them that you can paint or draw with. You can even go one step further and try making your own paint brush from found natural materials!
How to find materials
Look in sidewalk cracks for leaves or flowers and look in dirt patches for different types of rocks. Look on bushes or trees for berries, flowers, and leaves. My favorite is oxalis, more commonly known as sourgrass (pictured to the right). It is a yellow flower that is common in Santa Cruz and makes a highlighter yellow color when used as natural paint. Bonus: this plant is invasive and is often considered a weed that you could completely remove.
On the other hand if you want to create art from nature but want to stay inside you can do that too! Some of your food can be used to paint and draw. For example, you can use colorful spices such as turmeric or paprika to create paint by mixing the powder with water. Beets, purple cabbage, and berries will also work – they often turn my cutting board different colors when I am chopping them! If you have a fireplace you can even use the small pieces of burnt wood that are left behind to draw with or you can grind it up and mix with water to create black paint.
Collecting plants
Creating Paint
Questions to ponder
Post by Elise
Beach cleanups are a way we can all enjoy the outdoors while serving our community. Whenever you’re walking along a beach, river, or other waterway, you can help keep it clean. While there’s a lot we can all do with reducing our own waste, cleanups can prevent some of it from going into our oceans. (As with all activities, remember to practice good social distancing!) Here’s what you need to know about conducting your own beach cleanup:
And lastly, remember to have a good time. Take a moment to enjoy the waves and the fresh air. We are so lucky to live in a place with gorgeous forests, a healthy ocean, and, most of all, with wonderful people.
Post by: Natalie
Learn about different types of clouds, recording daily observations of clouds on your cloud chart, making weather predictions, and an experiment to make your own cloud at home!
What are clouds?
Clouds are made up of water droplets or ice crystals that float in the sky. We can learn a lot about the weather by looking at clouds.
Types of Clouds
Go outside and observe the clouds. Based on the diagram above, which clouds do you see today? If there are no clouds in the sky think about why that might be. Identify your clouds using this NASA Cloud Chart (Guía de las Nubes en español), and learn more about each type of cloud here.
Each day go outside and observe the clouds for one week and record your observations in this downloadable cloud chart. Make weather predictions based on what you have learned about different types of clouds. At the end of the week you can look back on your weather predictions and reflect on if they were correct or not. Use your data to see which clouds were most common during that week.
Download and print this worksheet to aid in your observations — or make your own!
Guiding Questions for Cloud Observations
Optional: Pair this with our Weather Observation Activity
Try This: Make a Cloud in a Jar!
Materials: a jar, water, lid, and hairspray.
Kid-friendly instructions for making your own cloud: https://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2015/03/make-cloud-jar-kitchen-science.html
Post by: Elise
Learn how to explore the habitats around you by measuring tree canopy cover. This activity is adapted from the Museum’s Nature Rangers school program.
Download and print this worksheet (PDF | HTML) to aid in your observations — or make your own!
Explore more resources about trees and plants in our Online Museum Store.
Post by: Natalie