flowers – Page 2 – Tracie's Treasures

bug hunt, childminding, frogs, Garden Classroom, Honey Bees, Bees, Great British Bees, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Bug Hunting

Posted on 28th May 202328th May 2023 by Tracie Dowling

Today the little seedlings decided they wanted to be explorers and look for bugs.

Jacks first area of interest was the barrel pool which has a solar powered floating fountain. he quickly realised if he moved it into the shade it stopped working. he liked slapping the to of the water and splashing himself.

Elsie soon caught up with Jack and wanted to have a go but she couldn’t quite fit, she started pushing Jack out of the way. Jack edged her away, I explained to Elsie if she moved back a little Jack would be able to turn around and move to give her some space to have a turn. It was a bit tricky because by then Ruby had decided to join the children which caused a traffic Jam.

While we were looking for bugs a Ladybird flew onto Jack. He froze and looked down at it. I carefully moved the ladybird off Jack so we could all have a better look. We counted the Ladybirds spots to see how old it was. we counted 8 spots George said “its like a spider with eight legs!’

Next we found a nest of tiny baby spiders, Elsie turned and fled, shes not a fan of spiders! George and Jack where fascinated watching them scuttling about the nest until Jack decided to poked the nest and made all the spiders run in different directions, this made Jack and George feel itchy like they were crawling up their body. Yuk!!

Next on the hunt we found a buzzy bumblebee going from one yellow poppy to another. Tracie explained he was collecting pollen from the poppies. Grace said ‘ to make honeycomb’ Tracie explained that bees make Honey which can be made into honeycomb. (Good activity idea! To extend learning) George said he loves honey and asked if we will have Honey sandwiches for snack time. Nom nom

Elsie decided to go back and look in the barrel again while the others went to the pond. We were so lucky because as we got there (very quietly) a frog was having a swim. Tracie very carefully got her net and caught him so we could have a closer look!

What a busy, fun bug hunt we had today!

bug hunt, family, Garden Classroom, Honey Bees, Bees, Great British Bees, outdoor play, rangers, Seedlings, Uncategorized

Look Who’s Collecting Nectar In Our Garden

Posted on 3rd May 20238th May 2023 by Tracie Dowling

Did you know Honeybees fly about 55,000 miles at 12mph just to make one jar of honey! Today in our garden we found not 1 but 5 amazing nectar gatherers!

Some bees have very long tongues so they can reach into tubular-shaped flowers like our Foxgloves, honeysuckle, and snapdragons. The children are growing all three of these plants so we are hoping the bees take advantage and have some of our nectar.

We like to encourage the bees to come into our garden because they are part of the biodiversity on which we all depend on to live and underpin healthy ecosystems, helping all of nature to thrive. Honeybees, wild bees, and bumblebees pollinate our crops which helps them to grow.

A Few Bees From The 270 Found In Great Britain

The Honeybee is the best-known bee in Great Britain but there is actually over 270 species of bee recorded here!

George asked Tracie an amazing question today about the Bees ” Tracie where do the bees sleep?’ Tracie explained she didn’t know but we would find out. We decided to ask Google and she said “Female solitary bees sleep in their nests but male solitary bees sleep outside, they rest in places like flowers or long grass stalks. We also found out you can tell a bee is asleep because its antennae are still, its head, and its wings are tucked into its body.

Grace asked ‘ do Bees close their eyes at bedtime?’ another amazing question! Bees actually do close their eyes and relax like humans do. George said ‘Human?” We are called humans, George because we are living beings.

Elsie asked if bees cuddle? We looked it up on the internet and the answer was that they love to hold each other’s legs while they sleep! How cute is that!

George reminded us that we saw a bumblebee who looked poorly last year and we helped him feel better. I asked the children if they could remember how we made him better ‘ and they said ‘gave him water on a spoon’. I told them they were so clever to remember and that we also added sugar to the water and it dissolved and it gave the bee energy to make him feel better to fly home.

I then showed them the picture of my dad on the Tracietreasures web site, he was in his bee-keeping uniform and I explained how he collects the bee’s honey from his hives and puts it into jars.

We all had snacktime of honey sandwiches nom nom.

What an amazing activity we had today, started out as a walk around the garden and ended up with information collecting using Google, internet, and books all about our Bees, what amazing questions the children asked me.

bug hunt, childminding, Garden Classroom, Seedlings

Today’s Weeding The Garden Ended Up A Bug Hunt!!

Posted on 19th Apr 2023 by Tracie Dowling

George came in this morning skipping full of the joys of spring, telling us how sunny it was outside. He asked if we could all go out to play in the sunshine

We decided to get out buckets and trowels to do a little weeding in the front garden because as George put it “tis a mess!”

George was so eager he went full bull in a china shop and pulled out the first flower he found, shoving it in my face. “Tracie, Tracie is this a weed?” “No George thats not a weed thats my tulip!”

“ I will take it home for my mummy she loves red roses!”

Elsie found a wiggly worm and called us over to have a look. Elsie moved on and found a snail which she described as “sticky, yuk” so I had to pick it up.

We just kept finding bugs so decided to ditch the weeding (probably safer if we want our flowers to survive George!) and turn the activity into a bug hunt.

We ended up finding, an ants nest with loads of ants marching around, a lily Beatle, lots of wood louse, a ladybird and a carrot! A carrot!! Guess who found that!!!

We went over nearer the house and found a lovely red Crocosmia, a hidden pansy, a blue Felicia and a fly on a leaf. This time it wasn’t George who found it, ‘twas Elsie’

What a lovely day out in the garden, lets hope the sun is shining tomorrow.

Garden Classroom, number games, Seedlings

Making Our Own Number Blocks.

Posted on 1st Apr 2023 by Tracie Dowling

We had fun making number blocks today. We printed off 1-10 sets of leaves and a sunflower head which we stuck onto our big duplo bricks.

We first played a match the number game, the children all helped each other to place them on the corresponding number.

George was able to count up to and recognise beyond the number 10! How amazing! Now we need to print off and make leaf bricks from 11-20 so George can learn to recognise them in sequence too! Grace found numbers 1-4 and place them on top of the correct leaf, sh was so pleased with herself.

Elsie found the yellow sunflower and enjoyed building the leaves which made the flower grow bigger and bigger!

childminding, family, frog Spawn, frogs, Garden Classroom, hydroponics, outdoor play, rangers, Seedlings, The Theatre, wanderers

A Walk Around The Garden

Posted on 1st Apr 202321st Apr 2023 by Tracie Dowling

Today we walked around the garden to look at all the changes we made last year and to make notes on what we want to plan for this year.

The winding footpath we made last year is ideal for walking and running about avoiding the messy mud. The children love how they can run around and peep through the planting bug hunting, plant spotting and watching everything grow. They love the bug pile and saw some worms and ants.

We have sown all our bedding plants this year to save money, we also used peat free compost to help save our planet. The seeds have now grown into healthy young plants so we potted them on, ( put into bigger pots) and put them into the cold frame to wait for the last frost, we will then put them in our living wall.

This years project is to make the decking area into a nicer living ‘Outdoor Classroom’ We have chosen

Petunia, Lobelia and Fuchsia’s to have trailing, ground cover in the vertical wall garden. We will add the Herbs (growing in our greenhouse) for tasting and smelling into the wall as soon as they have matured.

We have Roses, Honeysuckle, Jasmine and Passiflora for climbing up the trelliss and giving off a floral fragrance. Our aim is to make the ‘Outdoor Classroom stimulate all our five senses. To make the decking more accessible for the babies we are going to add Astro turf so it’s safer for them to crawl and play on.

We were so excited to see our frogs while out and about, they were keeping an eye on their spawn, this will soon turn into tadpoles and frogs. Tracie taught us how to carefully remove some of the water weeds and she added some bunches of watercress to freshen up the pond to make the water less Murky so we can see the pond life without disturbing them.

Our Big Plans For This Year 2023:

We have decided in our living classroom we are going to:

Lay artificial grass to make the decking completely baby friendly.

Make a toy box storage area for outdoor equipment

Pot up the Herbs and make labels.

Make a water feature for relaxing sound and to have water play

In the Greenhouse we are going to grow:

Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Loofa , Chilli and start off our Cabbage, Cauliflower, and Broccoli

Sow winter flowering plants to give out Garden all year color and edibles.

In the front garden:

We want to encourage more wildlife in, so we are thinking about making a new pond, putting in more hedging, and adding some hidden bird feeders.

So we have BIG plans, so keep watching our blogs to see how we go….

childminding, family, Garden Classroom, Seedlings, Uncategorized

Daffodils in our Park and Garden

Posted on 7th Mar 2023 by Tracie Dowling

The children are loving the bright Daffodils in the park and our garden at the moment.

We have been reading the Poem by William Wordsworth about the lively dancing Daffodils, we decided to make beautiful pictures of them for a display to brighten up out playroom.

William Wordsworth Poem

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o’er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

The poem is about being one who is close to nature and enjoys in its company and never feel sad or lonely. Nature is the greatest gift or blessing to mankind. It has the power to heal our miseries, learn and make us lively again.

childminding, family, Garden Classroom, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Garden Challenge 2021: Phylis’s Garden

Posted on 17th Oct 20216th Mar 2022 by Tracie Dowling

We have had ups and downs during this year with our gardens. Here is a round up of how Phyllis’ gardening went..

These pictures are from Phyllis’ front garden, it gets full sun most of the day. The lovely well planter was made by Frank, he has hung bird feeders and hidden bird boxes in the roof. He also made the wooden tiered planter where the vegetables are growing for their yummy, fresh Christmas dinner.

Phyllis had a bumper crop of fruit and vegetables this year, here are a few pictures to show how well she did!

It’s been a hard year and being in the garden has given Phyllis a project which she has thoroughly enjoyed. Next year Phyllis is going to focus on flowers, including a wildflower patch to encourage wildlife.

No better way to prove how amazing it is to grow your own, a delicious fresh Sunday lunch! Where’s mine?

childminding, family, Garden Classroom, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Garden Challenge 2021: Tracie’s Update

Posted on 6th Aug 20216th Mar 2022 by Tracie Dowling

When Sophie and I walked around the garden, I asked her to pick out her favourite fruit and vegetables we are growing. Well, she chose these lovely Lilies. Not quite what I asked for but she’s right they are lovely.

While we are talking Lilies, look at our amazing 8 foot Lily trees. They tower so high and they are so fragrant you can smell them all around the garden.

Back to our fruit and vegetables, below is our cucumber and we have grown conjoined twins! Double the trouble and size! Poppy ate it in one sitting!! She said they were delicious.

Our apples are coming on nicely, they are getting plumper, Monty Don says you can tell when they are ready as they twist off easily. Guess we’ve got to keep waiting. Be worth it though. We also have onions, tomatoes and strawberries growing strong.

In the greenhouse the Luffa vines are growing tall and strong. When they fruit the children are going to make luffa soaps.

The Cucumbers and Chillies have now left the greenhouse and are in the garden growing strong. Tracie watered everything and added tomato feed to give them a boost.

Our new project this summer is the bath pond. We had our bathroom turned into a wet room and thought the cast iron bath could be up cycled into a large pond. Our growing tadpoles and frogs will have more space and we might even get some fish! We will add photos next time.

family, Garden Classroom, rangers, Seedlings, wanderers

Fun Day With The Children

Posted on 21st Jul 202110th Aug 2021 by Tracie Dowling

We have had a lovely day today playing in the garden and going to Breckside Park.

Sophie looked at all the flowers and asked me to take photos of her favourites.

Mason wanted to make a snail home using different items from around the garden. Jacy and Jack loved the idea and made their own. They asked me to choose my favourites. I explained they were all lovely and the snail will judge by going on the one it likes best.

After playing in the garden it was time for lunch then off to the park.

The younger children enjoyed a kick about, quoits and catch the ball in the net. They ran about so much all they wanted was the pram, bottle and sleep. Job well done!

The bigger children set up the goal posts and had a kick about trying to see who could get the most goals. After about 2 hours and lots of sweat, tears and moans we decided to go back and have a cold drink and ice lolly’s. Four very over heated children!!

family, Garden Classroom

My Dad and Rosies Bee’s

Posted on 8th Jul 202110th Aug 2021 by Tracie Dowling

This is my Dad and Rosie’s garden in Lincolnshire, it is so beautiful and well kept. They both must spend all their time mowing lawns, dead-heading flowers and watering the plants.

Rosie has been working hard to produce a wonderful wildlife garden ready for my dad’s bees to arrive.

The garden has grown up so tall and I bet there are 1000’s of different insects thriving, living in the flowers.

My dad has mowed a pathway to enable them to get through to the hives and greenhouse. I just want to go and run through, looking at all the different flowers there are.

All Dad and Rosie’s hard work has paid off and here is the evidence Thousands of bees have made it their home. They will be busy bees making lots and lots of delicious honey!

How do you all like your honey? I like mine on a chunk of crusty bread mmmm. Hopefully, later in the year I will be able to post photos of the honey!