Blog - The Happy Housewife™

How to Make a Butterfly Garden

By contributing writer Marci

Is there a more beautiful summer sight than a butterfly? Butterflies capture the attention of everyone from adults to children to the family pets. Their colors and grace charm and delight.

Growing up, we always had tons of butterflies in our yard while our neighbors had a just a few. The difference? Butterfly gardens. Although my parents’ flowerbeds weren’t initially planted to attract butterflies, that was a wonderful side benefit of the lovely blooms.

Want to attract butterflies to your yard? Create your own butterfly garden. It can be a great family project. It just takes a little dirt and a little planning. Here’s how.

Planning your butterfly garden

1. Determine what butterflies are found in your area.

This site has a map where you can click your state and be taken to a list of native butterflies. From that list, you can click on the butterflies and learn what plants they like to eat and lay eggs on.

2. Research what plants that you want to grow.
In your garden, you’ll want to plant flowers that the adult butterflies like to drink nectar from and plants that their caterpillars like to eat. Since butterflies and plants were made for each other, planting species native to your area is always a good idea.

You can research plants online or at your local garden center or nursery. Find out where these plants like to grow, their size, spacing requirements, and water needs, and if they are annuals or perennials.

3. Design your garden.
Now that you know what types of flowers and plants you need, start designing. Find a spot in your yard that meets the requirements of your chosen plants.

Before you plant, design your garden on paper. You can use grid paper to teach kids scale. Place taller plants in the back and smaller plants in front. Ask your kids why this is a good idea.

You might want to group according to color or for color contrast depending on your taste. Let the kids decide. If you are having trouble choosing plants and designing your garden, look for plans like this one for inspiration.

Planting your butterfly garden

1. Prepare your soil.
Since you have designed your garden with your space, plants, and butterflies in mind, all you need to do now is prepare the soil and plant. Remove the grass, plants, and debris from your garden area. Till the soil well so that it is easy to work and easy to plant your flowers in. Add in prepared garden soil if your garden does not contain good topsoil.

2. Plant your garden.
Place each plant in the soil according to your plan and the recommended planting instructions. When all plants are in the ground, water them thoroughly.

3. Add butterfly houses.
Placing a butterfly house in your garden, which offers shelter at night and protection from birds, will keep the butterflies you attract close by.

You can buy houses already made or you and the kids can build one from plans or a kit.

Enjoying your butterfly garden

1. Get outside.
Butterflies are not terribly skittish. They will visit your garden even when you are in the yard or sometimes while you are tending your plants.

2. Identify butterflies.
Keep an eye out for new butterflies and caterpillars. Field guides are great to have on hand to identify new species. You might want to keep a butterfly journal to record what butterflies and caterpillars you see, when you see them, and on what plants.

Creating a butterfly garden can be a great addition to your science curriculum. Your kids will learn about butterflies and plants and be able to enjoy both of them all summer long.

Learning with Rainbows

by Toni Herrbach

By contributing writer Tabitha

As a child, I remember being fascinated by rainbows and the bright colors coming out of nowhere. I loved songs like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “The Rainbow Connection.” Any time I opened a new box of crayons, I was inspired to color a rainbow somewhere. Even now, I find myself drawing rainbows for my little ones.

I think there’s a natural curiosity when we see something in the sky that wasn’t there before. I know every time we see a rainbow it’s exciting. We gather everyone in the house to come see, or we point it out in the distance to anyone around.

Here are some ways we use rainbows to learn in our family, even with the many ages we have in our home!

Point them out!

Show your child the magic of rainbows. Talk about the colors we can see in a rainbow. Find them in stories, books, and movies. Look for them after rainstorms. Rainbows are something to look forward to when it’s stormy. A favorite song of ours talks about how we love to look for rainbows after rain because of how beautiful the earth is after it is clean.

Create art

You can do all kinds of rainbow projects – in different media, on different surfaces, with different amounts of talent. My oldest daughter made a cake. Multi-colored building blocks can make a rainbow. My youngest got ahold of the crayons and someone’s schoolwork. Art happens, and most of it can use the rainbow of colors available to us.

Learning with Rainbows at The Happy Housewife

Rainbows drawn by my 4-year-old

Make your own rainbows! (preschool)

Color them on pictures. Draw them on your driveway with chalk. This is a natural weather phenomenon that is FUN (and safe!). Find a prism and let it shine in your child’s room. Make your own outside with a hose or sprinkler.

Learn colors (preschool)

I love using rainbows to help my kids learn their colors. Of course, a song helps, too, such as this Roy G. Biv rainbow song.

Learn more about rainbows (elementary)

One of my kids’ favorite ways to kickstart science learning is through the Magic School Bus Television show. There isn’t much we can’t learn more about through watching an episode. The one that talks about rainbows and color is called, appropriately, “The Magic School Bus Makes a Rainbow.”

My oldest three and a rainbow, years ago.

Study symbolism (older kids)

Colors have great meaning in all our lives. The rainbow is a symbol in religions and other groups. Each color can have meaning as well. This can lead to great discussions on why and how we can learn from the different interpretations.

Rainbows can brighten any day, and through them, we can be reminded to look at our world with a fresh perspective and a positive outlook. Enjoy the rainbows in your life! Whether looking at a rainbow drawn by one of your children or outside after a storm, may they inspire you and improve your day.

The Physics of Rainbows

by Toni Herrbach

By contributing writer Marci

I can’t think of anything that stops young and old in their tracks and makes them smile at the wonder of creation quite like rainbows. They are a welcome bright spot on a rainy day and a sign of hope for all.

Rainbows, in all their beauty, can be used to teach physics, particularly the physics of light. I guess that makes it the physics of rainbows!

What is light? (And what does it have to do with color?)

Light is an array of electromagnetic waves that are visible to the eye. The varying wavelengths of light create color. When waves of light hit an object, certain wavelengths are absorbed and others are reflected. We see those reflected wavelengths of light as color. For example, if you see green leaves on a tree, the color being reflected by the leaves is green.

When we see the color black, that object is absorbing almost all the wavelengths of light. (That is why black shirts and cars get so hot in the summertime – they are absorbing all those hot rays of sunlight.)

White objects are actually a combination of all colors. They reflect all the wavelengths of light.

How does light make a rainbow?

When sunlight passes through raindrops in the sky, the drops act like tiny prisms that bend, or refract, the sunlight. This bending causes the light to separate into its separate wavelengths of color which reflect back to our eyes causing us to see the rainbow.

When do rainbows occur?

Rainbows are seen when sun is shining through raindrops and the viewer is between the sun and those raindrops. The sun needs to be low in the sky (morning or early evening) for this to happen.

Can you make your own rainbow?

Yes! All you need is water and light.

Garden Hose Rainbow – On a sunny day, spray water from a garden hose into the air. Make sure you are between the water and the sun. A rainbow will appear.
Use A Prism – Get a prism and a piece of white paper. Allow sunlight or light from a flashlight to shine through the prism. Position the paper so that the light from the prism shines on the paper. This light should be in the form of a rainbow!
Make A Water Prism – Fill a glass ¾ full of water. Place the glass on a white piece of paper. Set the glass where sunlight or a flashlight can shine through it. The water in the glass will act like a prism and bend the light into a rainbow on the white paper. The angle of light can be adjusted until you see the rainbow.

Easy Cloud Science Craft and Activity

by Toni Herrbach

Do your little ones know what a cloud is? Clouds are fascinating and there are many crafts and activities available online, but many of them are just that – crafts and activities. It’s important for kids to know that clouds are made up of tiny water droplets or ice crystals.

Cloud Science Information

All air contains water.
Near the ground, it’s usually in the form of an invisible gas called water vapor.
Warm air rises, cools, and expands.
Cool air doesn’t hold as much water vapor as warm air, so the vapor condenses around dust particles.
These droplets come together by the billions and form a visible cloud.

These are great facts to start a cloud study with. Grab some cloud books at the library, and talk about the different types and kinds of weather patterns associated with them.

A Quick Cloud Science Activity

Facts are all well and good, but kids learn and retain best when they are actively involved in their learning. And that’s why I love hands-on activities. Especially when they demonstrate a topic simply and effectively.

Here is a simple water vapor activity:

Grab a spoon.
Have your kids look at it and hold it in their hands.
Tell them to breathe on the spoon and take a look at what happens.
Explain that the “fog” that forms is a little cloud. Water vapor that collected together on the surface of the spoon. That’s exactly what clouds do around dust.

A Simple Cloud Craft

Crafts have a place, too. Since the science activity is so simple and quick, do this cloud craft right afterward to give your kids a souvenir to remember the lesson. They’ll love it, and it will help cement their learning.

Cotton Ball Cloud Craft

Take 2 cotton balls and spread them out to resemble a fluffy cumulous cloud.
Glue the cloud onto cardstock.
Glue two googly eyes onto the cloud and let it dry.
Cut the cloud out so that it has a stiff cardstock back.

Have your child tell a friend about how their pet cloud was formed when water droplets collected around a tiny dust particle. And let them enjoy their new science friend. Take their cloud friend on a cloud hunt and try to find new friends and pictures in the fluffy clouds overhead. Get them outside and enjoying nature for themselves this spring.

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By contributing writer Colleen.

Rainbow Worksheets: Free Printables

by Toni Herrbach

By contributing writer Lauren

To add a fun, springy touch to your homeschool, download this set of rainbow-themed worksheets for your young learner!

Each of the worksheets in this 4-page set are geared towards your second grader.

In this Rainbow Worksheet Set:

Remembering the Colors of the Rainbow – Create your own mnemonic to remember the order of colors in the rainbow
Compound Words! – Determine the two small words used to create the compound word
What’s the Place Value? – Match each number with its correct place value
Scrambled Sentences! – Unscramble the words to form a complete sentence

Rainbow Worksheets
April 2015 Rainbow Printables Happy Housewife.pdf

721.1 KiB
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Be sure to check out all our free homeschool printables.

31 Days of Read-Alouds: The Story of Ferdinand

by Toni Herrbach

In The Story of Ferdinand, we meet Ferdinand. A large, fierce looking bull who isn’t very fierce at all.

Ferdinand would rather sit and smell the flowers, but the men have other plans for Ferdinand. My kids loved this book when they were little and it is still a favorite today.

Apparently Ferdinand is quite the favorite, since while searching for activities I found tons of images of Ferdinand tatoos!

Activities for The Story of Ferdinand

See all of our Read-Aloud Books and Activities for the entire series here!

31 Days of Read-Alouds: Inch by Inch

by Toni Herrbach

Inch by Inch is a fun story of a little inchworm who encounters a robin.

Of course the robin wants to eat the little worm but the inchworm convinces the robin he is useful and will measure the robin’s tail.

Throughout the book the inchworm measures many birds until he inches his way out of sight of away to safety.

This is a great book to read when your kids are learning how to measure and also a great introduction to several birds.

Birds mentioned in Inch by Inch

Robin
Flamingo
Toucan
Heron
Pheasant
Hummingbird
Nightingale

Activities

Measure different objects in the house (schoolbooks, desk, pencil, paper)
Measure stuffed animals
Bird unit study
Bird book list

Identifying bird calls
Bird printables
Measurement cards (learning to measure to the nearest inch)
Measuring scavenger hunt

See all of our Read-Aloud Books and Activities for the entire series here!

31 Days of Read-Alouds: The Glorious Flight

by Toni Herrbach

The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Bleriot July 25, 1909 is the story of Louis Bleriot one of the great pioneers in aviation. In The Glorious Flight Louis is determined to build an airplane and eventually succeeds in flying across the English Channel.

This is a great book to read when studying aviation as well as France during the early 1900’s. If you live near an air and space museum a visit to the museum would really make this book come alive.

Activities for The Glorious Flight

See all of our Read-Aloud Books and Activities for the entire series here!

31 Days of Read-Alouds: Caps for Sale

by Toni Herrbach

My kids absolutely loved Caps for Sale when they were younger. When he was little, my son would often act out the entire book as I read it.

Even recently he came out of his room with several hats on his head and asked who he reminded me of. I couldn’t figure it out (since it had been years since he’s read the book) and then her reminded me he was the peddler in Caps for Sale.

In this book, the peddler meets a group of monkeys who are determined to take his caps. Kids will love reading how the peddler out smarts the monkeys to get his caps back.

This book is great for counting, colors, sorting, money, and of course learning about monkeys!

Activities for Caps for Sale

See all of our Read-Aloud Books and Activities for the entire series here!

31 Days of Read-Alouds: The Little Red Lighthouse

by Toni Herrbach

The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge is a new story for our family. I’m not sure how I hadn’t discovered it before this year, but it is a great read with wonderful illustrations.

The Little Red Lighthouse was round, red, jolly and very proud. It guided ships up and down the river until the Great Gray Bridge was built. The Little Red Lighthouse thought it wasn’t needed anymore because the Great Gray Bridge had taken its job. There is a great lesson at the end of the story -you’re never too small to make a difference – something young kids can definitely take to heart.