Seasons South and North

Equinox

2010-03-18T00:15:00+01:00

I am reposting last year's post about the March equinox, as so many readers have asked for the sunrise chart again.

With the March equinox, the seasons officially change to autumn in the south and spring in the north. "Officially" is the operative word here, for timing of the changes of the seasons is much less precise than we often think. There are not precisely 365 days to a year, so the equinoxes do not fall on the same day every year, or at the same time.

Myths about the equinoxes abound.

It is said that the equinox is a day when the amount of time of light and dark is precisely equal. It usually occurs a day or two before or after. (Hence the name, which translates as "equal night")
It is also said that the equinox brings a time of storms, but actually, record keepers checking back over 75 years have found that not only are there no extra storms, it is often a calmer period around the equinox.
Some people seem to think that on the vernal equinox, it is possible to balance an egg on its point. The success or failure of this peculiar activity has nothing to do with what day of the year it is.

In spite of misunderstandings and silliness, the basic idea of equilibrium is true.

The equinoxes are the only days of the year when the tilt of the earth's axis and its orbit bring it to a point where it is straight in relation to the sun. (An excellent graphic for this can be found here: http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-for-kids/0020-solstices-and-equinoxes.php)

Thus the equinoxes are also the only days of the year when the sunrise is due east and the sunset due west.
For those who live on the equator, the equinoxes are the only days when the sun passes directly overhead. (See http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090319-vernal-equinox-2009-spring.html)

It is this sense of momentous equilibrium that has effected cultures so that most mark the equinoxes as important days, from the new year in the Persian (vernal equinox), to being the mid-way point of the season for the Chinese, to being the day from which other holy days (Passover and Easter in the northern spring, and the autumn Harvest Festival in Britain ) are calculated.

The days are important, but how to share an understanding with little ones without it getting too complicated?

Very young children are not really interested in how the earth goes round the sun or at what angle it tilts. They have only been through four or fine years and so the concept of an entire year may not be entirely firm in their minds. Day and night, however, are completely familiar to them, as are sunrises and sunsets.

Play a Sunrise Game

You will need enough yellow or orange paper for each child and a globe. Ask each child to cut out a large circle from their paper and colour or paint it to be the sun. Divide the children into three groups, standing. The group in the middle lives on the equator, which you indicate on the globe. They hold their suns over their heads. The group to the right lives in the northern hemisphere, so they hold their suns to their side, toward the equator, as does the group to the other side, the southern hemisphere. Have them all turn to the "east" to make a sunrise. Those in the north and south keep their suns inclined and those on the equator keep their suns direct as they raise them up high and then turn and have them set in the "west". Emphasize that this equinox is the spring equinox in the north and the autumn equinox in the south. Hang the suns up all over the room for good cheer.

Encourage Solar Observation

Download SUNRISE CHART

Do NOT encourage the children to look directly at the sun. Do encourage them to notice, every day in the morning, where the sunrise is in relation to their world. If they live where they cannot actually see the sun in the morning, they can note where they first see its rays or where the light is brightest when they have breakfast. Download the Sunrise Chart above, number the squares for the month, and make enough copies for each child to have one. When they arrive in the morning, before they forget, have them draw in that day's square the object, room, building, or tree, etc. where they first saw the sun's rays that day. This will help them to see that the sunrise shifts as the year goes by, and will help make the lessons about the earth's orbiting that much easier to understand.

Seasons South and North

What to Look for in March in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres

2010-03-11T13:04:00+01:00

One of the equinoxes occurs this month, moving the seasons to autumn in the Atlantic Rainforest region of southern Brazil and to a longed-for spring in Britain.

As nature adjusts to a time of greater light and warmth, here is what you can expect to see in Britain during the month of March:

Hyacinth are in bloom, (as in the picture above)
Badgers, rabbits, field voles and lambs are born
The Magpie and robin build their nests
The Blackbird sits on eggs
The Dog Violet is in flower
Slugs pair !

In the Atlantic Rainforest region of southern Brazil, March is a time of great, late-autumn heat, when everyone feels almost unable to move because it is so hot and humid. Here is what to look for in that rainforest in March:

Cicadas are screaming loudly everywhere and all day long
The ingã tree is flowering
The "little bird of seven colours" (pasarinho de sete cores in Portuguese) also called the green-headed tanager, is so hungry it can be tamed with fresh bananas (see the drawing below)
The magnificent blue morpho butterfly can be seen (see the drawing above)
The Lenten Tree (Quaresmeira in Portuguese) which is native to the Atlantic Rainforest, begins to flower
The tiny red tasselflower flowers (below)

Observe

Again, use the Nature Observation Chart to note your own observations for the month.

(The drawings above come from the March page of The Big Field : a Child's Year Under the Southern Cross.)

Seasons South and North

Take One Grand Clock

2010-03-05T19:34:00+01:00

Introducing the Clock

The fascination of time and its circles is felt by many. One of the ways this has been expressed most artistically is in the design of grand clocks that show not just the hours, but the months, the seasons, the signs of the zodiac, all of which appear in the clock above. Some add the phases of the moon throughout a whole year. A clock like this is a storyland on its own, a place to learn about time, seasons, the months, and also about shapes, imagery and how they help to tell the stories.

Click on the image above to get an enlarged version to be able to show children and explain it to them. At the top, in Roman numerals, it tells the time.

In a larger circle around that, are the months of the year:

On the sides are the seasons, represented by mythological persona:

Between the seasons are the signs of the zodiac:

Squares and circles abound. Even simple decoration is based on the shape of the circle:

The whole clock is a cluster of basic shapes, teaching the cycles of time:

Discussion

Spend some time discussing the clock and all that is shows, as well as its use of the shapes of squares and circles. Especially, talk about how circles have no end, but repeat endlessly. Point out, also, how the number four -- as in the four seasons -- leads to the idea of the square.

Shapes Activity

Cut out squares and circles to assemble into a clock like the one above. Draw in the numbers and months -- or their symbols -- as you wish. Glue them into place on a large sheet of paper.

Play Vivaldi's Four Seasons while working on the activity.

Seasons South and North

What to Look For in February in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres

2010-02-25T15:59:00+01:00

Recently, a little girl asked me how we would know summer when global warming will have changed all of the seasons. She has not lived long enough to truly differentiate among the seasons, yet has absorbed enough from the news to be worried about how they will be altered. Where we are, it is currently winter. On the windowsill in front of us was a pot of hyacinth bulbs, which have been slowly growing their leaves and flowers over the past weeks.

The earth is still circling the sun, bringing the northern hemisphere closer as it does at this time every year. This may be the coldest winter Europe has known in many years, but the hyacinths still react to the gradual increase of light and warmth that means the season is changing from winter to spring. No one can say exactly what our world will be like if we continue to pollute it to the point of altering the climate, but we can be sure that it will still orbit the sun, still tilt on its axis, and still spin on that axis. Winter will be darker, summer will be lighter. Winter will be colder than summer. These we can say to children in all honesty.

Continuing with what to look for month-by-month, here is what those in Britain can expect to see in February's nature:

Moles prepare their nests
Blackbirds are in full song
Frogs begin to croak and spawn
Coltsfoot flowers
Daffodils flower late in the month

In the Atlantic Rainforest of southern Brazil and the northern part of Argentina, it is hot summertime still. In nature:

The kapok tree is in bloom with its magnificent pink and yellow flowers shaped like stars
Many, many trees are producing seeds
Blue night butterflies (below) can be seen
The tropical kingbird (top) is calling
Leaf cutter ants (above) are at their busiest, or at least seem that way

Observe

Use the Nature Observation Chart from the previous post to draw what can be observed in nature in your area in February.

(The drawings above come from the February page of The Big Field : a Child's Year Under the Southern Cross.)

Seasons South and North

Seasons South and North is One Year Old

2010-02-18T15:56:12+01:00

Today is the blog's first birthday. To celebrate, I have made a blank nature observation chart as a gift to all of my readers. To print it, either double click on the image above and print, or Download Nature Observations Chart for children .

To Use the Chart

It is in black and white for children to colour.

There are twelve squares, on which the children can draw or write what they observe

They can do this in a number of ways:

-using one square per month of the year

-using the top squares for what they observe in their own hemisphere and the square below for

what is happening in the opposite hemisphere

-printing one chart for each week or month and drawing many observations

I may put up a version that I have coloured myself later, but I thought the children might like to do their own.

Seasons South and North

What to Look for in January in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres

2010-01-27T19:03:00+01:00

Whether in the city or the country, in the northern hemisphere or the southern hemisphere, there is always something to see in nature. Teaching children what to look for helps them to learn to observe. To give an example, here are some of the changes and activities in nature to look for in a place in each hemisphere: southern England in the north and southern Brazil in the south.

In the south of England, in the northern hemisphere, it is deepest winter just now. This year has an unusual amount of snow and cold there, as all across Europe. In spite of the cold, here is what could be seen and heard outdoors:

The White Wagtail should appear
The Green Woodpecker will "laugh"
Robins and Wrens are more easily seen
The Winter Moth might still be seen in the evening
The Dung Beetle appears
Honeysuckle begins to leaf
Butcher's Broom may flower
Slugs appear

In the south of Brazil, in the southern hemisphere, it is summer, hot and humid, especially in the Atlantic Rainforest. Plants are in flowers, birds and insects are everywhere. Here are just a few of what to look for:

The Blue Dacnis (above) can be seen, especially at feeders
The Mourning Rose butterfly (top) appears
The Orange-barred Sulphur butterfly is still about
The Mandana Metalmark butterfly appears
Yellow Cestrum (below) is in flower
Fuchsias are blooming
Toucans can still be heard at dusk

The South-North Seasons Table

On the two sides of the seasons table, try to put drawings and/or examples of the above on either side.

Compare not only the seasons but the similarities and differences between what happens in each season in the two hemispheres. For example, summer in both places is a time of great flowering, but there are not as many different kinds of flowers in England as there are in Brazil. Winter is cold in both places but not as cold in southern Brazil as it is in England. There are birds in both places, but their colours are different.

Let loose and have a session of everyone "laughing" like a Green Woodpecker. You can hear his crazed laughter on the RSPB site here

(The drawings above come from the January page of The Big Field : a Child's Year Under the Southern Cross)

Seasons South and North

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Book Review - The Night Life of Trees

2010-01-20T17:51:00+01:00

Following on from the two previous posts about drawing and painting trees, I cannot recommend highly enough this exquisite, handmade book from Tara Books in India, The Night Life of Trees. Not a new book, it was published in 2006 and is a treasure of magic and inspiration for children and maybe for adults too.

It features art by three artists of the Gond tribe of central India. Seventeen pictures of trees are each linked with a myth or legend about them. The pages are black, with "each page of every book, screen printed on special handmade paper, making every copy an original print. The books are created from a commune of printers from local villages trained in this unique skill." The book is truly a work of art. Please, please go to the website, where you can see some of the inner pages of intricate drawings of creatures hidden and blended within trees.

Activities With "The Night Life of Trees"

Obviously, this book can be used in a number of activities with children:

Make up a story of your garden tree's night life
Draw or paint the nightlife of the tree of your story
Study other legends from other countries about trees
Draw or paint the nightlife of one of those trees
Learn more about the Gond tribe of India and more of their legends about other things
Do paintings on black paper
Stay up all night as a class and see what the real nightlife of a tree is

This is one of those heartbreakingly beautiful books that is a true treasure.

Seasons South and North

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Hot January

2010-01-14T17:12:00+01:00

Just now, it is hot summertime in the southern hemisphere. In Australia, South Africa and South America, the daylight lasts long, people are on holiday at the beach, farm children play outdoors until late in the balmy nights. In nature, the many, many different kinds of flowering trees are in bloom. It is the opposite season of the "cold January" of the previous post, but the analogy made there between the seasons' changes and drawing or painting still holds:

As nature's starkness in winter is to its plenitude in summer, so drawing is to painting.

And so, if you live where it is summer, now is the time to teach children to paint the flowering trees that they see. If they are all ready familiar with sketching, they may wish to do a sketch and then colour it with watercolours. If not, they may enjoy painting with watercolours on wet paper, which can give a wonderful, bright effect of the fullness of a tropical tree in bloom. Try to have the children do a painting a day of the same tree over an extended period of time, to help them observe its changes throughout its blooming.

Be sure to display the paintings!

Extend the Activity By Discussion

Try to learn as much as possible about the species of tree, what birds eat its fruit, what insect live in it, what it needs to thrive, where it originated and where it grows now. Would it grow in the northern hemisphere? Why or why not? Would it be in a greenhouse? Children in the tropics often find the idea of a greenhouse hilarious, so it is a good topic of discussion.

Seasons South and North

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Cold January

2010-01-09T16:51:18+01:00

Oh, it is cold in the north this January! It always has been. From China to France, across the northern hemisphere, there are many sayings about and names for January's chill.

the ancient Cornish name for January is "the cold air month"
now is the time that China refers to as the season of "Little Cold" (the season of "Great Cold" comes next week. Beware!)
an old saying: "as the day lengthens, so the cold strengthens"
in Yorkshire folklore, the 14th of January is always the coldest day of the year

Now is a time when we want to stay indoors and admire the winter through a thick window. The children may play in the snow for a bit, but then need to come inside to warm up with a cup of hot cocoa.

A northern winter is one of the most beautiful times of year anywhere, whether or not there be snow. It is a time of skeletal beauty, a time when trees and plants show their real shape and structure; it is a time of truth. As nature's starkness in winter is to its plenitude in summer, so drawing is to painting.

Now is the time to teach children to draw with pencil. The most obvious things to draw are the leafless trees all around.

Choose a warm place to sit where a tree can be seen. Make a game of drawing as many of the tiny branches as possible. (If there is not a tree to be found, may the heavens pity you, but it is still possible to provide the children with an image. Click on the one above to enlarge it and use it. But honestly, even a branch glimpsed from a window is better than drawing from another reproduction.)

Make dozens of drawings together. Draw the tree every day in wind, snow, rain and sunshine, with birds and without, as the case may be. Nothing will heighten more a child's observational skills than such an exercise as this.

Seasons South and North

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There Is Order in the Universe - the December Solstice

2009-12-21T23:41:44+01:00

Today is the December solstice, the day of least sunlight in the northern hemisphere, the longest and sunniest day in the southern hemisphere. Children in both the northern and the southern hemispheres are perfectly aware of this difference from an early age. They all know and will grow up keeping the memories of summer days that last so long and winter nights that seem even longer. This is one natural experience that has not changed for people over the centuries. What we and our children do during those hours of extra light or dark may have changed radically, but not the fact that days lengthen and shorten cyclically.

This is order. This is structure. In a world where many adults are as confused as their children, and where chaos seems to lurk on every corner, where childhood is as frightening as it ever was, the ordinary movement of planets remains consistent, as well as beautiful.

Bring children's attention to the chnging amount of sunlight from this solstice onward into the new year. There is a French expression that, from this time the days grow longer by the length of a rooster's step per day. In the southern hemisphere, the days may be said to grow shorter by the same length, I would imagine. There is a baby steps and light/dark game in here somewhere.

The December solstice coincides with important holidays for a number of cultures. Holidays, especially the big ones, usually have traditions about food, and this can be used to help children understand the fact that, whatever their season, those in the opposite hemishpere are experiencing the opposite season. At this time of year in the norhern hemisphere, there is a lot of holiday baking going on: cookies, cakes,pies and tartes fill ovens and fill the air with delicious aromas. In the southern hemisphere, many families have the tradition of a great picnic feast for the holiday, with salads and barbequed meats and fresh fruits.

Have an Opposite Hemisphere Party

If you live in the southern hemisphere, bake cookies and mince meat pies with the children. One batch of cookies can be decorated half in chocolate, to symbolise the solstice. As you swelter in the double hat of oven and summer, try to imagine snow on this December day.

If you live in the northern hemisphere, make a picnic of cold chicken and sandwiches (I do not think much fresh fruit is available) and potato salad. Bundle up and go outdoors to eat it if it is not too cold, and imagine those in Australia or Argentina playing in the hot sun this December day.

Use the globe to remind children of the earth's movements around the sun creating the seasons and help them to understand that the cycle repeats eternally.

Seasons South and North

Just Plain Story Time

2009-12-16T22:51:00+01:00

Years ago, teachers read to children every day. They did not read to teach them to read, nor to teach them grammar or history or anything else. They read to them for the sake of the story. I still read to groups of children who come to the library.

One of the best times of day for reading is just after lunch, when the children have been playing and are tired and fed. This is when they are at their sleepiest and most irascible. This is when story time is most valuable. Choose a book of many chapters, one a tiny bit beyond their years, and read for twenty minutes after lunch every day. Those who are exhausted will sleep, those who are alert will listen, those who are naughty, as always, will be asked to leave the room.

As the story unfolds, the children will become entranced. As they become accustomed to stories, they will want more. As they hear and remember the stories, their lives will be richer.

Wonderful stories about nature include:

Watership Down by Richard Adams

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Rikki Tikki Tavi, and other Jungle Book Stories by Rudyard Kipling

Seasons South and North

"The Big Field" now in French and Portuguese

2009-12-09T11:18:00+01:00

I am most pleased to be able to announce before the holidays that "The Big Field" is now available in French, with the title of "Le Grand Pré" and Portuguese, with the title of "O Grande Campo". I hope to be announcing a Spanish edition in the near future.

These can be purchased:

directly from my storefront at Lulu.com
from the Paypal store in the panel on the right
by sending an e-mail to me at: info (AT) morddeleditions.com

Free Teacher's Guide PDF with Your Purchase

For every purchase of a copy of "Le Grand Pré" or "O Grande Campo" , and/or for every purchase of three or more copies of "The Big Field", I will send you by e-mail a free download of "A Teachers' Guide to The Big Field. "

"O Grande Campo " for schools and libraries in Brazil

I am seeking funding and cooperation with a charitable organisation to enable me to donate copies of "O Grande Campo" to all primary schools and children's libraries in Brazil. If anyone can advise or help in this, please contact me.

Thank you.

Le Grand Pré by Anne Morddel

ISBN 978 2 9531864 4 4

Price: €12 / £10 / $16.45

Size: 27.2 cm x 21.4 cm

O Grande Campo by Anne Morddel

ISBN 978 2 9531864 8 2

Price: €12 / £10 / $16.45

Size: 27.2 cm x 21.4 cm

Seasons South and North

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Slowing Down in Winter

2009-12-06T16:08:39+01:00

In the northern hemisphere, it is late autumn moving into early winter. Winter is a time of rest, of quiet, for some animals, of hibernation.

Would our children know that? They live, for the most part, in cities, protected from the extremes of weather. We have power to keep us warm when it is cold, to keep it light when it is dark. Families race to skiing holidays or beach holidays at all times of the year. Children watch television and play electronic games at all hours. Yet our bodies follow still the rhythms of nature. We are more tired and grumpy when we have to move about in the cold and the dark; we become ill more easily when we are tired and cold. In many ways, we are living at odds with our physical world. Helping children to understand seasonal changes and how they affect us may help them to relax and accept certain changes in themselves, as well as those around them.

The Bear's Life

The bear is the star example of a creature whose life follows closely the seasonal changes. By following the bear's life through the year, children can learn about the seasons as well as nature.

Craft Aspect - Back to the Felt Board

Using this fine silhouette from Karen's Whimsy, with thanks, cut out a large felt bear:

Consider if you want it to be brown or black, as relates to what once roamed where you now live. Then, cut out from grey or brown, a large cave into which the bear can fit. You may wish to do another bear, curled in sleep.

Teaching - Repetition

When I was a schoolgirl of about eight or nine years, I had a teacher named Mrs. Doctorman who, every single morning, made us stand beside our desks and sing brightly:

Good morning to you!

We're all in our places

With sunshiny faces

And this is the way

To start a new day.

Because we were young, we accepted it. In later years, I thought it was tacky beyond belief. In truth, it worked. She smiled, we smiled, and everyone got down to their tasks. The Bear's Life can be just such a morning repetition, focusing on what the weather is and what the bear would be doing. Encourage the children to pretend to eat lots and lots and LOTS of berries when the bear would be storing energy for the winter sleep, to stretch and pat their places when the bear would be settling down in the cave, to put their heads down and snore when the bear is hibernating. Do not do all of this in a morning, but in phases over many mornings.

Extend the Teaching

If possible, visit a zoo's bear enclosure many times during the year to see how their behaviour changes.

Read bear stories about real bears' lives, not those with bears acting like people. We have put some suggestions in a list in the column to the right: A Few Good Books About Bears.

This activity should go the year round, for only then will children, especially city children, gain a deep understanding of nature's changes.

Seasons South and North

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Seasons and Months Around the World - Keeping Track

2009-11-21T22:28:41+01:00

I find that, as I write more blogs about the different seasons around the world, keeping track of what is going on where becomes more difficult. So, I thought I'd put together a little chart to help. It gives a sampling of locations in the northern hemisphere, along the equator, and in the southern hemisphere, with what seasons they experience for any given month.

I would have liked to put in some drawings, put it is all ready so dense, that I thought they would make it too hard to read. I wanted to keep it A4 size so that readers can download and print it:

Download Chart of Seasons and Months Around the World

I might do a much larger one some day, a poster perhaps, so that I can put in some illustration.

I also think it might be a nice idea to do more charts of other aspects of seasons around the world. I do hope this will be helpful.

Seasons South and North

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Don't Drop the Problem Into Our Children's Laps

2009-11-16T23:58:25+01:00

Forgive me, but I think there is something quite sinister afoot among the people wanting oh, so much, to make the global warming go away. I want that too, without a doubt, but I know that it is my generation's responsibility to clean up the mess. I do not think it is right to teach our children that they are the future, they have to consume less, they have to be more green, they have to find alternative energy, etc.

Are we really planning to make our own children clean up after us? Do we really wish to communicate that they have to be stronger and wiser than we are? Must they watch us continue to pollute and overpopulate while we tell them that they will have to save energy, restrain themselves, be clean and green?

Well, firstly, what child in this world would buy that? And why should anyone accept such a double standard? No, if we want our children to help to save the planet, we have to show them the way. We have to learn how ourselves and then guide them and lead them, train them and explain to them.

There are many, many science museums and institutions that explain the problems of pollution and global warming, overpopulation and the destruction of rainforests. Begin by learning with children, sharing the experience of discovering what is wrong with our habits and lifestyles and of thinking of ways to change.

Some of the best museums and websites explaining global warming at the moment are:

Climate Change Education

The Koshland Science Museum

The Science Museum - This has a number of excellent, interactive screens and clear explanations.

The American Museum of Natural History

Klimahaus - In German and English; a very nice site, very simple, of photos of different regions around the world. It could make a nice geography lesson as well.

The Encyclopedia of Earth -- very dense text here, but all of it interesting and useful. Better for preparation that for an activity right off the bat. The Climate Literacy Handbook is superb for older children.

But do not stop there. Just explaining the problem to children is frightening. Work with them to discuss what family habits can be changed. Get them involved in helping parents to change. As a group at school or as a family at home, change together. We all know what to do :

Walk instead of drive

Cook instead of going to restaurants or buying packaged food

Growing our own organic fruits and vegetables and working in the garden ourselves

Play physical games instead of electronic games

Go walking or sailing or swimming on holiday instead of flying far away

Don't buy a Kindle; borrow a book from a library and read it

Have home theatricals and rock concerts instead of going to the cinema so often

Try to live without plastics!

Think of ways to recycle things by reusing them in new ways

It is up to us to change for our children. Let us make them proud of us.

Seasons South and North

POLLY BLUE

2009-11-04T11:56:38+01:00

Today I have redesigned this blog in honour of the launch of my new book, Polly Blue.

It tells the story of a small blue butterfly, innocent and free, who suffers a great trauma from the sky. Polly Blue is paralyzed by her fear, to the point that she can no longer fly, for the sky is too frightening. So, she walks, trudges, and lives a life of despair and fear. Eventually, she meets someone whose simple wisdom and hope free her from her terror.

Clearly, I wrote and illustrated this story after the ghastly events of the 11th of September, 2001. It came quickly, in a surge of compassion for the children of the world, among them my own, who will be marked for all of their lives by the events of that day. I also wrote it for the Pixie, whose childhood was shattered not only by that day, but by the cruelty of a deranged man who nearly killed her for a lark. She spent years cowering under tables when a plane flew overhead or when the wind rattled the windows. Unable to spend a moment alone, she spent countless nights falling asleep in restaurants or in her father's arms at corporate events when her parents could not stay at home and took her with them. The hollow look of horror in that child's eyes is something I will never forget. She is a fine and strong and happy young woman now and I hope that part of what helped her to overcome her troubles is the words and pictures of Polly Blue.

Polly Blue is a hand made book. Each cover is cut from pure cotton, hand made card from India, which I then prepare, paint, and inscribe. The drawings were done in ink and watercolour. Some can be seen in the album in the column to the right. The book is hand bound, in the Japanese style, with green ribbon of pure silk. This is a first edition, limited to 250 copies, each numbered and signed on the last page.

Polly Blue will not be sold in shops. It will be available only through my blogs and website, either directly or via the little Paypal storefront in the panel to the right. Each book takes a bit of time to prepare, so if you would like to order one as a gift for the holidays, please do so soon.

Thank you.

Polly Blue by Anne Morddel

ISBN 978 2 9531864 9 9

Price: €19.50

Size: 203 mm wide x 143 mm high (about 8 inches wide x 5 and 1/2 inches high)

Seasons in the Soil

2009-10-27T23:47:00+01:00

When I was a child, my friends and I used to spend hours chatting and absent-mindedly picking up a handful of soil and letting it filter through our fingers and back to the ground. Over and over again, we allowed ourselves the idle sensuality of feeling loam flow over our fingers. It was a beautiful rich sensation, as if velvet has been crumbled.

Now I know that there was a universe of life, hundreds and thousands of tiny creatures in each handful. It has been estimated that the number of creatures in a single acre of healthy soil exceeds that of all the people living today so, more than 6 billion. In an acre! Some of those microscopic creatures we hardly know anything about and there are some that we understand quite well. Perhaps my scooping hand went near one of the many larger creatures that make their home underground, such as a toad or a mole or a snake.

In truth, most of those millions who live in the earth live between the soils, in tunnels and air pockets, burrows and dens. Even the smallest creatures live in tiny spaces between the soils. All of them, even those deep down, have their responses to the seasons. They will rise toward warmth, go back down to cooler regions when the surface is too hot, rise for for food, go back down again when the surface freezes and it is comparatively warmer below. When the rains come, they may drown by the millions, as their tunnels and pockets are filled with water. If the soil is covered with concrete or tarmac, seasons, water and air are cut off and they all die.

In some parts of the northern hemisphere, farmers refer to the soil as "sleeping" during the winter, when it seems less alive. They speak of the earth "awakening" in the spring, when it warms and the life comes closer to the surface. When every creature in it has been killed and nothing can grow in it, they say the soil has "died". Children need to know this feeling of soil that is healthy and alive, soil that is sleeping or awakening. If you have a place where they can garden, allow them the extra time to play with the soil, to learn its feel. Help them to try to find some of the creatures that live in it.

Soil on the Nature Table

For the hyperactive in your group, by all means, invest in an ant farm to sit on the nature table. From the garden supply shop, get a small amount of composting worms to keep on the table and feed and discuss. Even the squirmiest child will stop his or her own squirming to watch these creatures' movements.

For a Craft activity - have the children draw worms and cut them out. Place a bit of brown felt shaped into mounds like the earth on the nature table and place the children's worms under the mounds. Move the insects toward the surface on warmer days.

Some books about the soil and its creatures:

Life in the Soil

This is a serious read, and a bit heavy in places, but excellent for a full understanding of the latest knowledge about what creatures live in the ground.

Living Earth

This is an older book, and an easier read. It is still quite useful as a basic starter on the subject.

Life in a Bucket of Soil

This is a Dover book, clean, simple and clear, with good drawings. An older child could read it on his or her own.

Microlife That Lives in Soil

A children's non-fiction book, with photographs of microscopic animals, drawings, and a lively layout.

Let's Look at Animals Underground

A gimmicky book that actually works very, very well. Illustrations and text on white pages explain the animals that live underground. See-through pages backed by black allow for a child to use a special "torch" to see the underground world.

The Soil We Live On

This is a book from the 1960s, and its geography is North American, but it has clear explanations and some very fun experiments.

Seasons South and North

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Book Review - Garden and Wood

2009-10-23T20:19:00+02:00

Buy Garden Buy Wood

Evans has published a series of four books called Sparklers - Out and About, written by Katie Dicker. They are "designed for young children ready to find out more about the world around them. The books are designed to support and extend the early years curriculum." Sounds a bit dull, but the books are just the opposite.

We have two of the four: Garden and Wood, and they are charming. Illustrated with high quality and colourful photographs to which speech bubbles, flowers for page numbers, and coloured strips for wording have been added. Some pages give facts, while others pose a question:

"How tall is your sunflower?",
"What time of year do frogs appear?"
"How many pine cones can you collect?"
"What different bark textures can you find?"

Clearly, the emphasis here is on encouraging thinking and enquiry, and not just on the memorization of facts. Unusually for such books, every single one of the children actually looks happy (even though, looking at the photo credits, they seem to have been taken all over the world). The close-up shots of the animals will please young children who so enjoy photographs of real animals.

Both books commendably have a table of contents and an index. In spite of each book being only 24 pages long, it is very helpful to have these to be able to begin to teach children how to use them.

These are excellent and attractive early non-fiction books.

Seasons South and North