Week 5
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Phenology Wheel & Exploring Color
Earth Day
April 22 annually
The last full week in April is National Sky Week SAW
Phenology is the study of the timing of seasonal plant and animal life cycle events, including the flowering of plants, ripening of fruit, the emergence of insects, and migration of birds. From the National Phenology Network
This week we'll be exploring what a phenology wheel is and some fun ideas to use a phenology wheel to look closer at nature's calendar. We will also be exploring the colors of the seasons.
With a phenology wheel we can create visual representations for the changes in nature over time.
Here is a more detailed description of what phenology is. YouTube video by the Roving Naturalist
Let's Start with a Basic Phenology Wheel
Draw a wheel like this onto a white piece of paper.
To make it easier you can use two different size bowls to trace the circles.
If you would like to, you can draw or glue a photo to the middle that will highlight the focus of the wheel.
On your phenology wheel you can focus on seasons, months, trees, buds and blossoms, or colors of the seasons, and much more. The possibilities are endless for documenting natures calendar.
A paper plates works well to create a phenology wheel. You can divide the center in different ways, depending on how you want to add your observations.
Playing with Color
Before we explore more about phenology wheels, let's take a look at how we can use color to highlight our nature observations.
We can play with color using crayons, colored pencils, markers, food coloring, watercolor, and even color that comes from nature like blueberries or pieces of green grass!
Look at the colors we can find in these nature photos.
Butterfly
Daffodils
Bluejay
Using Color in your Nature Journal
The Nature Journal Connection, Episode 13, Colored Pencils in Your Journal
John Muir Laws has some great tips here on bringing a little color with you on your adventures.
Exploring Color
The primary colors are:
When you mix the primary colors you can create these secondary colors.
red and yellow make orange yellow and blue make green red and blue make purple
Let's Play with Color! Color is such fun to play and experiment with. For this activity you can use some basic household items. You may have some of these below or have items that are similar. Get as creative as you like! The possibilities for the materials you can experiment with are endless.
Supplies:
Before you start, you will need something like a trash bag or newsprint to cover your work area as some of the colors may stain. You'll need a container with water, and some paper towels.
For materials you will need items similar to these: various kinds of papers, muffin tin, dropper, watercolors, food coloring, craft sticks, string, and brightly colored cupcake sprinkles. You can also try foods like blueberries or strawberries where their juices might also be absorbed by the paper.
This quick video from UF Reitz Union gives you an idea on how to get started with a technique called Orizomegami.
Colors
For color exploration you can try drops of food coloring in water, and also popping out the little watercolor pad and soaking it in water. You can experiment with how many drops of food coloring to add, and how long you need to soak the watercolor pad to develop rich colors. Can you think of other items from around the house that you can color paper with?
food coloring in water
watercolor paint palette
top: food color in water
bottom: watercolor paint dissolved in water
You can leave the watercolor pad soaking longer to dissolve more. The water becomes less transparent and should give your paper a deeper color.
Paper Folding
Accordion folded paper
This video shows how to fold the paper for the accordion folds to have equal sections Paper Tip: by Helen Hiebert
Dipping and Drops
Design from dipping an accordion folded paper.
Dipped folded paper then adding drops with a dropper or paint brush can add pops of color.
Candy sprinkles on a paper towel with drops of water.
Try a strip of adding machine paper roll. Fold it the long way twice then wind around a craft stick or straw.
Dip into one color, then flip the paper over onto the stick then dip into a second color.
Let the roll sit out of the liquid just until absorbed, but open it while it's still wet.
Hang the paper up or lay flat to dry.
Try your ideas to to dip, drip, and splatter some colors onto a paper.
We can't wait to see what you come up with in your color exploration activities. Share it with us for the Shared Space page.
The Colors of the Rainbow
ROYGBIV
Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet
Now that we have looked at primary and secondary colors, you could probably see that the colors that come from mixing them create a very wide range of colors and hues. You may have heard the acronym above - Roy G. Biv. It's a way to remember the colors of the rainbow, by remembering the first letter in the colors of the rainbow. R-red O-orange Y-yellow G-green B - blue I-indigo V-violet
More Ways to Explore Color
Check out BreckinTube - Fun Family Science as they explore mixing colors
Some other household items you can use to explore color mixing are white coffee filters, white yarn, liquid watercolor, ice cube trays, cotton swaps, milk, tissue, fragrance free shaving cream, tissue paper, white glue, paint for kids, and cornstarch. We would love to hear about any creative items you have found to explore color and color mixing with.
Phenology Wheels - Explore some ideas for Phenology Wheels
Visit Partners in Place for some great ideas on Phenology Wheels
As the gallery illustrates, a completed Wheel can be messy like a scrapbook, polished for an artistic or published design, or symbolic like a mandala.
Some Wheels emphasize natural history, ecology, or phenology in a home place, natural area, garden, schoolyard, or community. http://partnersinplace.com
Phenology Wheels: Earth Observation Where You Live By Anne Forbes, Partners in Place, LLC
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