Today’s post is part of the Splash Into Summer series put together by a great group of bloggers. Each week the participating bloggers we will be sharing seven posts related to a specific summer theme. This week’s theme is WATER FUN.
Water Scopes
Summer water fun doesn’t have to mean a trip to the pool, lake or ocean. It can be as simple as making water scopes and heading to a local stream. Today’s post is a field trip, craft and nature activity all in one.
My mom made water scopes with us when my brother and I were young. She’d take us to the creek on the arboretum at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay. We’d head for a little bridge on Mahon Creek, carefully walk down to the edge of the stream and see what we could see under water. It was like a sort of water periscope. Water striders, sediment, rocks, it all seemed magical. This summer I passed the activity on to my son. P and I made our water scopes and also headed out to the arboretum at UW-Green Bay.
Making a Water Scope
Water Scope Supplies:
- Juice or milk cartons
- Rubber bands
- Plastic wrap
- Scissors
- Washi tape or stickers to decorate (optional)
- Cut the ends off your carton.
- Decorate with washi tape, stickers, markers or whatever you have on hand.
- Cut plastic wrap to cover at least the bottom half of the carton.
- Place the carton in the center of the plastic wrap and secure with rubber bands.
Water Scope Fun
What did we see? First we realized we didn’t place the plastic wrap far enough up the carton to be able to see very deep. What we could see was pretty neat. The sun was pretty bright and the water was moving quickly so without the viewer you couldn’t see much of what was going on under the water even though it was fairly clear. Using the water scope things slowed down and became clearer. We saw rocks, sand, crayfish, a few tiny fish and lots of water. It was pretty cool and it led to more stream exploration, which miraculously didn’t lead to wet shoes, clothing or kids!
The Splash Into Summer series runs from July 7 through July 27. Check out the other posts in this series from this fabulous group of mommy bloggers:
- Sundays – Colleen from MommieDaze
- Mondays – Tammy from Zucchini Summer
- Tuesdays – Nicole from Momma on Wheels
- Wednesdays – Katie from Gift of Curiosity
- Thursdays – Michelle from The Paper Vine
- Fridays – Terra from Life as a Field Trip
- Saturdays – Amanda from Growing Up Madison
My sons would love that water scope. Thanks for sharing your experiment with us. He looks like he really had fun. 🙂
What an awesome idea! I’m pinning this to try out with my kids! Thanks for sharing this great idea as part of the Splash Into Summer series!