Thursday, February 12, 2015

The Secret Life of Squirrels Book and Activities


Because of this book and our own visiting squirrels I felt doing a Unit on Squirrels would be fitting!

I came across this book at Barnes and Noble before Christmas, The Secret Life of Squirrels.  Since we have a few resident squirrels who visit us at least once per day I knew my kids would really enjoy it!

The Author and Photographer of the book, Nancy Rose, captures candid photographs of squirrels in her backyard.  All of this happens on her backyard deck  where she sets up homemade miniature scenes catching visiting squirrels in adorable human like poses as they search for hidden peanuts!

My daughter giggles while I read this book and as we look at the pictures of the squirrels doing things like washing clothes, enjoying ice cream, wagon rides and so much more!

I've been taking some pictures of our own squirrels.  I've tried finding markings on them to see if it's the same squirrel but they have been different.  Each squirrel comes to our back door and really tries to get our attention as you can see in these pics.  And if I don't see them right away they 'knock' until they get my attention.....check out these photos:

Anyone home?

Peek-a-boo we see you!


Holding on to our backdoor handle

This day we gave him a special treat a big fat walnut!  Hence, the name Mr. Walnut


The more brave squirrels eat right at our back door.  However, this little guys runs to our tree to feast

Since we've snapped so many pics we thought we would pair this book with a craft by making a stick picture frame, just like they do in the book. We simply gathered some sticks from our backyard, printed a picture and now have Mr. Walnut hanging on our key holder in the kitchen. 




At the time we were reading this book we working on the letter S so I incorporated some Squirrel activities by printing some free squirrel printables like mazes, squirrel facts and even made up our own graph.  Through our squirrel facts we learned that squirrels are herbivores and require fruits and veggies in their diet.  The graph I made up is very simple.  I thought we would see which foods the squirrel likes best.  So we included peanuts, apples and grapes. 




After our graph was complete we tried giving our squirrel a strawberry.  In this pic you can see him going for it and I can tell you he devoured the strawberry!


We have really been enjoying nature over the past few weeks and getting to know our wildlife.  We've also been feeding the birds with our very own Bird Seed Mittens.  Even though it's cold outside and snow everywhere we are still trying to be involved with what goes on outside!















30 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks Laura! My kids love the squirrels that come every day looking for their grub, lol!!

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  2. This is so cute! Squirrels knocking to get your attention! A pretty good related activity too!

    PS don't they chew up your curtains?

    ThePracticalMomBlog.BlogSpot.in

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    1. They really do make noise if I don't see them right away. Once I opened the door not realizing the squirrel was on the side and honestly if I didn't catch him in the nick of time I think he would have made his way inside! Thankfully tho they've stayed outside and the curtains or in our case blinds have been safe, lol!

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  3. I'm really sitting here wondering what's wrong with our squirrels. You've captured some great pictures. I'm going to start looking at our squirrels more.

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    1. funny, Natasha! I don't know how we got these crazy, friendly AND hungry squirrels but we do!! They make our mornings interesting since that's when they seem to visit!

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  4. So cute. And so funny they like strawberries! Thanks so much for sharing with this week's #pinitparty. I have pinned :)

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    1. Thanks Mum of One! We had fun learning new things about squirrels!

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  5. What a sweet and creative idea! Good job Mommy!

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    1. Thanks Cheryl! I appreciate you stopping by!!

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  6. OMG! So cute! I would love him to pop over to my house too! The photo frame is brilliant! So beautiful! Thank you for sharing it with us #Pintorials

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  7. Thanks Eileen! We all get a kick out of our squirrels!!

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  8. It looks like you've been having fun!

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  9. Thanks for linking up to Share it Saturday, I am highlighting your post on this week's linkup!

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    1. Hi Jen, thank you for hilighting this activity!

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  10. What a clever activity! We are normally screaming at the squirrels to leave the birds alone. Hopping over from the kid lit blog hop.

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    1. Hi Jenny! I know what you mean but for some reason our squirrels and birds 'play' nicely together!

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  11. Oh gosh, when we lived in San Antonio, we had squirrels all over, they would come to our door and in it, when we fed them peanuts, it got so they would scratch as yours is. We loved the little guys, we sure miss watching them.

    Thanks for stopping by to link up this weekend, hope you have a great weekend, Karren

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    1. Karren, those little furry creatures can be quite mischievous! Our squirrels usually come every day but when they miss a few we wonder about them!! Thanks for your comment!

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  12. Another great post with fun activities! Thanks for sharing!

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  13. Oh my gosh, that squirrel is SO adorable :) we had a family of squirrels visit our backyard once and my daughter was so excited! Now she looks forward to seeing them every spring. Thanks for sharing the activities on KidLItBlogHop!

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    1. We love our squirrels!! They come almost daily and when they miss a day we wonder where they are!! Thanks for commenting!

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  14. Oh wow!! Squirrels are so cute!! We don't have squirrels in Australia but it's just so wonderful to see you learning through nature inspired activities.Thank you for sharing on my facebook page.

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    1. Just learned something new today, didn't know their aren't any squirrels in Australia! We really love these furry babies they bring us lots of smiles and fun! Thanks for stopping by to share your comments!

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  15. I just found your blog post and I love it! I am so flattered that you used my book for your inspiration and thrilled to see you made a stick frame for your squirrel photo. I love the idea of doing research on what squirrels like to eat...Fabulous idea! I love the photos of the squirrels at the door looking for your attention. Mine would sit on the little picnic tale right by my patio door and stare into the kitchen waiting for food. Recently i have some new squirrels who are still too timid to come to the door but hopefully they will get braver as the weather warms up and they come out of hiding more often. keep up the great work!!

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    1. Hi Nancy! I hope you get this reply as I'm not always sure it gets back to my readers. And I am flattered that you stopped by and commented here! We have one super friendly squirrel and another who is skiddish! I'm actually concerned with our friendly fella cause he looks like he'll come right in if I let him, lol! Thanks again for stopping by!

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