Outdoor Hour Challege #1 Cattails

Even though it was cold and misty this morning, we decided to go for a short walk to see where the cattails grow in the middle of this urban sprawl. (This open space we can only look at, but not enter.)

Matthew insisted that Missy needed to come too.

About 5 blocks from the house we'vew found a good stand of cattails. Notice how much trash is in this little stream? There's a folding chair, chalking gun, bricks, trash, cooler, soccer ball, and probably more.

Matthew helped me answer the following questions:
1. Is your cattail still growing in water or has it dried up? Dried up
2. What does the “cattail” parts of the plant look like now? Good and almost gone
3. What color and shape are the leaves? Brown and narrow
4. Do you see the cattails seeds or balloons? Yes and no
5. Can you pull some of the fuzz from the cattail and observe it more closely? No
6. How do you think the seeds spread, by wind or water? Water
7. How crowded are the cattails growing together? There's alot (crowded)

This is the first time we tried doing the Outdoor Hour Challenge. Since my goal is try and get us back to nature more, I thought we'd see if having a goal helped. Matthew certainly enjoyed looking at them. He thought it was rather boring listening to me read about them from a field book. We haven't tried writing in a nature journal yet, but that's the next step. It would be a good place to place all the little nuts he's collecting on our walks. :)