4Real Forums: Storing, Keeping, Throwing Nature Finds

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Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science

Topic: Storing, Keeping, Throwing Nature Finds

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SuzanneG
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Posted: July 20 2007 at 2:47pm \| IP Logged

I'm finding myself secretly throwing away our nature finds in the wee hours of the night because otherwise my house would be over-run with "nature."

I think my dc are starting to notice

, so maybe I should find a way to store these finds.

Mackfam mentioned on one of the Montessori threads that she uses Watch Maker Cases:

Mackfam wrote:

I did come up with a really cool storage solution for a lot of our little nature specimens - dead butterflies, small rocks and fossils, pieces of moss - I gathered and sorted them and the kids put each item in these watchmakers cases I got for Christmas one year. They are the perfect storage solution for the nature shelf. The kids labeled and dated each case on the bottom.

Anyone else have ideas for storing these things or do you throw them away too?

Any blog posts? Pictures to share of nature collections? What do you save? What do you throw?

Looking for ideas...

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Suzanne in ID
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CatholicMommy
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Posted: July 20 2007 at 3:05pm \| IP Logged

I am curious too - we just have rocks and just got those organized, but I know I've got more nature coming any day now!

lapazfarm
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Posted: July 20 2007 at 3:48pm \| IP Logged

A few things.
1. we have two antique typesetters trays mounted on the wall in the science room. They have lots of little compartments for holding treasures and it displays them attractively. One hold our insect collection and one our other tiny nature finds. There is a picture on my blog of one of the trays before we mounted them on the wall. I will try to find it.
2. A big glass jar full of seashells from various beach trips.
3. A large round basket I picked up at the thrift shop for a quarter. It sits here on the porch and is filled with all of our recent nature finds.The kids like to sit out there and look through it at all of the interesting things we've found.
4. A big basket overflowing with pine cones of various sorts sits on our fireplace mantle.

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Theresa
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lapazfarm
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Posted: July 20 2007 at 3:52pm \| IP Logged

Here is a picture of the typesetters tray from my blog.It is slowly getting filled with insects.

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Theresa
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SuzanneG
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Posted: July 20 2007 at 4:22pm \| IP Logged

Theresa ~
Love the typesetters tray! Isn't it great when you use something in a way that it wasn't intended?

I don't know why that gives me so much satisfaction, but it does...

Any idea where to find those skinny little glass vials?

And a basket ON THE PORCH! Good idea.

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Suzanne in ID
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Betsy
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Posted: July 20 2007 at 4:30pm \| IP Logged

+JMJ+

I have seen a Potery Barn mag. that had small glass jars with groups of "like" things labled. This looks so...well...potery barnish!

Also, I am a big fan of taking pictures and making lap books and pitching. I have lived in 3 states in past 4 years and just haven't been able to keep this kind of stuff.

However, keep the ideas flowing..because my time is comming!

Betsy

P.S. Theresa this might be a silly question...but how do you keep the bugs. Do you preserve them in any way after their death?

lapazfarm
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Posted: July 20 2007 at 4:58pm \| IP Logged

Betsy wrote:

Theresa this might be a silly question...but how do you keep the bugs. Do you preserve them in any way after their death?

Not a silly question at all. We preserve them by filling the little jars with denatured alcohol (find it in the paint supply section of hardware stores).

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Theresa
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missionfamily
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Posted: July 21 2007 at 6:38pm \| IP Logged

Also at Pottery Barn are little round containers like the wachmaker's ones that are magnetic on the back and stainless steel magnet boards. It could make an attractive way to display nature finds although it is quite pricey as it is PB....I'm thiking I could buy the watchmakers cases and adhere magnets to the back...we have an old window here that I painted the glass over with magnetic chalkboard paint and use a memo board, perhaps it could become a display board with each pane being for different kinds of items...if it works out I will take a picture...now my juices are flowing, gotta go start a project!

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Colleen
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missionfamily
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Posted: July 21 2007 at 6:45pm \| IP Logged

Just went to order those watchmaker's cases and found these vialsthere. What great prices for attractive, organized storage!

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Colleen
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happymama
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Posted: July 22 2007 at 3:23pm \| IP Logged

okay, maybe a dumb question, but i know other moms who bring in bird's nests, or at least let the kids handle them outside. my dh thinks that's a bad idea, he thinks of them as crawling with germs. comments?

lapazfarm
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Posted: July 22 2007 at 3:27pm \| IP Logged

If it concerns you, you could always bring along a bottle of hand sanitizer on nature hikes. I don't, but we do wash our hands when we come in. You could also spray the nest with disinfectant (like Lysol spray) before bringing it inside.

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Theresa
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Kelly
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Posted: July 23 2007 at 11:19pm \| IP Logged

It's not really a way to store collections, but a huge organizational boon for me was discovering the utility of The Polaroid Camera (or a digital camera and a way to develop the pictures at home). I take lots of pictures of "finds" and we often use these pics in our lap books or science books or even our individual scrap files (as opposed to completed scrap books!). Having a nice picutre in hand makes disposal of those big items a whole lot easier. My cameras-both Polaroid and digital-are two of my most valuable tools in homeschooling!

Kelly in FL

Jennifer
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Posted: July 24 2007 at 1:48pm \| IP Logged

Our kitchen windowsill is always filled with found nature items - rocks, birds nests, puff balls, dead insects, butterfly wings, feathers, small vases with wild flowers etc. Once the sill is so full that we can't fit one more thing up there, we choose a few items to keep and return the rest to the woods. One great thing about kids who enjoy nature is there will always be an abundance of found items and they realize that what's on the sill really tells a story about the time of year and our family.

Camp Homeschool

Erica Sanchez
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Posted: Aug 02 2007 at 6:57pm \| IP Logged

I just recently declared the medium-sized shelf on our back patio as our 'nature shelf'. We just pulled together whatever baskets, wooden boxes, and jars we had to store our treasures. I love it! I try to encourage the kids to take just a few things instead of pockets full and that has helped with the number of items actually brought home. For instance, my 6 year old had collected many shells she wanted to bring home and I asked her to just keep a few. I really like those watch maker cases, Suzanne, and so reasonably priced, too.

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Have a beautiful and fun day!
Erica in San Diego
(dh)Cash, Emily, Grace, Nicholas, Isabella, Annie, Luke, Max, Peter, 2 little souls ++, and sweet Rose who is legally ours!

SuzanneG
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Posted: Aug 03 2007 at 12:09am \| IP Logged

Thanks for the ideas everyone!

Erica, you have just given me a weekend project! I'm going to set up a shelf on our porch. I have lots of bins, etc. yea! I have chairs there now.....but who in the world has time to sit in chairs these days?

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Suzanne in ID
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TracyQ
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Posted: Aug 16 2007 at 8:48pm \| IP Logged

My Grandpa was a printer and had printer's boxes like that! He worked for our newspaper. My dad was a printer at the same paper. My brother (and his wife) is now a printer too!

I bought an old printer's box just like that years ago to remind me of the heritage of the printers we have in our family!

Neat idea to put nature in them!!!

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Tracy Q.
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homeschooling in 15th year in Buffalo, NY

MaryM
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Posted: Sept 08 2007 at 12:36am \| IP Logged

I've just been catching up with some recent Family Fun magazines from the library (since I don't have a current subscription). Anyway, I saw a really cute idea for "nature finds." It's a child-painted terra cotta flower pot that is kept out on the porch. When returning from a nature walk the children can place special treasures in the pot. I wish there was a picture on the website to link to - it's really cute and would keep a lot outside.

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Mary M. in Denver

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