Explore and Learn About Lakes and Ponds

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While spring is the ideal time to really dig deep and learn about lakes and ponds, it can still be done as fall approaches. We have a pond in our front yard that brings an abundance of wildlife as well as beautiful dragonflies, birds, turtles and so much more!

All these beautiful creatures are still visiting daily. However, it is almost time for the frogs to start hibernating. They seemed to have woken up early this year, and they are starting to quiet down a tad since September has approached.

Throughout the week, we spent several hours at both the lake and the pond and had wonderful encounters. With each new discovery, we snapped a picture if possible. When we weren’t able to get a picture, he would draw it in his outdoor natural journal.  You can download your free nature journal here.

Around the pond and lake, the discovered a variety of fish, dragonflies, frogs, freshwater mussels and water spiders.  We then came home and studied them individually.

How do we view the underwater creatures?

Easy. Before heading out, we always grab our Educational Insights GeoSafari® Jr. Subscope™. 

This little thing is absolutely amazing! With it’s 2x magnification we have used it to view frogs, tadpoles, fish and underwater plants. Surprisingly it works really great in murky pond and lake water because of the cool lights you can turn on.

Since little ones love using their hands to explore the world around them, they can easily place the GeoSafari® Jr. Subscope™ in the water without worries since it floats! I will say that it works best in calm water such as a lake, river or pond. It just makes it easier to steady for the little ones to use it.

Educational Insights GeoSafari Jr. SubScopeEducational Insights GeoSafari Jr. BugnocularsEducational Insights GeoSafari Underwater Explorer Boat

After we learned the types of animals that lived inside the pond and lake. It was time to observe and learn about the animals that would frequent those area in search of food and water. We observed: deer, a hawk, blue heron, geese and ducks.

After a rain this week, we headed down to the lake. On this particular day the kids observed different animals tracks. This gave them an idea of the types of animals that visit the lake. We printed off these animal track ID cards.

Pond Eco-System Video

Additional FREE Learning Resources:

Freshwater Marshwater Printout
Front Life Cycle Notebook
Tadpoles to Frogs
Dragonfly Lapbook
Free Printable Frog Life Cycle Fold Up Book

Pond Theme Snacks

Frog in a Pond
Sticky Tongue Frog Craft
Dragonfly Snack

Recommended books we used to go along with our study: