mushroom hunting & making...

...it seems there are mushrooms of all shades and colors popping up around our home. the walks we take most evenings have become mushroom hunts of late - ben carrying his mushroom eliminating stick with him in search of the next mushroom. and when one is found, he exclaims in joy that he's found it, we look at the color, and then he proceeds to knock it over with the stick. again. and again. and again...

a few we've found (prior to elimination)















of course i thought about getting books on mushrooms out of the library. children's books. our library didn't have much, other than the field guide to north american mushrooms. not exactly what i was looking for for a 2 1/2 year-old boy. ah, well... we made due with that, and got to work on our own mushroom project.

using an empty cardboard egg carton, ben painted his mushroom caps. after they dryed, i cut them apart, and we glued a stick to act as the stem on each one. i found this idea on a search for mushroom craft ideas, but i can't remember where i found it. then we went to plant them in the yard.





















while it seems not many others would know right away what these are, ben has loved going out and checking on his mushrooms. and surprisingly, they're still in tact. unlike the rest of the mushrooms in our neighborhood. (i'm starting to think little boys, at least a good number of them, are hard-wired to hit things with sticks. it's definately not a learned behavior, so that's my only explination)