Rain Pictures
Paint some shapes
or blocks of color with water soluble paints (such as
water color or
poster paints) or markers. Place the picture outdoors
when it's raining
for a brief spell. The patterns made by the drops can
be very interesting.
How long can you keep the painting in the rain
before it washes
away? Compare the results of drizzle, gentle rain,
and a full-fledged
downpour.
Make a Rain Gauge
The best container
for collecting rain is a wide-mouthed one. Place a
wide funnel inside
it, because it will keep some of the rainwater from
evaporating before
you get a chance to record its depth. But
measuring a small
amount of rain in such a large container is difficult.
In addition to
the container you have sitting outside collecting rain, you
will need a tall
jar that is only 1" to 1 1/2 " in diameter (olives come in
jars like these).
Fill your collecting container with exactly 1" of water.
Pour the water
into the tall jar and mark the level of the water. Divide
that inch (and
any others you wish to mark on the jar) into fractions.
Whenever it rains,
collect the rainwater in the bigger container, but
transfer it to
the measuring jar to see how much rain really fell.
Construct a Wormery
Fill a large, wide
mouthed glass jar (or cut the top off of a 2 liter bottle)
with layers of
garden soil, peat, and builders' sand. Water thoroughly,
and add some worms
that you have dug from the ground. Scatter the
worms on the soil's
surface and cover them with some dead leaves or
grass clippings.
Cover the jar with a light-proof cloth or paper bag,,
and place in a
cool place. (Do not screw the jar's top back on; the
worms cannot get
out, and they need the oxygen.) Check the worms
now and then, watering
the soil occasionally, and watch how the layers
shift as the worms
tunnel through the soil. Look for mounds of rippled
soil on the surface.
These are casts, made when earthworms eat the
soil and eliminate
it. When you are done watching the worms, return
them and the soil
to the garden. There they can continue working
organic material
into the soil--which has earned them the nickname
"gardener' best
friend."