Nearly everybody has a back yard. If you haven't, you probably know where there is a vacant lot. Or you may go to a park or a school playground. Wherever you go outdoors, that's the place to begin your exploring.An explorer looks carefully at everything around him. ...A good explorer uses scientific methods. ...
From page 9 of the crappy old book, Science in Your Own Back Yard-- a Weekly Reader Children's Book Club book-- by Elizabeth K. Cooper copyright 1958 published by Harcourt, Brace and Company.
This book's first two chapters encourage us to "Explore the Yard on Your Stomach" and on our backs. When we've finished our initial explorations we'll set up our back-yard laboratory. (More on this below the fold.) After we've located it properly (and asked our parents if it's okay), we'll provision it with old spoons, a garden trowel, some single edged razor blades, a kitchen knife, wire, string, notebook, and so on (but no power tools [see footnote 1]). And then we will commence exploring
- Soil & rock
- Fossils
- Water
- Grass
- Flowers
- Plant from Seeds
- Plants from Spores [See footnote 2]
