REYNOLDS] OUT-OF-DOORS IN-DOORS 231 



possibility of taking it home to show mother adds to the attractive- 

 ness of this form of record. Sometimes a poster emphasizes some 

 special phase of the harvest study. "A Thanksgiving Dinner from 

 a Mankato Garden" was the subject of a chart made by mounting 

 pictures cut from advertisements. "Down in Grandfather's 

 Cellar" was an interesting poster made in freehand, cutting in a 

 first grade. The cuttings were colored with crayon. Baskets of 

 fruits and vegetables and "Store windows just before Thanks- 

 giving" strengthen the growing realization of the working together 

 of Man and Nature to supply our needs. "Drawing" by Fred 

 Daniels will give much help with this work. 



Here again the primitive life study leads to questions as to our 

 natural food supplies. What wild food could the Indians find 

 near Mankato, brings the wild grapes, the thornapples, the wild 

 berries and hickory nuts to our mind, with another association 

 formed. "What would the Cave women have found near here for 

 baskets? Make a basket out of something you find out of doors." 

 This suggestion brings a fantastic addition to "Our Cabinet" of 

 baskets made by fingers skilled or clumsy, baskets made of cat-tail 

 leaves, burrs, twigs of the wild grape vine, gourds, even of leaves 

 cleverly pinned together. Nature-Study? Yes, for the quest of 

 materials means out of doors searching. 



A visit to Highland park, a bit of fenced in hill-top behind our 

 building has suggested the squirrels preparation for winter and 

 thus another line of work opens. "Who besides the squirrel pre- 

 pares for winter?" "Ants do" is the answer from some small 

 reader of "The Ants and the Grass Hopper" ; so the animal prepara- 

 tion for winter may be the next subject for a lesson. One of our 

 favorite projects is a booklet showing the way in which people, 

 animals and plants provide for our long northern season of cold and 

 snow. 



The spring time with the return of the birds seems the natural 

 time for their study, but the Audubon Bird Club will need to meet 

 to compare notes as to summer experiences and the Bird chart must 

 come out so that John may show Jack the yellow-headed blackbird 

 he saw at Lake Fairmont last July. We like to look at our Spring 

 Calendars of the Bird Arrivals also and see how many of them still 

 linger. We note the gathering of great flocks of blackbirds. Last 

 fall, we each contributed our penny towards a feeding trough for the 

 use of the birds in winter. 



