Exploring Caves and Cave Art with Poppins Book Nook

Have you been keeping up with our monthly Poppins Book Nook Book Club themes? If so, you know that this month's focus was {ThE GrEaT OuTdOoRs}! This subject is so big that at first I was lost as to what direction I wanted to go...but after a trip to the library that happened after a great field trip at the beginning of the month we hit on a great book and activity for our theme!

A Field Trip

At the beginning of the month, we visited Carter Caves State Resort Park in Olive Hill, KY which is about 45 minutes from our house. We went as a big family field trip taking along aunts and uncles and grandparents. It was a simply delightful trip and we enjoyed touring one of the large underground caves as well as Natural Bridge. Here are some photos from our trip:

Little Britches

underneath Natural Bridge

Under Natural Bridge

Inside Cascade Cave

Under Natural Bridge

Baby Britches and I maneuvering the steps inside Cascade Cave

A group shot where we waded up into the mouth of a cave...ice cold water. Brrr!

A cave opening

Everyone went wading to cool off

Baby Britches, Me, My parents, Little Britches, and an Uncle and Two Aunts

The mouth of Natural Bridge

It was so beautiful there and I hadn't been in the caves in about 12 years. My sons had never been inside of a cave and they enjoyed it immensely. It was a lovely day with lovely company. We enjoyed an outdoor picnic when we were done too. A great way to enjoy the outdoors!

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A Good Book

It was thanks to this field trip that I was able to narrow down our book decision for the month!

The Secret Cave: Discovering Lascaux
by Emily Arnold McCully

The Secret Cave: Discovering Lascaux is based on the true story of the boys who discovered the the cave of Lascaux with it's treasure trove of cave paintings and engravings--in nearly perfect condition due to to it being sealed. This fictionalized account follows the boys in 1940 France as they go from hunting for buried treasure to making a find greater than they could have ever imagined.

The illustrations of the book are beautifully done--and the highlight and focus is the replication of the ancient cave paintings that were found. Because these paintings played such a big part of the book, I decided it was only fitting to to a cave painting activity of our own.

Pre-Historic Art

Cave Painting Activity

Supplies:

Brown wrapping paper (Kraft paper)

Paint: Red, Orange, Black, White

Objects from nature to paint with: sticks, rocks, flowers, leaves

I laid the book in front of Little Britches and we spoke about the basic colors we saw. We also talked about outlines and how the people would have used things from nature to paint (and their hands). I had him go outside and find things he thought would work well. He grabbed a rock and a long piece of mulch.

I let him just be inspired and he had fun trying to figure out how to work with his painting and supplies. He mixed colors and really did well.

A deer, a man, a saber tooth tiger and a wolf

Thank you so much for checking out our Great Outdoors adventures with this month's Poppins Book Nook! Make sure you check out some of my fellow co-hosts posts for the month!

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom ~ 3 Dinosaurs ~ To the Moon and Back ~ Planet Smarty Pants ~ Farm Fresh Adventures ~ Growing in God's Grace ~ Chestnut Grove Academy ~ Learning and Growing the Piwi Way ~ The Usual Mayhem~ Preschool Powol Packets ~ Monsters Ed Homeschool Academy ~ Adventures in Mommydom ~ Teach Beside Me ~ Life with Moore Babies ~ Kathy's Cluttered Mind ~ Are We There Yet? ~ Our Crafts N Things ~ Hopkins Homeschool ~ ABC Creative Learning ~ Joy Focused Learning ~ P is for Preschooler ~ Laugh and Learn ~ A Mommy's Adventures ~ Inspiring 2 New Hampshire Children ~ World for Learning ~ Ever After in the Woods ~ Golden Grasses ~ A glimpse of our life ~ Journey to Excellence ~ Happy Little Homemaker ~ Little Homeschool Blessings ~ Raventhreads ~ Tots and Me ~ As We Walk Along The Road ~ Stir the Wonder ~ For This Season ~ Where Imagination Grows ~ Lextin Academy ~ The Canadian Homeschooler ~ School Time Snippets ~ Peakle Pie ~ A Moment in our World ~ Every Bed of Roses ~ Finchnwren ~ At Home Where Life Happens ~ The Library Adventure ~ Embracing Destiny ~ Day by Day in our World ~ Our Homeschool Studio ~ A "Peace" of Mind ~ Thou Shall Not Whine ~ SAHM I am ~ eLeMeNo-P Kids ~ Simple Living Mama

Here are the themes for the rest of the year so that you can join us in our book adventures!

Poppins Book Nook Great Outdoors Bundle Giveaway! 

Every month the Poppins Book Nook group will be offering readers a chance to win a brand new storybook or product that ties in with our theme for the month. This month one lucky entrant will win a copy of the classic storybook Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping as no one brings that certain flair and fun to the great outdoors like Amelia Bedelia. The winner will also win an Uncle Milton Nat Geo Starry Night Lantern so whether you live in the countryside or in the city your child can experience some of the great outdoors while reading your storybook.

Entrants must be 18 years or older and reside in a country that receives U.S. Postal mail. This giveaway is brought to you by the company Enchanted Homeschooling Mom who is owner and founder of the Poppins Book Nook. By entering this giveaway you are also acknowledging that you have read and agree to all of the Rafflecopter terms & conditions as well as Enchanted Homeschooling Mom's disclosures found here {http://enchantedhomeschoolingmom.org/disclosures/}.  Just enter the Rafflecopter below to win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Make sure you link up any posts YOU'VE done with an outdoor theme--whether book lists, unit studies or book reviews!

An InLinkz Link-up