There's a Spider Running Up My Leg!

Observing Nature...Up Close and Personal

I am very fond of watching the natural world around me. As a general rule, this involves trying to find "them". I do not always welcome surprises....like what happened Saturday morning. Walking to my car, I ran face-first into a spider web. Not one of my favorite activities but it does happen. I have managed to convince myself that spiders are very clever and jump off onto something other than me when I crash into a web.

Holding that thought I went on my way. However, as I was riding in the car (as a passenger) I saw a spider running up my leg. By instinct I brushed it off, but it was still in the car. When we arrived at our location I saw it again and was able to brush it outside. I suspect to our mutual relief. I did notice it had an unusual pattern but was off on my errand and didn't look carefully. Of course when I got back to the car, it was long gone. In a quirk of fate, that afternoon as I was working in the yard, I saw another spider exactly like the one in the car. Eureka, it did have a very unique pattern, one I knew would make it easy to identify. A search for a spider with a yellow triangle on it's abdomen brought instant results. 

Photo Credit: James Pryor

Arrowhead spider, or Verrucosa arenata is a species of orb-weaver spider (family Araneidae). It is widely distributed in the Western Hemisphere.  Arrowhead spiders create a new web every day, removing the old one after sunrise. A word to the wise as I traverse that path to my car in the future. Isn't it beautiful!

Free Resources for Teachers and Parents: NAAEE

I don't remember how I found the North American Association for Environmental Education website.  However, I realized immediately that it was a fabulous resource. 

Image from the NAAEE website

NAAEE has members in more than 30 countries with more than 16,000 members. Members are professionals with a focus on environmental education across business, government, higher education, formal (K–12) education, non-formal education, early childhood education, science education and STEM, and other sectors of society.

I am pleased that Anim8Nature's workshops and animated documentaries are now listed in NAAEE's collection of resources. We want as many environmental educators, classroom teachers and parents to take advantage of our animated documentaries as possible. They are accessible in any language.

We are working on making our workshop resource available via the web as well. Currently we are based in the Mid-Atlantic of the USA. 

Kids Observe and Anim8Nature

Anim8Nature Workshop at Claytor Nature Study Center

Milkweed at Claytor

Last week I had the great pleasure of working with students during a summer camp session at Claytor Nature Center of the University of Lynchburg, located in Bedford, Virginia. It was a fabulous opportunity to combine direct experience in nature with an exploration of natural phenomena using art and animation.

Getting Acquainted

I met with the students in a classroom at Claytor to introduce myself and give them an overview of our process. I talk a little bit about my work and learn their names, ages and where they go to school or if they are home schooled. 

We started with an introduction to the concept of exploring nature with art. I showed them this animation I had recently completed. Kids love cicadas and were instantly engaged with the idea of animation as a way of looking at natural phenomena.

Anim8Nature Life Cycle: 17-Year Cicada