Eggs, Pickled Eggs, Geode Eggs, Birds' Eggs and Egg Nests-- we were all about eggs this month in our The Golden Egg Nature Book Club. We read The Golden Egg Book and discovered fascinating things about eggs.

Eggs, Pickled Eggs, Geode Eggs, Birds' Eggs and Egg Nests-- we were all about eggs this month in our The Golden Egg Nature Book Club. #thenaturebookclub #bookclub #naturestudy #ihsnet
The Golden Egg Nature Book Club Discussion
This month our book club was on the book, The Golden Egg Book by Margaret Wise Brown. This sweet children's book is about a bunny who finds an egg. He imagines what might be in the egg and spends the day playing with his new egg. When the bunny takes a nap, the egg hatches and the new animal has fun with his very asleep new friend.
The Golden Egg Nature Book Club Nature Walk
We decided to go on a nature walk and see if we could find an egg like the bunny did in the book. But, alas, it was still too cool for the birds to have migrated and begin nesting. However, we did find some really cool trees and an old mockingbird nest from last season with a feather.


The Golden Egg Nature Book Club Experiments
This book gave us a great opportunity to talk about eggs. We decided to come at it from two different angles - the science of eggs and the nature study of eggs. So, for the vegans readers, this part may not be your cup of tea.
We started with learning about eggs. We found a great site, The American Egg Board, for experiments, lesson plans, games, and more. We started by learning about the parts of the egg, how eggs make it from the farm to the table, and we wrote stories about our egg on the farm.


Next, we performed some egg experiments. We put two eggs in vinegar to see what happened. In just a few minutes we began to see bubbles on the surface of the eggs. The next day, the egg shells had begun to dissolve and the eggs had nearly doubled in size.


The eggshells are composed of Calcium Carbonate. This reacts with the acid in the vinegar to release carbon dioxide - the bubbles. It also causes the eggshells to dissolve. After several hours the eggs become soft and rubbery. The kids had fun bouncing them like rubber balls. Just watch the video below.
We also made egg geodes. I got the idea from Martha Stewart, but modified it to fit our homeschool. We made up solutions of Kosher Salt, Sea Salt and Borax in approximately 4 parts water to 1 part solute. The kids chose different colors of food coloring to represent each solution. Then we poured the solutions into empty egg shells.


The next day we discovered that the solution had permeated the shell by osmosis. The Kosher salt mixture had the best results with some really cool crystals forming on the outside of the egg. We even got some close up shots of the salt crystals with my macro lens.


The Golden Egg Nature Book Club Snacks
I know it seems a little wrong to read a book about hatching eggs and then eat eggs, but eggs are nutritious and pack full of protein. So, before we jumped into eating the egg, we learned a bit about the nutrition of eggs. The Egg Nutrition Center is a great resource for egg facts.
Because eggs are so nutritional, we made some scrambled eggs and omelets.
The Golden Egg Nature Book Club Art Activities
We love mixing art in with our nature study. Often we are found sketching at the park. So, it was natural for us to add a chalk pastel painting to our nature club. Nana at Chalk Pastel Tutorials has a fantastic tutorial for painting bird's nest. We each used different colors and came up with our own version of the bird's nest. You can find this tutorial in the Spring Chalk Pastels course.


The Golden Egg Online Book Club
We carried our fun with The Golden Egg further and created an online book club with more rabbit trails of rabbits, eggs, ducks and more. We added a few more fun activities and then ideas for a party school with the kids (and maybe even some friends).
Get a sneak peek at The Golden Egg Book Online Nature Book Club below.
Book List
Adding adventure to the picture book The Golden Egg Book
Now for the awesome Link-Up Party!

This Month's Nature Book Club theme:
Eggs

The Nature Book Club is brought to you by these 9 nature loving bloggers and myself who are your co-hosts! Are you following them? If you don’t want to miss anything, be sure to follow each one.
Here are the co-hosts, their choices of books, and activities for the month:
Table Life Blog - An Egg Is Quiet - Clay Eggs Project
Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus - Our Sea Turtles - From Egg to Sea Turtle Unit Study & Lapbook
Eva Varga - Skates & Rays - A Mermaid's Purse: A Surprise Discovery Within
Freshly Planted - An Egg is Quiet - Egg Indification Nature Bingo {Free Printable}
Eva Varga - Citizen Science - Nest Watch
Hi, I’m Dachelle. I’m a homeschooling mom of 3 in the South. I love chocolate and have been known to hide it from my children. I can often be found reading a good book (or even sometimes just an okay book) and enjoying a jar of Nutella — don’t judge. I blog, here, at HideTheChocolate.com when I’m not creating book clubs and making lists…lots and lots of lists (it’s an addiction). Learn more…
Looks like a lot of fun activities.
What a neat post! I love that you’re passionate about connecting the nature in books with real nature. What a fun activity for kids.
Aww, thanks, Laura. Books are our passion and we’re really loving adding them to our nature study.
A classic book we have on our shelf! Love the art project too.
Aww, thanks! We love ChalkPastel.com!
That sounds like a great book and I love all the activities you planned to go with it. We have never made egg geodes but I bet my boys would love them. Thanks for sharing with us at Love to Learn. Pinned.
Thanks, Joanne!
Sounds like so much fun. Thanks for sharing this valuable resource on the #LMMLinkup this week.