Mycology - Mushrooms!

The magic of mushrooms has touched us at Syrendell this year. Mycology is utterly fascinating...are they plants, animals, neither? So many varieties, colors, shapes....fabulous fungi.

Our own backyard is filled with different mushrooms throughout the year. This week, we noticed that with the warmer, drier weather, the mushrooms are beginning to curl up and disappear.

We dissected a mushroom, observed a curled-up-dried mushroom, made a mushroom spore print, did a mushroom form drawing, read books on mycology, and did block crayon drawings. Two of our cousins came over and joined us in creating beautiful, crayoned fungi! We also read an adorable book that features a sprite who lives under a mushroom is Naming Renick by Mamaroots (which you can purchase in her Etsy shop).

Mushrooms!

Our backyard is filled with lovely mushrooms. As the seasons change, so do the colors and shapes of our fungi friends! We have found mushrooms that are white, orange, brown, green/white, tan, purple and black. The plant kingdom never ceases to amaze us with it's diversity and beauty....

On our way to art lessons earlier this month, we saw a tree stump with the most beautiful fungus growing from it.




Joey found an interesting piece of wood that came from an old planter. Taking the tops of mushrooms that had already fallen and some acorn caps, she made a fairy home, complete with a bedroom below and a dining area on top!

We collected the tops from a bunch of larger, deep orange/purple mushrooms that had ruffle edges that were starting to decompose. Adding some organic coffee grounds, copper granules and water, we boiled up a batch of natural dye. A lovely color resulted on the play silks that we left in the pot for a couple of days. Truly, magical mushrooms!