Creativity and caring was our theme with dandelions and writing woven together into our day. Hope you special mom's will enjoy the dandy lines written from the heart.
Happy Mom's Day this weekend.
A baby pigeon is called a Squab….what silly endings did we add on to make this sound even funnier? (Squabert, Squaby...) Our pigeon couple with another third wheel, have new squabs to care for. Pigeons may be an interesting topic for further research as they are permanent residents on the farm. This brown one has recently arrived. Maybe lost a mate?
Poetry is just meant to be written and read in spring. We read from a poetry book devoted to birds. See if your child can recite this one at home with a voice that makes YOU feel HUNTED!
The Hawk
I stare
I glare
I gaze
I gawk
With keen
Mean eyes
I am the Hawk
All day I pray.
For prey to view.
Be thankful if
I don’t
see
YOU!
We spent time caring for the horses today. Which pony did your child groom? Ask about saddle cleaning teamwork and the steps to clean a saddle. We had a few who were really focused on those hard to reach spots and making the leather shine!
Dandelion is one of our early bloomers. Why are they important and for whom? (honey bees, butterflies). See if you can find out more about these plants; when they open/close, are they one flower or many, what is inside their stalk and why. See if they can describe the sun, moon, stars life cycle of our friend dandelion. Taking a really up close view with mini-microscopes gives us a whole new appreciation of the detail. How can you describe what you saw? Falcon thinks the dandelion button looks like a dinosaur egg. I think it resembles a cluster of frog eggs.
Amazing thing...dandelions are totally eatable. Your child is bringing home some dandelion greens to add to a salad tonight. Just rinse in cold water, spin and eat. They are super charged with vitamins! Some may have chives to add on top. Thanks for bringing these oniony delights Daisy.
Looking around at all the interesting ways to explore at Pine Haven it did not surprise me that there was an owl in the tree being quiet yet keeping an eye on things.
There were gatherings under the cedar trees and catching minnows by the creek. It was quite a good day for catching fish as there were a dozen caught and a dozen released back into the creek. It was good to see both the excitement and care among the forest friends as they were wandering today.
On a sunny day, you will see shadows. Ask your child how a shadow is made? We used shadows today as a part of an art project. If you place your paper in the right location the shadows of things like dandelions, leaves and branches, will be cast down on the paper. A pencil is used to trace the shadows on the paper then paint the traced shadows using watercolour paints. What did your child think of painting with watercolours? There is a special day this weekend for half of the parents and they might find themselves receiving something homemade.
At the end of the day the kids just DISAPPEARED! I thought Dragonfly had lost the whole group, but they were just playing camouflage and have become experts at finding those hidden spots to hunker down. Sometimes the best spot is REALLY close!
Or far away with friends nearby...
It was a very happy closing circle with some treasures found right until the very end. Chickadee spied robin egg shells. Blue Jay, lilac flowers that just had to be sniffed. The Purple Sand Cherry is in full bloom and we hope twigs taken home last week have filled out too. Please share any photos of these that you can. Acorns' Sycamore twig is fully leafed out! We still have the Redwing Blackbird nest to see next time, right between the hotdogs!
Happiness is discovering new things happening .....Appreciation is knowing how and why they are happening. Be ready to go where the wind blows you, more discoveries await!
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