What is your favourite season? Why? With a show of hands, most of our forest friends are looking forward to summer. Well, spring is the time of new beginnings and joy. We were thankful for bike rides, new birds and the warmth of the sun in spring. Does spring have interesting smells? Remember the smell of the moss? What does spring feel like?
Spring is.....running into UTRCA staff at the dam. They told us they were putting in log stops. What does a stop log do? What will happen to the water level in the pond? How will we know it has risen?
Everyone went on the Spring Returns Tour visiting seven different special spots. Forest friends became guides and shared their interesting finds with the whole group. What kind of new life or growth did you find or see on the tour? Did you see something in your special spot that was also part of another group's tour? Mosses, snail shells, tiny trees, small leaves, buds and a caterpillar are a few of the many signs of spring we saw today.
Are you paying attention to the new birds coming back to Ontario from their winter homes? These birds are a sign of spring and before too long there will be so many birds that it will be hard to keep track. What can you look for to identify one bird from another? Thanks to Hummingbird for bringing in a chickadee found by her parents. Everyone got a really close look at it. Colour and special markings are two things to look for. What are the three main colours of a chickadee? Any special markings? The size of the bird is another important thing to remember. Is a chickadee larger or smaller than a robin? Paying attention to these features and even the bird's song will help us in identifying the birds coming back this spring.
Cuddling up to read on a cool, damp day just feels great. Sharing books that are at a ‘just right’ level for both reader and listener builds confidence. Grey Squirrel has the BEST selection of books in the library. She also has GREAT ideas for connecting art projects to what is happening in the world. Ask about the solar eclipse paint/draw and see if your child can explain what makes a solar eclipse happen. We think it's pretty awesome that Wolf’s birthday is the same day as the eclipse.
Easter is over but we still love hunts and chocolate so…..
Sights and Wonders
See if you can get some stories about...
We love this beautiful community filled with talented and caring people. Today, Betty and Tim (Mr. and Mrs. Miller) came out once again, but this time they brought yarn, spools and an interesting project. Our Saplings got a chance to learn spool knitting, which they can pick up each week and continue to create. Ask about their impressions. Was it difficult, did practice time help improve their skill? Many children today are losing fine motor coordination and attention for this types of tasks, so this is one of our ways to get kids back in touch with hand-made crafts. Next week our Seedlings will have a similar project.
Rocks are so much a part of childhood memories. Ask about the many ways rocks and stones are used for play and reflection. Our Seedlings created a memory stone which will be used at nature school to connect with parts of our natural world here. They did an amazing job adding favourite memories around the pond to their stone.
We closed our day with gratitude, to our visitors and new mentors. Thank you to Tim & Betty for all the preparation, getting and making spools, finding yarn, and doing some practice runs at home. We are so happy to have a new face with us, Raven, who is studying to become a teacher. She brings her background in Animal Biology, artist talent, and a whole bunch of enthusiasm for children. Heron joined in the fun today, and of course showed off her speed in the Mayhem ball game. Willow was with us this afternoon, and we find that amongst her many teacher skills she also enjoys weaving, so was an ace in the hole for the Saplings. Tamarack will be back with us next week (thanks goodness). Dragonfly and Coyote think Spring season might just eclipse all the others with new things that keep the wonder growing. Happy Eclipse Day Forest Friends:)
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