Hello to one and all, welcome back to the best nature program of all! Find your warmest winter boots, pull on your favorite hat and tag along for a wintry day in the lives of your Knee High Naturalists.
A beautiful blanket of fluffy, sparkling snow welcomed us to class this morning! We eagerly waddled back to our morning spot, excited to explore the snow paint and search for fresh tracks. We went over rules for eating snow and how to identify the cleanest snow before digging in! We snow painted with lime green and dark blue until we could defrost all of our other colors in the pavilion, excited to let our creative sides out. We rolled in the snow, made snow butterflies (snow angels) and spooked a cotton tail rabbit who went running. We seized the opportunity to follow the rabbit and find him using his tracks! He went too far into the woods for us to follow, so we scouted for other sets of tracks we could investigate. It didn’t take long before we found more rabbit tracks and followed those, too, until we realized they went into the same spot in the woods. Where are these bunnies going? Before long, we decided it was time to get class started to make sure we had lots of time for snow play. We sang our Good Morning song together and took turns pulling the wagon through the snow.
In the pavilion, we quickly pulled off our hats, mittens and some of us took off our jackets, too warm under the heaters! We washed our hands, quickly dried them and settled in for snack and books about animals in the winter. We read A Bed for Winter by Karen Wallace and followed along as a little dormouse tried to find a home for winter. We learned about how different animals like frogs, snakes, wasps, bunnies and bears prepare for winter—we decided we would not like to live in trees, the ground or under rocks all winter! After snack, some of us colored while others took advantage of the newly melted snow paint and the snowy rocks. Some of us rolled snow balls, some of us made a rainbow with Ms. Jenn and some just searched for fresh snow to eat. It was magical to play as the snow fell down in big flakes all around us!
When talking about the weather for the day, we said it was very snowy and felt like winter, even though it’s still fall. When asked if we thought it was cold or freezing, most of us said it felt freezing outside! We talked about the different forms of water from clouds and the water we drink to the snow falling around us and ice. We knew that snow was really just water because it melts in our mouth when we eat it! We also learned that freezing is what happens when it gets so cold that our water turns into ice. After we wrangled up any misplaced hats and mittens, we picked out our sleds and headed to the hill!
Once we made it to the playscape, we lined up on the sledding hill and learned about our rules and how to stay safe. We took turns and made sure our friends were up and out of the way before sledding down! We walked back up a different side of the hill to make sure we stayed safe and learned that we have special rolling spots, too. Some of us rode with friends, some of us rode on our own and some of us even helped push others down the hill! We learned how to turn the sleds as we went down the hill and became sledding professionals. Some of us became snow spiders and scrambled up the spider web, shaking snow down as we climbed. We shared snow paint, worked on art together and others began to build little walls and hills in the snow, too. As the sun came out, we began to get very warm and took breaks to lay in the snow and cool down before our next run! All too soon, it was time for us to head home, so we gathered all of our gear and made our way back.
Thank you all for a wonderful, wintry day in the lives of your Knee High Naturalists! We hope you can get outside and enjoy the snow before it melts and we look forward to seeing you next week when we learn all about Terrific Turkeys!
