Hello to one and all, welcome back to the best nature program of all! Pack your favorite snacks, pull on your coziest socks and join us for a day in the lives of your Knee High Naturalists.
Warmer temperatures and big, fluffy snowflakes welcomed us to class this morning! We wasted no time in shedding our backpacks as we got our fishing poles set up and favorite snow paints in hand. It seems like the pike were really biting this morning, we had three friends who couldn’t seem to keep them off their lines! Another friend was investigating fresh snow fall and uncovered huge chunks of snow that became snow sculptures. We eagerly painted this biggest snow sculpture before carrying it around and discovering that it weighed almost as much as some of our friends! Changing our initial plans, two friends decided it might be more fun to let it drop and see what happened. Upon it breaking into smaller pieces, one friend found the perfect size and deemed it their new snow baby! We got the snow baby a hat and it tagged along with us until snack time, aren’t our imaginations so cool? We cleaned up our fishing supplies, put our snow paint away and jumped into a lovely rendition of our Good Morning Song before discussing our day and making our way to the pavilion.
It took a little extra muscle and team work to get our wagon to the pavilion with fresh snow fall today, but if there’s a will, there’s a way! We had to stop and investigate our ice sun catchers before making our way into the pavilion, so excited to see our edible works of art ready to take home. We made quick work of washing our hands before settling in below the heaters for snack time. Today, everyone opened at least one thing on their own! As we ate, we learned about the subnivean zone looking at a 3D model. We learned that many small animals like mice, moles, voles and shrews create tunnels above the grass, but below the snow to spend their winters safe and warm! We learned that the temperature stays around 32 degree Fahrenheit (warmer than it was today) and can get even warmer on sunny days, much like igloos. These critters have elaborate tunnel systems leading to different chambers/rooms and food sources, like old grass seeds and flowers. Just like our homes, there are bathrooms, pantries for storing food, “kitchens” for eating food, bedrooms that are nice and cozy and tunnels to “grocery stores” (last year’s plants). We had no idea so many critters called the snow home!
We read two books today, one about animals that live in the arctic and one about the different ways people can enjoy winter. We really like books with animals that we can learn from and talk about! After reading, some of us went to play on the rocks, making snow slides and finding more snow sculptures to play with and crunch apart. Some of us colored pictures of animals tracks and snowmen before we did our weather for the day. We decided that it was a cold, snowy winter day! After our morning activities wrapped up, we set off on a hike in search of subnivean tunnels and fresh animal tracks. We may have discovered the entrance to a subnivean tunnel in our native garden, a small hole leading down into the snow where there are plenty of old seeds for animals to eat. Not wanting to destroy anyone’s home, we simply observed and continued on our way!
We wanted to stop by the overlook and peek at the bridge, excited for the day we finally get to walk across it. We had fun carving out the giant piles of snow sitting on the railing, munching on it as we worked. We visited all of our popular rabbit spots and found plenty of old sign like snow covered tracks and browse marks, but couldn’t find anything fresh! We decided to head into the forest and still couldn’t find any fresh tracks from anything other than a human and a dog. We stopped by our fort to see if anyone’s been using it and decided to take a quick tree climbing break. We noticed that some of our favorite tree’s branches have been broken off over the winter—we may need to find a new climbing tree! We continued through the pine forest, observing other forts left by summer campers and old nests in the tops of pine trees. Soon, all of our toes got cold, so we hiked back and spent the last few minutes of our day warming up inside the nature center and learning more about some of our favorite animals like the otter, badger and loon. Soon, it was time to head out and meet our families with our ice sun catchers in tow!
Thank you all for another wonderful week in the lives of your Knee High Naturalists. We look forward to seeing you next time when snow will become our canvas for art!
