Hello one and all, welcome back to the best nature program of all! Shake your feathers and join us as your Knee High Naturalists soar into spring and their Big Week of Birds!
This week we got to experience winter and spring all in the same class, what a silly forecast! We started off our day with chilly snow play, snow paint colored our secret spot—we missed our colorful activities a lot! We checked on our little insect eggs, but agreed that it was too cold for them to grow their legs. Rakes began to scrape, shovels began to scoop, soon it was time for us to fly the coop! We cleaned up our toys and gathered around for our Good Morning song, this time from cozy spots on the ground. Small, but mighty was our group today and we were ready for lots of wonderful, exploratory play! We wiggled and waddled to our warm outdoor classroom where we discovered super cool birds with beautiful plumes.
Bird banter was frequent today as we learned about bird bones, feathers and beaks and how they use them different ways! We had four very special friends with us today—a female Mallard, a Woodcock, a Rough Legged Hawk and a Barred Owl. As we explored these beautiful birds, we learned a new word; migration. We discovered that our feathered friends are starting to return, giving us more opportunities to learn. Bird bones are hollow, so they can take flight, they even have different beaks to help eat different foods right. Our friends, the owl and the hawk, have curved beaks to tear away meat. The Woodcock has a very long and point beak, used to grab earthworms and other insects from the ground instead of using its feet. And our very soft and large friend, the Mallard duck, has a large, flat beak for sifting food from the water. After learning about their different adaptations, we explored these avians in mini stations. Once we were done with our feathered fun, we talked about the weather and charted the sun. Today was sunny and little cold, it’s still winter and it feels like spring is on hold!
We washed our hands as best as we could and dug into our food before coloring some wood. Today we made our very own rainbow sticks, some very skinny and some were thick! After our coloring fun was done, we gathered up to head out for some bird themed fun. We explored the Gateway to the Natural World and found a Blue Heron, many owls and even a raccoon! As we passed through the gateway we heard a bird, we even saw a Black-capped Chickadee eating some seed. We continued on until we came to a very special spot, the Eagle’s Nest, which we liked a lot! Here we opened up a snow themed restaurant with berries, burgers and cereal being served. With the humans well fed, it was time to feed the birds over by the shed.
In a great circle of cones, we became birds with hollow bones! Baskets and “beaks” in hand, we went to down picking up as much food as we could stand. Butterflies, beetles, worms and ants were all over the ground, a smorgasbord was found! Using big beaks and little beaks, we found lots of food that birds eat. After our big bug hunt was done, we moved over to the sand box for more insect excavation fun. We used turkey feet to dig up different insects with their toes, it was so cool to see how turkeys don’t just use their nose! We made volcanoes and played in the sand, having a wonderful time together with shovels and rakes in hand. Too soon it was time for us to wrap things up, we packed our bags and ventured over to our secret spot to play in our favorite plot. Our families were so excited to see us again and talk about all the amazing things we learned since then.
Thank you all for a spectacular week in the life of your Knee High Naturalists, we can’t wait to see you all next week to learn more about our natural world!
