Hello one and all, welcome back to the best nature program of all! Today was filled with plenty of chirping and singing from students and birds alike, take a step on the wild side and see what a day in the life of your Knee High Naturalists looks like.
With warmer temperatures, our snow is gone, leaving more room for us to dig on our make-shift lawn. Another egg investigation was due, so we rolled our log over to see if there was anything new. We raked and we dug, some friends were even giving each other hugs! The play food was a big hit today, friends gathered around Ms. Miranda to see what they could make. Sandwiches, fruit and bread were in order—we had so much food our plates were filling over! Once all of our friends had arrived for the day, we put our toys away and sang our Good Morning song without delay.
Some friends knew the topic of this week and were excited to meet new birds with different beaks! Our guests included a Northern Pintail, a Great Horned Owl, a Mallard Duck, a Ruffed Grouse and our Rough Legged Hawk. We learned more about big, curved beaks that are used to eat meat and about little strong ones that eat nuts and bugs! Our big predatory birds with sharp beaks and talons on their feet are called raptors and they hunt other animals. The ducks had round, very flat beaks that are used to strain water to get food to eat. We learned about hollow bones for flight, even different feathers that will help them gain height! With the most serious learning done, it was time for us to explore the birds and have some fun. We ooh’d and ahh’d as we touch their feathers, poked their beaks and looked at their feet. Once we had our fill, we put away the birds and washed our hands well.
Snack was especially quick today, the big rocks were inviting us to play! Hats and mittens came off as friends ascended larger boulders without a scoff. How many Knee High Naturalists can a boulder hold, you ask? Five naturalists can fit up there if they make it fast! Tag ensued as birds called and we clambered to get a better view. Before long it was time to start our official outdoor play, it was time for our bird food scavenger hunt to get underway. We had to stop by the Eagle’s nest, of course! We then flew across the playscape to our scavenger hunt with great force. While some friends had already done something similar, we added in new food that raptors eat for dinner! Rabbits and chickens, squirrels, too. We had some expert bird beak users this time around who quickly and nimbly grabbed their dinner from the ground! Once all of our “bellies” were full, we moved onto the sand box where we dug big holes. Bugs were buried, some were even being washed, the turkey feet were being used to dig a lot! We made such big holes that friends could sit in them and have room to grow. While love to hike and play in the creek, the sand box was our favorite activity this week!
All too soon, it was time for us to go. We gathered our shovels and rakes, we had the bugs in tow. We packed away all of our extra clothes, grabbed our bags and were ready to roll. Our families were all here and excited to see us, we can’t wait to come back next week and venture down past the creek!
Thank you all for another amazing week in the life of your Knee High Naturalists! We hope you have a wonderful weekend and we look forward to seeing you next week to find signs of spring!
