Spiders and A Hike

The M/W group made a visit to the Lookout Mountain Nature Center, where our focus was, "What do animals do when it gets cold outside?"  Below, the children gather in the pretend "nest" at the center.

There were many items for us to explore, including several animal pelts . . .

The children were anxious to explore the outdoors, so off we set on a hike!

A cool bridge . . .

We discovered LOTS of animal footprints in the damp ground - mostly deer.

I was impressed at the children's enthusiasm and energy.  We hiked pretty much one whole mile!

We were so lucky to have such a beautiful day!

We stopped halfway to eat our lunch - everyone had a god rock to sit on.

We consulted our map . . .

On the shadier part of the hike we actually found a bit of snow.

I pointed out lichen and moss on some of the rocks to the children.  We also noted that the dominant trees there are the Ponderosa Pine, which have very long needles.

Gotta climb some rocks!

We looked under rocks for bugs.

It was nice to enter a more forested area later.

We had some time to explore the Boettcher gazebo.

Happy and engaged children!

Once back inside we discussed what we saw and further explored the exhibits.  Jack is holding a stuffed version of the black squirrel we saw.

There were lots of books and resources to peruse.

We looked at an actual deer hoove to compare to the prints we saw outside.

Meanwhile, our T/Th group talked about spiders!  Below, we made an edible version using "peanut butter play dough."

We learned that spiders have 8 legs and used pretzel sticks to represent them . . .

Spiders have lots of eyes too!

An educational-sticky-fun-yummy experience!

We also drew spiders.

It has been lovely to observe more cooperative play develop.  After initially wanting to knock down her  block towers ( typical boy!) Sinh joined in on building with Molly!

And. . . over in the kitchen, Jackson and Lucas cook together!

A fabulous week!