Exciting news from Harrington Pond, a neighbour brought by a painted turtle hatchling which he found in his driveway. We all had a good look and talked about the different body parts of turtles. We decided that we could find it a good home but wondered about what it needs to survive? Does your child remember what kind of things make a good home for Sheldon Rose (the painted turtle)? I am sure this will not be the last turtle we see at the pond.
The rest of our day was filled with flowers. Rose placed the flowers ever so perfectly in our wall art. Most of the flowers we saw were on the lawn or at the side of the trail. We picked a few of these flowers and added them to our bracelets which were made of tape. Dragonfly brought some tulips to look at and we even took them apart. We counted petals and stamens (the part with the pollen on it). The tulip has the same number of petals and stamens. Ask your child about the colours they saw in the tulip parts and number of petals. We also learned about Jack. Jack-in-the-Pulpit is a spring wildflower with an interesting looking, mostly green flower with a little purple. Can you child describe what the flower looks like? How many did we find in Mystery Forest?
Laynee (Badger) and Molly (Mourning Dove) spent some time getting to know the Turtles better. Badger and Cardinal both liked colouring together. Cardinal used so many different colours in her drawings today. Blue Racer played some soccer and walked carefully on a rope. Rose liked building with Mourning Dove.
We had a wonderful walk today all the way to Cedar Hideaway. It was fun to explore a new space. At this spot, we were close to water and we were able to go close safely because of all of our helpers. We made boats with flower sails, flower soup and magic potions. What did your child like about this new spot? What activity did they enjoy most?
In the afternoon, we had a special guest Debra and Cody from The Garden in Harrington. They brought all kinds of herbs to share with us; lemon Balm, sage, thyme, oregano, fennel and mint. We were able to smell them and even taste them (if we wanted to). What smelled really yummy or yucky to your child? Ask them what new herb they would like to add to a pizza or a soup?
Flower season is just beginning. Keep looking and wondering! Happy trails Turtles!
