Did you get your hands dirty today? We did, and there is more to it than meets the eye. Deb and Lacey at the Garden in Harrington encouraged us to let our noses and tongues do the discovering. It was a feast of smells and tastes today!
Seeds are tiny bundles with all that is needed to produce the next generation of plant. Can your child tell you what is inside a seed. How does it begin to sprout and what feeds the new plant to get it started? Somewhere in a pocket, your child should have a bean seed all ready to plant. Wrap it in a paper towel and place it in a glass jar to watch it unfurl.
Seed balls are made with three ingredients. Check in about how these were made (soil, compost, dry seeds) and what types of flowers might be inside them. Just leave them uncovered in a warm place to dry for a day or two, then throw them into an area where you'd love to see wildflowers blooming next season.
Weeding is a necessary part of keeping plants that you want in your garden healthy. What did your child do in their row to help out? Where did we put the loose grasses and weeds that we pulled up? Thanks Lynx for squishing down the pile to make space for more.
Herbs not only smell amazing, they are tasty and often very healthy. What combination of herbs did your child choose to put in their tea bag. Do you remember what are some ways herbs help us when were aren't feeling well. Peppermint (tummy ache), camomile (sleep).....
Our morning was more about what lives on land and in or near water. Amphibians were on the menu of learning. Can your child tell you how frogs and toads are similar? How are they different? Both frogs and toads make calls to defend territory and find mates. If a frog was calling in a pond, another frog would have to listen to find out where that frog was. In our listening activity today, one frog was blindfolded and one was making a call to direct the blindfolded frog to where they were standing. Was this a difficult activity for your child to do when there was the wind and other noises all around?
Heading onto the trails today, was there anything new your child noticed? I noticed how nice the trails were cut. We wandered down to Cedar Castle and made some Toad Abodes. In order for a toad to find it inviting, the toad homes needed to be big enough to fit a fist inside, dark and damp. Everyone did a really good job and some were so camouflaged that the home will also help protect them from predators.
Grey Squirrel read us a story about toads during library time today. A few Forest Friends enjoyed some colouring time as they sat around the table and a few others checked out some books to take home.
We closed our day together feeling thankful for the beautiful weather and our guides in the garden. Keep an eye out for herbs growing wild; scratch and sniff to discover new smells along the trail this weekend.
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