Water is Life

Snapping Turtle checking out his water kingdom!

We were greeted with a chilly morning but the rain held off as we arrived at Sunrise Field. After our morning affirmation and a quick exploration and investigation of the surroundings, we walked up Butterfly Hill on our way to Cedar Hideaway.  Red Fox and Snapping Turtle helped Cardinal find the tree cutting gardens and we were happy to see lots of leaves and even a little maple tree growing.  Why is the plastic cover off now?  Could there be a few reasons for this?

Snack time on Butterfly Hill.

The log circle at Cedar Hideaway is a nice place to gather for a story. Meet you there!  What did you notice about the water in the bowl of water before our fish story began?  What happened to the water after Dragonfly told the story of the changes that happened on the land?  Would you drink the water we had in the bowl? Would you paddle a boat or swim in that water?  Would fish be happy to live in this water?  If the water in a pond or a lake gets dirty or polluted, how can we clean it?

What did the pond water look like when you ventured over to investigate the water at Harrington Conservation Area?  What happened to the water the more we walked in it and moved our nets through it?  Did you enjoy walking over to the clear rocky shallow area?  It was great to see the large crayfish, fish and all the bugs swimming happily.  After some close investigation it was time to put everything back in its natural habitat.  Including Red Fox’s plastic Croc!  What would happen if the Croc never came out of the water?  What if it broke into a million pieces?  Luckily, with the help of Grey Wolf, Red Fox had both shoes before we headed back to the Hall! Thanks Grey Wolf for fishing the Croc out of the water.  The water creatures will be thankful too for keeping their home clean and full of natural materials only!

We had a chance to work on homes for another of nature’s creatures…birds!  Thanks to Ant Man for working with small groups to make this happen.  What was your favourite step in the building process?  Was it hard to use a screwdriver? Where do you think we should hang these birdhouses? What kind of birds will visit? Hint: birds that like to nest in holes in trees.

While one group explored with tools and building, the other listened to story of The Lorax by Dr. Seuss.  Did you make some connections between the story and our morning explorations at the pond?  What will you do with your Swamp Milkweed seed?  Don’t forget, it loves lots of water as it naturally grows in swampy areas. 

As we learned in the Lorax, we need to speak for the trees (nature) and if we don’t protect our seeds, trees and water, it might never happen!  What are you going to do to keep our water, forests and fields healthy? If you were the little boy at the end of the book what would you do next?

Galley of other activities we did today! We are happy to welcome back Otter (Jacob)!