Monday, April 19, 2010

Gone to the Birds

Took the girls to Chippewa Nature Center today for a bird hike. Of course they were split up into three different age groups, so I of course went with Hunny.
Wow!
Where did my shy little girl go?! I mean, she has never been really quiet, but in groups she usually is - I mean was. She chattered through most of it and Miss Jackie the educator for our group learned her named rather quickly!
It was a pretty day here, kinda cool, but I thankfully made the right choice by leaving our coats in the van. :) We started out in a classroom, where Miss Jackie told the kids a poem using flannelgraph to illustrate it. She read them a book about what a bird is......which prompted a very LLLOOONNNGGG discussion with Hunny about peacocks - really flamingo's, but Hunny was very adamant that they were called peacocks. sigh. She finally settled for calling them peacock flamingo's, what do you do? So they played some fun games (well, for little ones) about bird activities and how feathers grow. Then they were able to roam the stations set up. Hunny really liked the stuffed birds that chirped. The nests were neat and she learned how to use a microscope for looking at a feather - but was really more interested at that station in helping little Amy see. Amy is...oh, maybe 2? Hunny loves Amy. So she was quite concerned that Amy just was not tall enough to look into the microscope. Funny girl.
Finally we got to go on the hike. Miss Jackie had put bird pictures throughout the trails and gave all the kids tp tube "binoculars" so they could look for the birds. They did spot some red-winged blackbirds, but mostly it was the paper variety. I do wonder if it was do to the noise of our group....? Anyways, they did locate some real live turtles and frogs so that was neat. It was of course, a big race from bird picture to bird picture, and usually Hunny was in the lead. sigh. God must think I have lots of energy since not a one of my blessings are the calm and relaxed type. (Or maybe He thinks I need to move more?) At the end of the hike they got to make a 'nest' using paperclips as their beaks and then they 'migrated' from MI to FL and back.
Since of course, this group finished early (hmmm...?) Miss Jackie was kind enough to take us down a different trail. This hike was more just a nature study and was slightly more laid back. Not sure if it was because the littles were getting tuckered or just because they didn't have the paper birds to find. But they saw some animal holes in the ground and had talks about what kind of critters made and/or lived in them. Got to see a pond up close, checked out some insects, flowers and trees. Miss Jackie was great and very patient, but I am pretty sure she sighed when we left! :D

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