Preschool Programs

Maple Madness!

March 8, 2019

What a beautiful day!  We of course began our day outside shoveling and climbing in the snow, but we also went on a hunt for not 1, or 2, but 33 mice that "escaped" from the barn earlier in the morning.  These mice were sneaky, some hiding in the snow, under branches, in the kiosk, and we found them all! 

Finding the mice that "escaped" earlier in the morning! Photo: Audubon Vermont
Photo: Audubon Vermont

We then headed inside for morning meeting and snack. After everyone ate we hiked down to the sugaring house. Since it’s been getting warmer and the nights colder it has been perfect for sugaring season. So this Friday, we had a special day planned. Once there, Emily and Rae read us an active story with moves about how sap is made in the trees. Everyone then got a chance to help tap their own tree too! 

Making our way down to the sugarbush! Photo: Audubon Vermont
Photo: Audubon Vermont
Photo: Audubon Vermont

We then learned how the sap is boiled into maple syrup, in our Mini Sugarhouse, before tasting some! As we started back towards the barn for lunch and a story, we stopped to play a game, The Gallon Challenge.  This game is to help us remembers that it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup!  There were 40 gallon milk jugs hidden in one section of the sugarbush, and we went on a hunt to find them all!  We found 36, which is pretty incredible.

Photo: Audubon Vermont
Tasting some yummy maple syrup! Photo: Audubon Vermont

We had a super fun busy day tasting and making syrup!

Photo: Audubon Vermont

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