Despite the rain we started our day outside using yogurt cups to create mini habitats for amphibians and splashing the the rain puddles. We even found a (very cold) Eastern Red-backed salamander!
While we played, I hid laminated Spotted salamanders down the path for us to find. I put them all beside places we might really find salamanders - logs, rocks, the base of trees and next to burrows. It took us a bit, but we counted and eventually found them all!
Once we gathered our salamanders from the ground, we headed inside to get warm and start Morning Meeting. Today our Morning Meeting leader planned a perfect day between being outside and having time to be warm inside. She decided we would go for hike along the story walk, explore the pond, color, eat lunch and then have some museum explore time before getting picked up.
So after we heard a story and finished up snack, we put all our gear back on and got ready to follow the story walk to the pond. The story was one we have at Audubon and have read with the group, but it was fun to read each page and let the next take us on an adventure along the path. The book was about a group of animals who are woken from their winter slumber by a loud noise, so they set out on a journey to see where the noise is coming from. The culprit was a Spring Peeper!
The end of the story brought us to the Bird Blind and Pond. We had a blast hanging out inside the blind and having a moment of peace from the wintery mix.
Then we explored around the pond and found clusters of frog eggs. We could see the tiny tadpoles moving inside their eggs! Hopefully they stayed warm enough. We also noticed that a bunch of eggs had already hatched. Unfortunately, we did find a couple of dead frogs in the pond who must have frozen, but we talked about how they will become a nourishing meal for some other animal who needs it.
Then, it was time to go color inside! Perfect timing because we were all pretty wet.
They all seemed to choose vibrant colors, which I loved, especially on a dreary day. Some of us are getting so good at staying in the lines of the pictures! After coloring, we ate lunch and heard a few stories. Then it was time to go upstairs and explore the beautiful bird carving exhibit. The kids LOVED this room and I did too. There are at least 100 carvings of birds in their habitats and some cases have secret nests that the kids loved finding.
Then, we put our rain gear back on and played outside until adults arrived. See you in two weeks!
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