We were very excited to welcome our students back to Forest Playschool from a long winter break. This week, Vermont got a lot of snow, giving the students more material to play with. Due to the snowy weather and the colder temperatures, we did not have an animal-to-find for this week (many real-life animals were either sheltering from the storms or continuing to hibernate). Friday’s group did, however, spot a Cooper’s hawk flying over Peeper Pond.
Wednesday’s group enjoyed playing outside in the snow as their morning activity. With a bunch of miniature shovels on hand, the students built snow mounds and paths in the front yard. Later, everyone took a break from the snow to draw on coloring pages indoors. We later hiked to Peeper Pond and played in the field before returning inside for lunch.
Friday’s group also began their day outside playing with a quinzhee shelter left over from another program the day before. The students worked together to try to extend the already existing tunnel to the other side of the shelter. But with all of the packed snow to shovel out, the students were not able to complete their goal. Like on Wednesday, we later hiked to Peeper Pond where the group got to play in the snowy field. The students also learned about the habitat in-between the snow layer and the ground known as the subnivean zone. Animals such as mice and voles live in this environment during the winter due to warmer temperatures and protection from predators (such as that Cooper’s hawk we saw).
Finally, we ended the day with restocking the bird feeders before wrapping up our day. The flipside of the bad driving conditions from the snow storms was a beautiful Vermont winter for us to enjoy.
