Park Day and Seed Demonstrations

We stink at gardening… but look what we managed to grow.

Stubby Carrots.  Tomatoes.  Mint.

I can't take credit for the mint.  

Actually, I've attempted to eradicate the mint; but apparently it's here to stay, so I've embraced it.

We met up with some friends at Brooksvale Park, Hamden CT.

Had no idea there would be a discovery table set up and a free science lesson.

What a pleasant surprise!

This lady is my new favorite person!

We learned about different seed types and how they travel.

She had toys to demonstrate.

New favorite person.

Some seeds get carried by the wind.

Like parachutes.

Some seeds fly and spin.

Like a helicopter.

Some seeds float in water.

Some seeds stick to people and animals.

Like Velcro.

Some seeds get shot out.

Like rockets!

We got to meet an American Box Turtle.

The boys named her Olivia.

Exploring Trees

Oliver loves to watch YouTube on the iPad.

To make myself feel better about allowing him to watch it, I asked him what he wanted to learn about.  I'm trying to make better use of the site, and impress on him that it can be a tool... not just a source of Thomas the Train clips and videos.

He said trees.

We found THIS VIDEO.  A few minutes in, I asked him if he was still interested.  He was.  He watched the whole thing.  *shocked*  I don't know what he retained from it... it was a lot for a four year old (I admit it was even a lot for me at 27 years old)… but he watched all 7 minutes 22 second of it.

More than a few weeks later, he said he was still interested in learning more about trees, and so I introduced him to the children's science section at our library.

These are the books he selected to checkout:

The Big Tree - Hiscock, Bruce

Crinkleroots Guide to Knowing the Trees - Amosky, Jim

The Secret Life of Trees - Chevallier, Chiara

Take a Tree Walk - Kirkland, Jane

Tell Me, Tree: All About Trees for Kids - Gibbons, Gail

Tree - Bumie, David

Trees - Julivert, Angels

Trees - Howse, Jennifer

Trees, Leaves, and Bark - Bums, Diane L.

What's Inside Trees? - Kosek, Jane Kelly

He wasn't as interested as he was when we took out a bunch of worm books.  We only read a few of them, but he is definitely interested in the real-life examination of trees.

"Tree Walk" at West Rock Ridge State Park:

Oliver discerned which end was the bottom of an uprooted tree by identifying the roots, and explaining their role.

The boys felt the rough bark at the bottom of the tree...

…and the younger, newer bark near the top.

They observed the difference in barks of various types of trees,

and counted rings to see how old the tree was.

The boys have a collection of bark pieces from a few different kinds of trees and leaves/pines (always collected from the ground and never pulled from a tree).

Sleeping Giant State Park

April 27, 2014 We made it all the way up the Tower Trail at Sleeping Giant today for the first time. Stopped lots along the way for snacks and exploring. You know your kids are Frozen obsessed when they repeatedly refer to moss covered rocks as Trolls.

Finding trail markers was so exciting for the kids (….ahem…math & number recognition).

Could these holes visible where the earth has been worn away be worm tunnels?  I really don't know, but we stopped to think about it and remember a video we watched on youtube.

Fiddlehead ferns- fuzzy young ferns that look like the neck of a fiddle, or violin.

 We found some pretty good sized worms by lifting rocks by a little creek.

Oliver insisted we could see our house from this lookout.

Exploring the "castle" at the top of the trail.

On New Year's eve we made a 2014 Bucket List.  

At bedtime we got to check off two goals: "hike up to the tower" and "climb a tree."

 

We also found some super soft moss, a salamander (newt?) under a rotting piece of wood, and a feather, (my first guess based on color was Canadian Goose, but it's probably from a Hawk…that makes much more sense for the area).

We also got to observe the difference between fluffy white clouds, and ominous rain clouds... and how to adjust our speed accordingly!

This kids did great and walked the whole way up by themselves.  They needed help going back down... which was fun for us because not only are our boys very big and heavy, but their pockets were loaded with rocks!

Not very long into the descent, we had a sleeping 2 year old.  So sweet.  Heavy, but sweet.