Summer at Wellfield

We always enjoy visiting Wellfield Botanical Garden. During a recent summer we had a wonderful visit. The plants were abuzz with pollinators! 

They had a kids' activity to explore WORMS when we visited! We explored a compost bin. We used worms to paint with mud. 

 

We explored composting and what happens to leaf litter and animal poop. We could look at the leaf litter up close!

We explored different types of soil components, like clay, sand, etc. We also used tools like these magnifiers to explore what is there. The composter and magnifier are tools we have in our house, as well. 

We went on a scavenger hunt around the water as well. We explored so much! 

We explored plants, such as milkweed and redbuds. If you haven't smelled milkweed, you should! 

We even found an oak apple gall! 

It was fun to see all the vertical gardens as well!

These will fill in soon! 

There are spectacular detail and views throughout the gardens!

Monsters in the Garden at Wellfield Botanic Gardens

We had a wonderful fall walk and trick or treating at Wellfield's Monster in the Garden program. They had the place decked out for the season!

Drop In Activities at Wellfield Botanic Gardens

We stopped by Wellfield Botanic Gardens last Tuesday for their drop in activity. It's always a beautiful space. They also keep adding improvements to the area, which makes it interesting. The seasonal changes make it something we go back to again and again! We've been here several times, so thought we'd share a few highlights of our visit.

We took the path to the left, as we always like visiting the Adventure Path! On the way, we checked out the lily pads and this plant with all the "fringe". It almost seemed like feathers!

We walked by the creek and the heron's nest in the water. There are so many colors and textures out right now--it's a great time to go!

 

There is a new installation, showcasing various options for vertical gardening. I'm familiar with the option and have probably pinned several ideas on Pinterest (though these are not mine), yet it was neat to see the variety of options presented. I'd love to hear follow up with this and how successful people were as they implemented it in their gardens.

These were all just really neat! Many of the items could be repurposed to add something to your fencing. This seems like a fun way to garden. I would expect more water than normal might be needed.  Here are vertical gardening tips from Mother Earth News, though, as you can see, there are many options!

We saw these remnants from the Grow Down where groups got together to put together a small landscaped area quickly. Neat to see what they did. I want to play in this area and rearrange it, then do it all over again. :-) We call this small world play in early childhood education. 

Of course we had to visit the adventure path! The boys love this area! They like climbing and finding the animals throughout the path.

Of course, we stopped by the elk as well! Always a favorite spot on our visit.

In the Activity Tent, the topic was on pollinators for the drop in activity that day. We matched pollinators with plants, with some good hints along the way. :-) There was even a bald faced hornet's nest to look at. We have been finding these in our yard the last couple of years. Here are details on other upcoming drop in activities this summer at Wellfield. I always like adding on an activity or program to keep it interesting as we return. 

They also had a flannel board with the various parts of a plant. The boys enjoyed making the pollen (chalk) move from one flower to another on their bee (cotton ball). This was a good idea!

There were also crafts to do--either a butterfly or bee. Loved his butterfly to fly through the flowers pollinating as it went!

While waiting for one of the projects to dry, we walked the nearby woods, finding flowers like spiderwort. Hollow logs are also neat areas to explore! It's a nice little stretch of woods.

We even found a bunch of goose feathers before we left! What a great visit!

6 Plus Ideas to Celebrate a Natural Easter

Easter is one of my favorite holidays. I have a HUGE binder full of Easter activities and regularly do neat activities with the kids each year. Favorites include making Resurrection Rolls, Easter Story cookies, Resurrection Eggs (that I made with the young women from my church about 14 years ago--I still use the same set each year!), and a 7 day "walk" leading up to Easter. Here is a round up of some nature based Easter activities we have done in the past, as well as links to additional ideas. How do you celebrate nature and Easter? Feel free to comment below! 




1. Natural Dyed Eggs -- This is a fun approach to a traditional activity at Easter time. Using natural items to create our dyes is a perfect way to explore nature while still doing some of our time honored traditions.

2. Easter Garden -- Growing an Easter Garden helps us focus on the spiritual side of what happened during Easter. We represent the tomb, made a cross and a hill, and grew wheat grass as well, watching as Spring makes changes in the natural world.

3. Easter Nature Walk -- This neat scavenger hunt combines scriptures to look up, along with specific items to find in nature, such as an example of death, a thorn, and more! I find that in our area, we need to wait as close to Easter as we can to find the variety of colors and other items on the walk. See our local Easter Nature Walk at Wellfield Botanic Gardens here.

4. Nature Easter Basket Ideas -- While candy is great, we can only eat so much! Our children typically receive a couple of small presents, like small toy animals, a field guide, or tool to help them explore nature more. Then we can use these on our nature explorations as well! Go Explore Nature has great ideas here. Find some ideas for items and activities to learn about animals, on my post 16 Ideas for Animal Play. These suggestions would be great to include in an Easter Basket.

5. Visit a local garden or petting zoo. One of the garden centers near us (Linton's) offers special activities at Easter, which include an egg hunt, viewing ducklings and chicks, a visit to their petting zoo, and more.

6. Enjoy a sunrise! Many churches offer a sunrise service.  You can also head out on your own. Take time to reflect and be outside early in the morning.

A word of caution . . . some people are tempted to buy a rabbit or chick to experience Easter. I would truly consider the long term effect of adding a pet to a home just to celebrate a holiday. Try visiting a petting zoo or such instead.

For additional ideas, I found the following:
Easter Science Ideas--This is a long list with ideas for egg experiments, carrots, and Easter candy.
Good Friday Nature Walk--I like that this has spaces to sketch what you find.
An Easter Scavenger Hunt--Nice way to look for symbols of the holiday.
The Legend of the Dogwood--Explore the spiritual side of these great blossoms.

Shared with Outdoor Play Party! Check out their fun adventures!

Where's Santa?

My son was volunteering at the "Where's Santa?" event held at Wellfield Botanic Gardens in early December. I stayed with our two younger boys to go find Santa and get some outdoor time. It was nice to explore the gardens after dark!

We were given a set of clues and needed to find various stations throughout the gardens. There were plenty of volunteers throughout the area to help with the activities. We took a nice stroll all around the loop! Lights were on at the stops. Some stations included riddles or activities we had to do, such as sharing three water conservation tips. I thought this was a nice touch to include the natural elements with the puzzle. 

We explored the Adventure Path in the dark and my son was so happy to see the huge butterfly on the heart. I think he even tried giving it a hug!

We also put together a puzzle and deciphered a code! Some of the statues were even dressed up for Christmas! 

At the end of our journey, we found Santa Claus, one of the main volunteers from Santa's Pantry. Our older kids have enjoyed going to their Pay It Forward 4-H club and participating in various service projects around the area. It's inspiring to see all they accomplish through their efforts to help the community. 

After seeing Santa, the kids decorated cookies and drank hot chocolate around a campfire. They also made fake snow and peanut butter bird feeders. Another station had recycled card activities. It was nice to have these additional activities with the entrance fee. Each station had plenty of volunteers to help. 

Before we left, Santa and theToys for Tots were whisked away in the fire truck. That's always exciting to see with a two-year-old! 

Things we enjoyed:

1. Going for a walk as a family at night. We don't tend to take that opportunity after dark very often. With the nights getting dark so early we should explore this option more!

2. The feeling of community. There were so many volunteers and others there to help with the event that also gave back to the community. 

3. Exploring the gardens in a  different setting. It was cool to see the lights on display and to be there after dark! 

4. The challenge of the scavenger hunt! There was a good variety of activities embedded in the hunt!

5. The extra activities. The kids loved the cookies! It was fun to have a few other activities available as well.