Winter Exploration Options

It sounds like the lovely snow and cooler temperatures will be leaving us soon. I wouldn't mind all the snow we had with temperatures from 25 to 32 degrees for a little longer. This long weekend is prime time to get outside. Here are a few winter activities we have enjoyed in the past:

1. Winter Bird Hike with the local Audubon Society

2. Toboggan Riding at Pokagon State Park

3. Sledding at Potato Creek State Park or Ox Bow Park. See our lessons from sledding and the broken window.

4. Winter Wildflower Hike at Kalamazoo Nature Center

5. Nature Preschool at Woodlawn Nature Center or learning about snow with Elkhart County Parks

6. First Day Hike at the state parks or near our house!

7. Visiting a Nature Center! We particularly enjoy the wildlife viewing windows.
Local ones include: MapleWood Nature Center, Love Creek, Rum Village, Rieth Interpretive Center, Merry Lea Environmental Center, Bendix Woods, Woodlawn Nature Center, Pokagon State Park and Potato Creek State Park

8. Maple sugar tapping at home and festivals at Maple Wood or Bendix Woods.

We have many great resources in our area--our backyards and local parks can be wonderful places to explore in the winter. Today we will try tubing in the winter and snowshoeing. We're looking forward to both! Other options include cross country skiing and photography.

How will you enjoy our winter filled long weekend?

Camp Eberhart: Winter Ecology

Earlier this week, I was able to bring my niece and nephew to their first session of their Outdoorsmanship Class at Camp Eberhart, which is a YMCA camp in Three Rivers, Michigan.

Of course, the drive was snowing, but it was accessible. 

Sam conducted the course. He recently graduated from college and has lots of enthusiasm to share with the children. As an ice breaker, he had the children play the toilet paper game, where each person grabs as much toilet paper as he/she thinks they will "need" and then shares what one fact about them for each piece of toilet paper. I've done this lots of times in classes and with groups to help get to know each other. I like how he simply helped the children share the expectations and guiding values that permeate the concept of the YMCA: caring, respect, honesty, and responsibility. 

Sam used a flashlight and a styrofoam ball on a stick to show how the earth turns away from the sun during the winter so we have colder temperatures. This was a good illustration to see what was happening on a larger scale.

Later we went outside and the kids experimented with the snow a bit. It was a cold day and there was little moisture in the air. It was hard to make a snowball; however, when Sam added water to the mix, they were able to pack it. I've heard Inuit have many, many words for snow. We have to add lots of modifiers to describe the snow we have in English. 

Of course, they had to throw the snowballs at their fearless leader. 

We walked around the camp, checking out the horses in the field, the tubing hill, ropes course, and water features. It looks like it would be a fun place to stay! 

I liked seeing the remnants of various shelters around.

The lake was covered with snow, but I see great potential for fun in the summer. We could see animal trails through the snow.  

 

All the gear is stashed for canoeing and other summer fun.

 

Here, we could see what Sam was calling a tree well, a sheltered hole or place where animals can take shelter in extreme weather. They had fun trying to figure out what was in there!

They also talked about how some plants (like pines) are still green, mentioning these leaflets are covered with a wax to protect them. We checked it out up close!

Back inside, we looked at the various adaptations animals have to survive the winter. Each adaptation had something for my niece to put on to help keep her toasty! For example, for the beaver, she had a raincoat. These helped the children visualize the elements. 

Looking around the building, I saw the neat activities and programs they have available--these look like fun! 

Later, they made cut snowflakes and had a snack of hot chocolate and homemade granola. 

They spent time playing king of the mountain outside and climbing on big snow piles! 

I love the girl power! The kids will continue their course throughout the semester. I look forward to joining them again! There are also summer camps for kids, day camps, and even family camps. I think the family camps would be fun to try as they have so many amenities. 

Nature Nuts: Groundhogs!

I'm still not sure why we perpetuate the myth of groundhogs being able to predict whether we will have more snow or not. However, it is a great time to talk about groundhogs and dispel some of the myths since so many people are talking about them. We typically do not see groundhogs unless they are of the stuffed variety like this specimen held by Krista from Elkhart County Parks. True to form, she pulled together a great program for preschoolers on the topic. She talked about many of the characteristics of the animals and their many names, like woodchuck, whistlepig, etc. She also talked about hibernation, what they do in the winter, and their underground tunnels and various rooms. Many other animals also use these areas as well. We have resident groundhogs back in our shed that like to come close to the house from time to time. I can imagine the tunnels and chambers under there!

Then the kids make a pop up groundhog puppet, with a dowel, toilet paper tubes, and knee highs.

The children also made snow ice cream for a snack with carrots on the side since groundhogs like to eat veggies. Obviously, my son approved of the snow cream and wants to make it again! We just made it during one of our cold weather days. 

Laura from Goshen Public Library brought many books about groundhogs in to share with all the boys, as it happened to only be boys for this program. The books told the history of groundhogs day and how it is celebrated today. Here is a piece on groundhogs from Indiana DNR. 

After puppets were dried, they used them to do a song about groundhogs. 

Pop! They peek out of the ground!

Krista set up a tunnel so the boys could imagine they were underground, just like a groundhog. My youngest really liked that! I really enjoy these Nature Nuts programs through Elkhart County Parks. There is usually a snack, craft, active fun, stories, and activities related to the topic. All are developmentally appropriate for the children and help them understand nature concepts. We typically go to most of them, but my little guy starts kindergarten next year so we just have a few left until the toddler will be old enough. 

Throughout the whole program, my 4-year-old and I really liked looking out the wildlife viewing window. This is a great way to observe nature during the winter months. There were a few very fat squirrels, lots of cardinals, house sparrows, chickadees, tufted titmice, mourning doves, and more! We love watching the different birds to see what they are doing, especially where it is nice and warm next to the fire! Several families stayed to go sledding after the program, which is a nice way to combine nature and recreation. 

Mammals with Elkhart County Parks

We learned about mammals with Elkhart County Parks not very long ago. This was a FREE program put on by the organization. I usually find these very informative and of high quality. Plus they are often FREE!

Another Snow Day!

We certainly had our share of snow days in January this year--8 to be exact! It wasn't always snow. Many were from extremely low temperatures and high winds. The cousins visited again and everyone made a contribution to the bird book we started earlier in the week.

Indoor Fort Making

It was another snowy, snowy morning and some of the cousins were over last night. Yep, this is what it looks like with tons of kids in the basement. They've been over for a few "snow" days this week and we've been running out of ideas to keep them off the technology.

For Christmas, my brother and sister-in-law gave the family a "fort kit". It had rope, clothespins and a couple of sheets. I've seen this idea on Pinterest, with thoughts of making one before, but am glad they finally got around to it. We pulled out the various components with some extra sheets and got to work. On Friday night, they worked in two different groups. We cut the rope shorter and needed to burn the ends to prevent fraying. Sheets were tied everywhere! Pillows were stacked all over. They loved it!

Nature Learning Experiences: The Broken Window

The kids had fun sledding this week! The temperatures have been a little warmer and it's been easier to get outside. We were surprised to get a phone call letting us know one of the kids ran right into a window and broke it while out the other day. Cousins went home, told their mom, and then she called us. It's good to have a network of spies, right? I went to investigate. Obviously no one was hurt. They sled at a church nearby. It was a double paned window and only the outside part was broken. There was still glass around and I could see exactly what happened. The child in question was sledding too close to the building. They had always used the longer hill so hadn't thought of "rules" for being too close to the building. I called over to the church let them know and that we were willing to pay for the damages. Then I thought about how to approach the situation.