I love this idea! We were on a group led tour this time - we usually walk on our own. Anyway, the docents gave us some saltine crackers to break up and scatter in the water to feed the little fish. Then, we used nets to catch some of the fish and put them temporarily in a small bin filled with water. (The rule was the kids had to lie on their bellies so they wouldn't fall in - great idea!)It was fun to try to catch the fish and to get to see them up close. We were hoping to see and catch a turtle, too, but we didn't.
The guide also helped us to identify poison ivy. Most people know "leaves of 3, let it be." And, probably "If it's hairy, it's scary." But, I'd been seeing a hairy, leafless vine a lot lately, and I wasn't sure if it was poison ivy. The docent told us it was! There is even some growing on a tree right next to the park the kids play at every week!
Lastly, I got very excited to find two more puss caterpillars, or asps, on a tree. I got to show lots of the grownups and kids these cute, but potentially painful, caterpillars. I was so surprised to see them as I'd never seen them before and now I've seen 3 in 1 week!
4 comments:
Sounds like lots of fun.
I love the saltine cracker idea! We have a pond (that 2 of my boys have fallen into so far-- at least they can swim). I just never thought about CRACKERS and those little NETS that we seem to have an abundance of for catching bugs. I think they'd work nicely for minnows.
I think I know what our science will be for tomorrow! Thanks!
Marsha
I LOVE the cracker idea! We have a pond in our neighborhood and I want to go and see if we can see some 'life' using your method.
I'm very excited today because I finally bought a microscope. We got a stereo microscope, so we've been looking at bugs all day. ;-)
Oh, yeah, and I'm totally wigged out that I never knew poison ivy grew that way. That's another handy little tidbit I learned from you.
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