When we went walkin' in the woods today...

Wednesday Adventures

We ventured down to one of our favorite spots today....

FROG CITY!!!!

Sam found and caught a frog right away.  It was a nice green Green Frog as soon as we entered the creek but silly Moore didn't hold on tight enough! 

STILL SEARCHING FOR THOSE ELUSIVE FROGS

Deep Water means wet feet

Still looking!!

We learned about Jewel Weed.  The leaves are water resistant so they bead up and look like little jewels.  The underside looks silvery when it is wet.  It is a good plant to be able to identify because the "juice" inside the stem is a natural remedy.  If you put it on a fresh mosquito bite, it stops the itch.  It can also help a sting from a bee or wasp.  Rubbing it on a stinging nettle site and it will reduce the sting.  It can also be used to prevent and treat poison ivy!!

Fungus filled logs!

That's a lot of water, Victoria!!

Beautiful Blue Dragaonflies were flitting around us.  

We climbed a steep hill out of the creek!

After an hour long dance party we were ready for some downtime so we enjoyed playing card games, completing puzzles, reading and drawing while waiting for our turn at the craft table.  

We painted salamadars and frogs today!

We love how our spiderweb baskets turned out!

Tuesday Trail Tales

We started the day with some exploration in the room and by researching a special amphibian - the Red-Spotted Newt.  The "teenager" is called a red eft.  We were hoping to find some types of salamandar at one of their life stages in the creek today.  We also learned a bit more about spiders since we had seen so many yesterday.  

We started with a little show and share from Toby.  He hypothesizes that these snake remains are from a snake that was hunted by a local cat.  

We all checked in on our treasure boxes

There was time to do a little research

or practice our woodland animal drawing skills

A few of us added to our Camp Graffiti Mural

Then it was time for the woods!!!!

We found a toad right away!!!  This is an Eastern American Toad

 

Within a minute Victoria caught this salamandar larvae.  It looked like a red-spotted newt larvae to us.  

Can you spot the tadpole?  You need good eyes to be a creek scientist!

We found the snake skin but not the snake.  Maybe tomorrow!

We found several tadpoles today.

Water Striders were abundant and we found a few tiny snails.  Can you see one in the corner?

The toad spent the day with us in the classroom

 We made salamandar door hangers when we came back.

Spiderweb bowls in process

We hope to finish this puzzle by the end of the week

We had to release all of our larvae, snails and our toad back to their home in the late afternoon.