Bunnies, & Squirrels, & Bugs.. Oh My!

The robins are now gone from our yard, but the children don't seem to mind because they've been busy finding new and exciting animals around! It seems as if every day we hear a child scream with excitement "LOOK WHAT I FOUND!!!!" Over the past couple weeks we have found salamanders, slugs, interesting bugs, butterflies, birds, squirrels, and even a baby bunny. 

The children have been able to get an up close look at all the animals thanks to our patio door!  (We sometimes have snack out there, and the birds and squirrels LOVE the free crumb donations.) 

We watched two squirrels and a bird eat an afternoon snack for about a half hour the other day! The children decided they wanted to share some food so we "quietly" opened the door and threw out some trail mix. Naturally, they ran away, so we all decided to try out the trail mix while we waited for them to return. After a few minutes the hungry animals returned, and the children exploded with laughter when they began eating the treats. They wanted to continue throwing out food, which sparked the idea for DIY bird feeders. I put bird seed, pine cones, string, and peanut butter out on a table the next morning for when the children arrived. (Luckily we do not have any nut allergies!) The children used knives to spread peanut butter over the pine cone and then sprinkled the bird seed over it. Once we tied the strings around it, we headed to the woods searching for the perfect tree! 

                               

 

    We plan on checking the feeders on Monday to see if any birds have enjoyed their snack! 

- Leslie Dionne 

Rockin' Robins

  

Nestled amongst one of our cedar trees is a beautiful robin's nest. We noticed the brightly colored eggs from across the yard, and have been watching it closely for the past week. We haven't told the children where the nest is, however have been sharing pictures daily. It's been truly amazing to be  able to get an up close look at the transition from egg to chick. The pictures bring many questions from the children from why doesn't the baby have feathers to where the mommy is. Here are some of the pictures I've captured over the last week: 

As you can see from the picture above there was originally 4 eggs. Looking at the next picture, 2 eggs are missing from the nest. Immediately one child said, "There is 2 eggs gone!! What happened?!" I asked the children what they thought happened to the missing eggs, and they had lots of ideas: 

       "Maybe they fell."

"They grew up and left the nest." 

"Dinosaur took 'em."

"Wolf stole them." 

This led into the discussion that some animals eat eggs such as squirrels, crows, snakes, and even blue jays! We also read that not every egg has a baby inside it, and the mothers will get rid of those eggs. 

Because the children seemed  so interested in the nest,  I decided to set up an invitation for the children to try! 

Some of the children stayed at the table for about an hour trying to make their nest. After they were finished, the children used the brown string as worms, and were making the birds fly to their nest to eat a delicious snack. 

                                                            - Leslie Dionne