I Spy at the Pond

We have had so much rain this spring that

during our visit to the pond this morning we noticed that the water level has

dropped

but not very much compared to last year.

The highlight this morning was the release of several of our

tadpoles.

Three of our tadpoles have their rear legs so I decided 

to release them.

The water in our tank is warmer then the pond

so we set the bucket in the water to balance the temperature.

As I tilted the bucket they were very slow at swimming out.

They finally did and they were so easily camouflaged that we had a hard time spotting them.

On to our focus of the visit - to use binoculars

to spy around the pond.

It took a bit of patience and direction to show them how to use the binoculars.

 Once they understood they were spotting things on the other side of the water.

Next step was to record what they saw.

Part of recording what we saw is for the grown up to add print

and then for the child to share it with someone else.

We also used the binoculars to look at something very small right in front of us.

I found this tiny spider

and we were able to spy on it and count it's legs.

It is very calming and relaxing visiting the pond.

So much fun to share it with friends.

Beavers

Last week we visited the pond.

But before we went at school we played with a pond.

We talked about all the different animals that might live at a pond.

At the pond we focused on beavers.

We enjoyed a StoryWalk through the mud.

 Page to page the children read the pictures and told us

what was happening.

We looked for evidence that beavers were here.

There is still a bit of their home across the pond but I don't think it has

been lived in for a few years.

Back at school the next day I changed our play dough table.

Brown play dough, sticks, rocks and animals were provided to invite

the children to play.

It was cool to see the children discover that they could make 

animal tracks in the dough (pretend mud).

Or structures for the animals to sit in or hide under.

At the Pond 2017

It's one of my favourite times of year, spring!

We spend more time outside exploring the many parks in our community.

One of my favourites is the pond.

This morning we were on the hunt for frog eggs.

We scoured the edges of the pond looking in the grasses,

scooping lots of dirt and rocks with our nets.

No luck finding frog eggs but we did find this big clump of eggs

that I believe are salamander eggs.

We had a good look then put them back in the pond.

We did find other interesting things as we searched.

This little clump of spiddle had perfectly formed water

bubbles.

We found seeds spread on the ground and guessed

it was for animals to eat.

We didn't find frog eggs but I was lucky to get a call last night

from a friend who had found some.

She shared some of her tadpoles with us.

So we prepped a new home for them.

We added plants that we pulled from the pond

and buckets of water.