Larson Park Tour

Angela led us on another fantastic park tour today… And the kids were so engaged and excited to hear all that she had to teach!

She began by leading a child-led discussion about spring and any interesting things found so far in the wild.  She then passed out some hand drawn maps and gave the kids a sort of preview of what to look for! This really got the kids excited!

Then we were off to the creek!

This rock is limestone with lots of potholes – made from a rock, trapped in a crack, and swirled around and around and around by moving water.

After that – we were on the look out for a sideways sycamore tree.

Next on the map to find:

ring-around-the gigantic Burr Oak Tree

Back to the creek bed… To find Quartz! 

Task: 

• knock two rocks together and sniff
• If it smells like smoke, it’s Quartz

Angela also showed us the rain garden which is between the parking lot and the creek.

The point of the rain garden is to catch excess water, pollutants and debris, during a rainstorm.

The rain garden helps keep the creek not only clean but it also helps prevent erosion!

(And here I thought it was to look pretty!)

  
My nephew found a snake in the rain garden!

                   Mushrooms!

‘This the season I guess because we found LOTS of very interesting mushrooms!

One kind was very jelly-like!

All the kids wanted to know the names of the mushrooms and so I say (to no one in particular), “I think I’ll need to do a mushroom study with the kids! I need to find a book about them…”

And then, the very next minute, I see that my sister has arrived late to the park.. with a new book for me… Yup- a book about mushrooms!!

Thanks Ann!!! Good timing 🍄

When the tour was over… We broke out the Little House on the Prairie costumes and props!

The girls wanted to go on the hike again- this time in character…

I’m not sure what this graffiti was warning us about…

Possibly too much fun – LOL!

The kids thought it meant to beware of ticks!

Yes,! We’ve unfortunately found a few this season… Eeek 😳

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• Posted in: adventures ♦ park
• Tagged: children, hiking, home education, homeschool, nature, outside, parks, unschool