Outdoor Discover Center - Winter Trip

Last Wednesday, the first graders were off to the Outdoor Discovery Center for a morning of enjoying nature!  Our goal is for the children to learn about nature and animals in each of the seasons.  It was a beautiful morning with fresh snow adding even more wonderment to the experience.

Off we go to the Outdoor Discovery Center

We began with a quick talk from Jamie, the ODC director, to discuss
the goals for the morning.  

There were three Naturalists; one for each classroom of children.  Jamie was our Naturalist for the day.   Our first activity was time spent in the nature center.  Jamie took us to a large room and the children sat on carpet rugs to learn about animals in the winter.

Jamie talks to the children about animals in the winter time.  Some animals migrate to warmer places, and others stick around Michigan during the winter.  Frogs, Toads, and snakes can be found in the mud in the bottom of ponds.  Some animals are 'sleepers', who do wake up a bit at times during the winter.  Others hibernate, and sleep through the winter.

Jamie shows the children a frog while talking about frogs being amphibians and cold-blooded.  Frog bodies are as warm as the air around them because they are not mammals (warm-blooded).  Frogs hibernate all winter long by digging themselves into the mud.  They can breathe through their skin because they are amphibians.

Jamie shows the children an elk antler.  He talks about elks in the winter time. They are mammals, which are warm-blooded.  He passed around a piece of elk fur so that the children could feel how thick and warm it is for the elk. He also passed an elk hoof.  The elk use their hooves to dig through the snow to get to the grasses in the field that they eat.  He said that the elk at the nature center enjoy winter time because they have such dense fur. 

Jamie shows the children an owl that will spend the remainder of his life at the ODC. This owl was hit by a car and is blind in one eye. But Jamie says, "He can still be a great teacher for us here at the ODC".  Jamie taught us that owls like this one stay here in the winter. They are great hunters and eat mice, shrews and other small animals. They have excellent senses of sight and hearing and can survive quite nicely in Michigan in the winter.

The children were not allowed to pet the owl, but Jamie did pass around a wing and a foot of another owl so that the children could feel them.

The owl's eye was injured when he was hit by a car, and he was blinded in one eye.  Jamie told us that they are pretty certain this is a male due to his smaller size.  Females tend to be larger than males.

After our lesson in the nature center, the children were allowed to look around the center for a few moments.  There were numerous taxidermy animals to look at, some live animals in glass enclosures, and even a 'touching table' of things the kids could feel and see up close.

The "touching table" was a big hit with all the children!

Our next adventure at the ODC took place outdoors.  Boy, were the kids excited to spend time outside learning about nature!  Honestly, I wonder how there was any snow left on the ground that day! All that fresh snow was irresistible to eat!  Jamie did let the children know that snow is formed around a piece of bacteria or dirt, but not until the end of our time at the ODC. Yuck!  :)

We began by going to the elk enclosure to search for the three elks at the ODC.  There is a male, a female and a baby born last fall.  We did not get to see them, but Jamie assured us we would check again before we left.

We stopped on the pathway and looked for signs of animals.  The kids found fresh rabbit tracks in the snow. We also tried to find birds, but they stayed hidden away from us.  Jamie even tried to call them in using his electronic device, but unfortunately, the birds were not fooled.

Jamie also showed us the types of plants that rabbits like to eat.  The bark was chewed off  up very high, so Jamie questioned the kids about how rabbits could get that high on the plant.  Finally, Jamie told the kids that the snow was much higher when they chewed that part of the plant!

The kids look for more signs of animals.

Here the kids are lying on their stomachs on the dock next to the frozen pond they saw last fall!  They pushed the snow aside to look at the ice.  They also looked on the other side of the dock for signs of animals.

Jamie had all the kids make one great snowball.  He counted to three, and everyone threw their snowball at once into the frozen pond!  Even the parents who came along joined in!

We walked off the path through an open field back toward the pavilion area.  Jamie taught us how owls can hear mice traveling under the snow and swoop down and pounce on them right through the snow!

Jamie told the kids they could 'take a 10 second nap' after a long tromp through the snowy field!

The final portion of our time at the ODC was spent in a room near the pavilion area.  Jamie took us inside the building to warm up and review what we learned that day.  He also read us a book about animals in the winter season.  We were even lucky enough to spot a beautiful red cardinal in the tree outside the window!

Jamie reads us a book about animals in winter.

 As promised, we stopped back at the elk enclosure to find the elk family!  There they were lying down in the snow in the open field!  The female and her baby on one side of the field, the male on the other.

We had a wonderful time at the ODC today!  Thank you to Jamie and the other Naturalists who spent time teaching us about nature and animals in the winter time!  We will spend one more morning at the ODC the last week of school!  It will be great to be back when it's green and beautiful again!