I think the thing we have most loved about the snow, aside from the initial thrill of sledding, and the beauty when it appears to cleanse the dirt and rubbish of the neighborhood, is how we can see the stories of the animals so clearly. On our walk to the coffeeshop on Friday, we saw the tracks of dogs, deer, squirrels, rabbits, and several different kinds of birds. Oh, and of course the tracks of some incredibly strange creatures...
When we made playdough the other day, Ani was trying to make prints like a bear's, so we got out the animal tracks matching game we have and she tried her hand (har har) at replicating some of those. We talked about how many toes each animal had in its tracks, whether or not the nails show...
Yesterday she took it to a new level. She at first asked to paint her rubber animals' feet, so that she could make prints across the paper length stretching over the kitchen floor. This was unsatisfying. Then we remembered the playdough and got out a cookie sheet, rolled it all out with a glass jar, and there it was - an untouched field for the animals to walk in.
There were some frustrations here too - the squirrel prints were not in the correct arrangement!! - so we talked about "gait" and what that can tell us about an animal. Ani noticed that the pig's hooves made prints surprisingly similar to those of cow, and the deer we see around here. Of course some animals were determined to be unique in their participation....
And I knew that sooner or later her own body parts would get involved...
And then sister appeared and discovered the paints, and well, it became a whole other activity...
Last night we took a walk just before dinner, as the sun was setting, and ended up across the street at the elementary school playground (please, mom? you know you love the swings...), where we found dozens of boot tracks and then one long, flowing track of a running deer...we followed to see where it went, dodging the play structures, around the tree, to the fence and away, then around and to the fence again where it found the opening and off into the woods, towards the community gardens and the river beyond they went...
I think the thing we have most loved about the snow, aside from the initial thrill of sledding, and the beauty when it appears to cleanse the dirt and rubbish of the neighborhood, is how we can see the stories of the animals so clearly. On our walk to the coffeeshop on Friday, we saw the tracks of dogs, deer, squirrels, rabbits, and several different kinds of birds. Oh, and of course the tracks of some incredibly strange creatures...
When we made playdough the other day, Ani was trying to make prints like a bear's, so we got out the animal tracks matching game we have and she tried her hand (har har) at replicating some of those. We talked about how many toes each animal had in its tracks, whether or not the nails show...
Yesterday she took it to a new level. She at first asked to paint her rubber animals' feet, so that she could make prints across the paper length stretching over the kitchen floor. This was unsatisfying. Then we remembered the playdough and got out a cookie sheet, rolled it all out with a glass jar, and there it was - an untouched field for the animals to walk in.
There were some frustrations here too - the squirrel prints were not in the correct arrangement!! - so we talked about "gait" and what that can tell us about an animal. Ani noticed that the pig's hooves made prints surprisingly similar to those of cow, and the deer we see around here. Of course some animals were determined to be unique in their participation....
And I knew that sooner or later her own body parts would get involved...
And then sister appeared and discovered the paints, and well, it became a whole other activity...
Last night we took a walk just before dinner, as the sun was setting, and ended up across the street at the elementary school playground (please, mom? you know you love the swings...), where we found dozens of boot tracks and then one long, flowing track of a running deer...we followed to see where it went, dodging the play structures, around the tree, to the fence and away, then around and to the fence again where it found the opening and off into the woods, towards the community gardens and the river beyond they went...
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