Chilly and Snowy NAP

On Friday we braved the cold and traveled to Sabin's pasture.  We were lucky to have the sun find us and warm us up as we walked uphill to a new field for Nature Adventure.  After a bit of free time making snow angels and burying ourselves in the knee deep snow, we enjoyed snack prepared by Melissa and Kellie (thanks!).  Amy then taught us how animals move through the four gait patterns: hopping, walking, waddling, and bounding.  We practiced each gait and pretended to be a variety of animals.  We then set out into the woods exploring and finding animal tracks. The children were asked a variety of questions as they looked for these animal tracks: how do you think the animal is moving, which gait is it using, where is the animal going, why does the animal move that way, how did it jump that far, and when did it move this way through the forest.  Although most of the tracks were made by falling snow, the children had a great time using their imaginations to make up their own stories of what animals could have been there.  That afternoon, we shared some of these stories back in the classroom.  

Check out the video of the kids hopping like rabbits!

(THANKS FOR THE PICS, POLLY!)