Sunday, February 28, 2010

SKIP - Week 6

Beaming sun and fabulously sticky snow capped off the last session for the Winter 2010 SKIP program, making a wonderful playground for a Discovery Hike.






Volunteer Heather Lunn, representing our Rideau Valley Field Naturalists partner, led a hike around the new loop trail at the Lally Homestead and helped us to gain a better understanding of how animals and plants cope with winter. Migration, adaptation and hibernation were the themes.


The first stop focussed on migration. Each participant was given a card with a bird name on it and list of the food it eats. Everyone had to decide whether that bird was likely to migrate or stay here based on whether its primary food source would be readily available in the winter. Of those that migrated, Heather then demonstrated how difficult the journey is by handing out cards indicating what sorts of calamaties could befall the feathered travellers. Fortunately some of our "birds" made it safely to their destinations.




Next our participants explored the "3 Fs" for winter survival: fur, food and fat. We talked about different animals and how they adapt to winter conditions - preparing for the cold and snowy conditions.


Next we explored hibernation and talked about some typical animals that hibernate, such as bears, chipmunks and groundhogs. Frogs hibernate deep in the mud beneath ponds, rivers and lakes, and Heather (with her frozen froggy friend) told us about the amazing wood frog, which is well known for its astounding ability to freeze solid and survive thanks to a special sugar in its cells.






Plants, too, take a rest in the winter, but that doesn't mean we can't explore them in winter. Our next activity was to learn how to identify tree species by looking at their bark and buds.







With such fantastic snow for making forts and snowmen, how could we resist some playtime in the snow before our last snack in the clubhouse. The kids were given some tokens to take home, including a workbook to remind them of all the materials covered in the last six weeks. There was also a survey enclosed for the kids and their parents or guardians to return to us so that we can evaluate the program and make plans for future sessions. Stay tuned!






A big thank you to this week's volunteers: Judy Fletcher, Jane Irwin, Judy Buehler (from the Rideau Valley Field Naturalists), Beth Peterkin and Pat Batchelor. A big thank you as well to all our partners and funders: the Ministry of Health Promotion, the Community Stewardship Council of Lanark County, ecoPerth, the Rideau Valley Field Naturalists, the Tay Valley Cross Country Ski Club and Murphys Point Provincial Park.

And, above all, thanks to our 20 participants and their parents for taking part in this exciting pilot project that we think has been a positive and fun experience!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

SKIP - Week 5

What a fun day!

On Sunday our SKIP gang enjoyed a fantastic session at the Lally Homestead that featured learning about two great outdoor skills: building a shelter and cooking bannock on a campfire.

Our participants were divided into two groups. The first group hauled the discarded Christmas trees and branches that had been brought from outside of the provincial park (since we don't cut or destroy natural features in the park) to the shelter-building location. It was a good spot because it featured a fallen tree and some shrubbery that made for additional protection. We talked about how to use the trees as the main supports and the cut boughs for the walls, roof and floor. We also learned about considering things like wind direction, natural features (trees, rocks, hillsides) and terrain or elevation in choosing a shelter location. Then the crew got busy, working together to make a nice cosy shelter.

After a while the teams switched, with the shelter builders heading to another location where SKIP volunteers were tending a campfire that had developed some lovely coals for cooking the bannock. The group had learned that bannock is a kind of unleavened bread - a bit like a pancake or even a beaver tail. The kids were given bowls containing all the ingredients except the water (the recipe will be sent home with the kids next week) and mixed it up with their hands, flattened it like a pancake, wrapped it around a stick and cooked it over the fire.

Towards the end of the session we all congregated in the clubhouse where we enjoyed the bannock with local maple syrup, hot chocolate and apple juice while looking over the results from our previous photography and craft sessions. Great stuff!

Special thanks to our knowledgeable session leader Beth Peterkin, along with volunteers Jane Irwin, Heather Lunn, Pat Batchelor and Judy Fletcher for a great day!

Next week is our final SKIP program for the winter session and will feature a Discovery Hike. Don't worry, though, we're busy planning activities for the spring!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

SKIP - Week 4

Today the SKIP kids made some tracks!

In a session led by Friends' volunteer Judy Fletcher, our participants spent some time in the clubhouse making nature crafts related to the tracks we have seen around the Lally Homestead. We talked about some of the different animals that have left tracks in the snow, and Judy passed around a "mystery photo" - can you guess who left these tracks (top photo)?


Next, some of the kids worked to make stencils of tracks of a number of common species found at Murphys Point Provincial Park and other parts of Ontario. Meanwhile, others worked with Judy to make plaster casts of some of those same creatures' footprints.

Judy brought great posters of all the animals that match the plaster casts. Our SKIP kids made some super stencils to take home. The plaster casts weren't quite dry enough to take home today, but will be ready to go next week.










After finishing the crafts, Steph and Pat led the troops on a short hike around the homestead where we could get a really good look at a number of tracks thanks to the thin coating of fresh snow we ordered up for the occasion. We saw lots of deer prints, along with mouse, squirrel and rabbit tracks. Naturally we also spotted signs of humans, dogs and vehicles in the neighbourhood! Some animals left other signs that they had been there, such as scat, and we observed beaver and muskrat lodges, too! (Our sleepy porcupine friend was still snoozing in the vicinity, too!)

We ended the session with a chat over Valentine's snacks in the Clubhouse, where we heard lots of stories about encounters with animals and their interesting habits at home, when camping and while out and about. It was another great day for SKIP and we look forward to next week's session! (Unfortunately the photographer neglected to get pictures of the kids in action, but we have lots of evidence of the "tracks" they left behind!)

















PS - That mystery picture? It's otter tracks!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

SKIP - Week 3

Again this week the Super Kids In Parks were favoured with beautiful weather as we enjoyed the great outdoors at Murphys Point in beaming sunshine and tolerable temperatures! This week's session was packed with all sorts of great information and activity!

Jeff Ward and Sarah O'Grady of the Community Stewardship Council of Lanark County, one of our SKIP partners, were on hand to lead the fun. Jeff kicked it off with an introduction to orienteering. He showed the participants topographical maps of the Perth area and satellite imagery of the Lally Homestead site to put everything into perpective. Next we had some instruction (and a bit of a reminder for some of us adult volunteers!) on how to use a compass. After some handy information about safety in the wilds, we set out into the field at the homestead to try our skills. Teams worked together to follow coordinates to make a triangle - and we were all quite pleased when we ended up where we were supposed to be!


In the last half of the session, Sarah gave an overview of the history of snowshoeing in Canada, which tied in nicely to some of our discussions about how animals adapt to travelling over snow in winter. Next the kids had the chance to strap on some nifty state-of-the-art snowshoes (thanks to the Stewardship Council and Mississippi Valley Conservation) and explore the fields. Deep snow isn't a problem currently, but the snowshoes had great crampons that helped to dig into the icy layer, making movement a breeze! For some of the kids, this was their first time on snowshoes.

Finally we retired to the clubhouse for snacks and chat about our Weekly Wander homework. The great adventures continue!