Archives for December 2009

After our last nature walk, K and I have gotten quite hooked to the rush that we experienced after each trip, that I have decided that we will make this a weekly habit. This time round, we ventured slightly a little further; the Dairy Farm Nature Park, located about 2 km away from our home.

Butterflies of various colours greeted us as we started our walk. We craned our necks, looked left and right as we heard numerous birds chirping, in the hope that we will spot some uncommon birds but alas, did not see any.

The park was relatively quiet on a Monday morning, except for a couple of nature photographers and families that we met along the way. We spotted many wild flowers, unfortunately, with my lack of knowledge of flower species, I could not really tell K what they were. Fortunately for me, K did not show tremendous interest in the plants and much preferred looking out for insects and other creepy crawlies. Anyhow, looks like I have a bit of homework to do to get myself up to speed on my knowledge about things in nature.

K spotted his first spiderweb in the ‘wild’, his first stream that morning and plenty more wild flowers along the way. The view of the lush greenery, fresh air and peaceful surroundings made up for the lack of birds. Most definitely we will be back to explore a new route, and will be armed with our magnifying lens the next time

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Setting :

• bright and sunny morning at 9 a.m.
• a small reservoir in our neighbour-hood park

Sounds :

• Birds chirping
• Crickets and other critters
• Cascading water

Discoveries :

• A baby brown lipped snail (its shell was only about 1 cm length)
• Wild fungi
• Bumblebee
• Butterflies
• Lots of large black ants, about 2cm in length (Crematogaster sp)
• Wildflowers
• A black crowned night heron (K’s description; ‘funny bird with long legs.’)

Result :

• An extremely observant and participative little one; busy looking under rocks, anticipating what he could discover under it.
• Squealing with delight when he saw how the mimosa plant’s leaves reacted when he touched it
• A happy and energetic tot who was so willing to pose for photos
• No mention of TV or any present super-hero obsession throughout the 1 and a half hour walk

My initial worries were naught. I was worried that there will be little to see in the neighbour-hood park behind our house, and he might get bored and restless. But our nature experience proved how wrong I was.

“This is all play to the children, but the mother is doing invaluable work; she is training their powers of observation and expression, increasing their vocabulary and their range of ideas by giving them the name and the uses of an object at the right moment,–when they ask, ‘What is it?’ and ‘What is it for?” – Charlotte Mason

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