The Creek
The creek is a magical place, and we spend time exploring it each day. Even with how dry it has been, we are always amazed at how much life there is. During one very short walk through the creek bed we challenged a group of kids to count how many living things we could see. First we found a toad hopping along. As we followed the toad, it lead us to a centipede. Then we turned over a big flat piece of sandstone and discovered two little mice, who quickly scurried away. We also noticed several salamanders and even a chipmunk who has been living in the rip rap rocks. We talked about why these animals might choose to shelter in the creek bed.
The creek is also a place that inspires us to create. The kids now know where to find the best clay and they have been making "dragon eggs" and building little nests for them.
Jasper worked at making a little dog out of clay using sticks that he found for legs and a tail.
We love scraping the darker sandstone and shale and mixing them with water to make natural face paint.
Sometimes we find something in the creek that is a complete mystery, like these strange black mushrooms we've never encountered before!