I had two of my young grand daughters.....five and seven years old....for the day today. We spent the morning inside playing and chatting. I got them a couple of brown paper bags with handles and let them color them before lunch promising them a "nature adventure" after they ate.
They had baby carrots and broccoli to dip in ranch dressing with their lunch so when we started our adventure I took them outside and let them each pull a carrot from the garden and explained where carrots came from and how they grow. I told them how broccoli grows above the ground and carrots below. We went around the garden smelling all my herbs....rosemary....lemon thyme...mint...basil...and regular thyme.
As we walked around I showed them the honey bees on the clover and told them to watch where they stepped so they wouldn't be stung or kill the bees. I explained how the hive looks and how bees make the honey for their winter food. Later I let them taste fresh honey. I took them to the butterfly bush and showed them the bumble bees and explained the difference. They wanted to pick a flower off the bush and I let them each pick one explaining how they should only take one so the butterflies and bees could have food. I also told them to always thank the things in nature when they picked something or found a gift like a bird feather.
As we walked around they filled their bags with gifts of lichen...nut shells...little shiny rocks. We found a bird nest and I gave it to one of the girls and got another from the house for the other. We sat on the porch for a while and watched the birds at the feeder and a pair of bluebirds making trips to their house to feed their babies. I explained how male and female birds are colored differently so the male would attract the predators and the female could get away. I told them the names for the birds at the feeder....cardinals...finch...and nut hatches.
When we came back inside I gave them each an old wasp nest to add to their "prizes". Both had picked up a stick to carry back inside so I got them each a feather and tied them to their sticks with streamers of multicolored yarn to make "fairy wands". We spent the rest of the afternoon granting wishes and sprinkling imaginary fairy dust on each other.
When their mom came to pick them up she asked me if they had behaved. I told her they had and we'd had a good time. I looked at the girls and said "We learned a lot didn't we?" Both gave a big YEAAAAAH! I told them to tell their mother what they learned. The oldest piped up and said......."We learned about birds and bees....." Well......their mom looked like Linda Blair in the Exorcist. Her head swung around towards me....she placed her hand over her heart....her mouth fell open....she had a look of horror on her face....she was speechless! I burst out laughing so hard that tears came to my eyes. When I could finally stop laughing I started telling her about the honey bees giving us honey and the colors of the birds....... Once that was clear she had a good laugh too. I don't think I'll ever forget the look on my daughters face!
