Nature Club - Ponds, Turtles & Micro Organisms

Today we met with our Nature Club friends once again at the Tacoma Nature Center for a wonderful talk on Painted Turtles. The gal did a fabulous job with the children keeping them engaged, sharing a turtle shell, skull of a turtles head and more. When they discussed the diet of a turtle she fed the turtles - very fun! We also did a brief talk on the Western Pond Turtle which is quiet threatened, she shared on the local rehab program being used in conjunction with Woodland Park Zoo. It was very interesting and for Holly a good connection because just last week we discussed the Western Pond Turtle at the Woodland Park Zoo when we were there.

After a talk in the nature center the host then guided the kids to the first bridge at Snake Lake where they searched for Painted Turtles. We found quiet a few on a log and several swimming about. She spoke a bit more, answered several questions and then left the kids hard at work in their nature journals. They all drew amazing drawings of turtles and their habitat.

To round out our visit we got permission to dip water from the pond for each kid. So, they all took turns getting a little jar full and one master tub full. We then brought this back to settle and we all searched for various micro organisms in the water. We used magnifying glasses and microscopes - the kids LOVED this part! They spent a lot of time during this session and were probably not quiet done when we decided to wrap up and enjoy some play. The kids found several bugs that we were able to identify and some that we could not. It was a great experience for them... some even asked to come back and do this again very soon!!!