Answer the Call of the Wild with ALNC!

Aldo Leopold once wrote, “In June as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them.” Indeed, for the nature lover, summer is an exciting season--each day filled with new flora and fauna to discover and endless ways to enjoy the outdoors!

At ALNC, the sensational sights and sounds of summer are quickly returning. The previously brown prairie is now painted with vibrant hues of compass plants, purple cone flowers and brown-eyed susans, and the once silent wetland is buzzing with the cheerful serenade of chorus frogs and calls of red-winged blackbirds.

We hope you and your family can join us this summer to enjoy this ever-changing landscape with one of our programs like Family Fishing Fun or our Family Trailside Backpack Program. Or, get your youngster started on an adventure in nature discovery at our exciting summer camps!

Click here for more ways to get geared up for summer with ALNC's latest e-newsletter, The Call of the Wild. 

In this issue:

Summer Camps
Construction Update
Upcoming Programs
Nature Passports
Family Nature Clubs
Leopold Discovery Day
Maple Syrup Fest
Thank You Partners
Volunteers Lead The Way

New Summer Programs at ALNC Announced!

Are you ready for exploring, fishing, yoga and more?

As you make your summer plans, check out these JUST ANNOUNCED upcoming programs at ALNC!

Wonder Bugs Family Days

Join us for weekend Wonder Bugs Family Days where we will explore, sing, and craft the day away to a different nature topic each month. You won't want to miss out on the opportunity to share the Wonder Bugs experience with your whole family! Appropriate for children 2-5 years accompanied by an adult. 

REI presents: Yoga for Hikers

Join REI employee Autumn H. for a yoga class developed to benefit hikers. Practicing yoga improves endurance and balance, helps you avoid injury, reduce aches and muscle tension, and be ready to tackle another trail tomorrow! No experience necessary. 

Family Fishing Fun

 
This easy trek will take you to the pond where we’ll meet some of its residents! Our naturalists will show you how to use nets and bug boxes to catch and identify the critters that live, breathe, and eat underwater. Program will be conducted outdoors, rain or shine, so please dress appropriately. 

Puzzling Pond Critters

This easy trek will take you to the pond where we’ll meet some of its residents! Our naturalists will show you how to use nets and bug boxes to catch and identify the critters that live, breathe, and eat underwater. Program will be conducted outdoors, rain or shine, so please dress appropriately. 

Be sure to stop by our website and get a full listing so you don't miss out on all of these wonderful opportunities! 

Wonder Bugs - Shake a Leg!

I wish I had been at Wonder Bugs this week to see you shake your tail feathers!  Being sick is no fun; I have not been moving around much at all. Resting really got my brain thinking, though. Here are some ideas to keep you moving at home…

Paint to music.  Play different music (classical, country, rap, children’s, etc.) and encourage your wonder bug to paint at the same speed as the music. Encourage them to choose colors that express how they feel about the music.  You might also ask your wonder bug to paint what a bird sounds like or other animal sounds they hear.

Eat like a bird. This is a fun way to move- you just have to be willing to let your wonder bug make a mess! So choose your foods wisely and let your wonder bug eat outside.  (Place food items such as cheerios, raisins, or cut up pieces of cheese on a flat plate. Have the wonder bugs fold their arms up like wings and peck at the food with their mouths.) I wonder, will it will be easy or hard to eat like a bird?

Move like what you see.  Head outside with a toilet paper tube or two and look through them for things that move. Every time you find something you have to move like it. For example, if you see an ant crawling on the ground you have to pretend to be an ant and crawl around on the ground. Ask your wonder bug how they are different from an ant. 

I can’t wait to see you later,

Miss Tara

P.S. - If you have pictures or ideas to share please contact Miss Tara!

Next Wonder Bugs Session: Raptor Rapture!

9:30-10:45am
Tuesday, May 31^st & Wednesday, June 1^st, 2011
Registration Deadline: Friday, May 13, 2011

Registration Deadline: Friday, May 27, 2011

Humans aren’t the only animals at the top of the food chain. Come discover the exciting world of raptors! Sharp talons and curved beaks; so many more features of which we shall speak.

ALNC Members: $6/child; Non-Members: $7/child
Click here to register!

Rainy Day Fun!

Don't let a little spring shower keep your kids cooped up and parked on the couch all day!

Keep the kids busy and add a little cheer to this cloudy day with this fun craft:

Basket Buddies, activity adapted from Family Fun

Materials

• 4 large artificial flowers
• Floral wire
• 2 large baskets (we used grapevine baskets, 4 by 11 inches and 4 1/2 by 9 inches)
• Yellow craft foam
• Stapler

• Paintbrush
• Yellow acrylic paint
• 2 sturdy forked sticks (ours were about 15 inches long)
• 2 whisk brooms
• Wooden stake or another stick

Instructions

1. Remove the stems from the flowers. For each eye, loosely fold an 18-inch length of floral wire in half and twist the loop end tightly around the flower. Position the flower on the bottom of the basket, threading the ends of the wire through to the other side, then twist the ends to hold the eye in place.
   
   
2.  To make each beak, cut a kite shape from the craft foam. Fold a 14-inch length of floral wire in half and twist it to form a small loop (a). Fold the foam over the loop and staple it as shown (b). Attach the beak as you did the eyes.
   
   
3. For the mama owl's feet, paint the sticks and allow them to dry. Place the sticks in the ground and set the larger basket on the legs, securing it with floral wire if necessary.
   
   
4. To make the owlet, place the smaller basket on the whisk-broom feet and prop up the basket with the wooden stake or stick.
   
   Send a photo of your Basket Buddies to devcomm@naturenet.com.
   

Driftless Overnight

Adventure and fun are just around the corner 

with ALNC’s summer camp overnights! 

Does your youngster like stories and stargazing? What about orienteering and team challenges? Then check out our upcoming  Driftless Overnight for ages 8+.

Held at our beautiful Black Earth Campus, campers will enjoy exploring the Driftless region's varied topography and discovering the wonders of the night sky. A campfire with snacks will tie up the night and we’ll serve a tasty breakfast in the morning!

Driftless Overnight will be on July 29-30
so sign up today to reserve your spot!
Click here to find out about other summer overnight programs from ALNC!

Wonderful Wetlands!

This May is the 21st Annual American Wetlands Month!  American Wetlands Month was created to celebrate the vital importance of wetlands and to educate about the value of wetlands as a natural resource.

As you may know, wetlands, the collective term for marshes, swamps, bogs, and similar areas found in generally flat vegetated areas, provide a vital link between water and land. Wetlands provide critical fish and wildlife habitat; help regulate water levels within watersheds; improve water quality; reduce flood and storm damages; and support hunting, fishing, and other recreational activities.

Unfortunately, today more than half of America's original wetlands have been destroyed-- drained and converted to farmland, filled for housing developments and industrial facilities, or used to dispose of household and industrial waste! Help protect our remaining wetlands by celebrating American Wetlands Month!


Here are some ideas to help you and your family celebrate:

• Learn about wetlands. Click here to see some wetlands Fact Sheets from the EPA.
  
• Explore a wetland near you! Click here to learn more! 
  
• Become a member of Wisconsin Wetlands Association.
  
•  Encourage your youngster to enter the River of Words Watershed Themed International Art and Poetry Contest.  The contest is open to students ages 5 through 19 anywhere in the world and the grand prize an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to attend the awards ceremony at the Library of Congress.  See some of last year's winning submissions below!
  
  

  

  A round moon rises
  in the dark sky.
  The white bunny
  with brown ears
  is searching
  through the cold snow
  for his covered burrow.
  Seven yellow stars
  lead him home.

Goodness Goslings!

We have a large gaggle of goslings this spring at our Monona Campus!  At last count we had more than ten! 

Did you know …

• Unlike most birds, goslings don’t recognize their own kind. If mother isn’t there for them to see, they will bond to whoever will take care of them.  
• Goslings leave the nest within 24 hours of hatching to take their first dip in the water.
• Gosling’s fluffy down feathers help keep them afloat. 
• The average life span of a Canada goose is 10-25 years but there are reports of geese living to be 30+ plus years of age in the wild.
• Researchers have determined that Canada Geese have a sophisticated level of communication with around 13 different calls ranging from warnings, contentment, loud greeting and alarm calls to the low clucks and murmurs of feeding geese.

To learn more about Canada Geese, check out this website with goose facts and activitiesyour youngster will enjoy!

Or, check out Grady the Goose by Denise Brennan-Nelson from your local library or bookstore!  The book features beautiful illustrations by Artist Michael Glenn Monroe and a great informative section with geese facts to keep your young bird lover engaged and learning!

Sensational Wonder Bugs!

What a sensational week at Wonder Bugs!

Even though the sun wasn’t shining on Tuesday, we had some great times exploring nature using all of our 5 senses! On both days we saw the geese and their goslings, stepped around lots of scat, heard birds like swallows and red-winged blackbirds, smelled trees, and then tasted snack.  One of my favorite smells is crushed leaves from the previous fall. What is your wonder bugs favorite outdoor smell?

Take off your shoes and grab a tennis ball for this at-home activity! First ask a what-do-you-think question: if I touch the tennis ball with my fingers it will feel (the same) or (different than) when I touch the tennis ball with my toes. Touch the tennis ball with your fingers, noting how it feels. Then touch the tennis ball with your toes. Does it feel the same or different? Try other objects such as a leaf, grass, or the bushes in your yard.

One more activity to perk up your ears!  Collect a few small pebbles and half fill a large-mouthed mason jar with water. Place everything on a table or counter top. Then ask: if I drop the pebbles into the jar with water I (will) or (will not) be able to hear the sound. Place your ear close to the jar and drop a pebble in the water. Could you hear it drop? Did it sound loud or soft? Drop a similar sized pebble on the table. Could you hear it drop? Did it sound louder or softer than the one you dropped in the jar? At the end ask: when I dropped the pebble into the water, I heard….

(Activities are from: Sense-Abilities by Michelle O’Brien-Palmer)

Now go outside and see what you can see and listen for the soft and loud sounds of nature!

Bye for now,

Miss Tara

A fun book by Aliki: MyFive Senses (ISBN 0-690-04794-0)

A song to sing by Miss Tara Von Dollen: 5 Senses*

Chorus: I’ve got 5 senses. 5 senses have I.

I’ve got 5 senses. 5 senses have I.

I’ve got eyes to see with. A tongue to taste what I eat. Ears to hear sounds around me. A nose to smell something sweet. Chorus

I can feel with my fingers. I can touch with my toes. My skin makes up my 5^th sense; it covers me, head to toes. Chorus

*A-minor chord throughout except for G at the end of every second sentence.

Do you have any pictures to share from this week? Please email them to Miss Alanna or Miss Tara. Thank you!

Next Wonder Bugs Session: Shake a Leg!

9:30-10:45am
Tuesday, May 17th & Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
Registration Deadline: Friday, May 13, 2011

Move and dance like baby animals and their mamas. Live guest appearances are sure to fluff you up with knowledge!

ALNC Members: $6/child; Non-Members: $7/child
Click here to register!

90 Days of Learning and Discovery!

90 days of summer = 90 days of learning and discovery at ALNC! Check out these photos from last year's camps!

Then, click here to read an interesting article about the benefits of summer education and keep your child's mind and body active with one of our summer camps like Meet the Beetles!, Tune Into Nature and Pioneer Wagon Train! 

Camps are filling quickly so click here to register today!