Animals Prepare for Winter Program Outline
Welcome and Introduction
1. Behavioral Guidelines for visit:
- We are in the animals' neighborhood
- Stay on trails with your group unless taken off trails with class activity
- Leave flowers and plants for animals (don't pick anything)
- Pick up trail treasures to enjoy on-site, but no collecting-leave everything
2. Signs of winter and how people prepare for winter
3. How animals prepare for winter
- Insulate
- Hibernate
- Migrate
- Propagate
- Generate (heat)
- Congregate
Rotations
- Survival hike - Students will take a short walk around the nature center as they investigate and find evidence of how many ONC animals survive winter. The hike includes a quick visit to a kid sized "bear den" to learn about the changes that enable animals to hibernate. An informational walk through our injured and imprinted birds to see evidence of insulation. A look at animals under the water like turtles and fish. The end of the hike involves investigating plants to see how some insects sneek through winter.
- Migration Station- Students will play a game to hlelp them understand the dangers (both natural and human introduced) involved in long migrations.
- Generation - Students will make a pine cone bird feeder to take home for wintering birds.
Topics are covered by varying degrees depending upon the maturity of students and time constraints.
