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Children dig into the life of a groundhog
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Neighbors | Alexis Bartolomucci.Hillary Lenton whistled for the children like groundhogs do when in danger. The children then moved their groundhogs in and out of their holes when they heard the whistle.
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Neighbors | Alexis Bartolomucci.Children who attended the Groundhog event at Ford Nature Center on Feb. 5 created their own groundhog in a hole during craft time.
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Neighbors | Alexis Bartolomucci.Rylynn, one of the children who attended the Groundhog event at Ford Nature Center, crawled through the tunnels that were set up for the children to use to act like groundhogs crawling through their tunnels.
By ALEXIS BARTOLOMUCCI
Once per month, Ford Nature Center hosts a program for children about nature and the different animals in it. This month, the children learned about groundhogs on Feb. 5, just a few days after Groundhog’s Day.
Hillary Lenton, Mill Creek Park naturalist, taught the children all about groundhogs and their lifestyle. Lenton went over the different names for groundhogs, such as whistlepigs, groundhogs and woodchucks. Groundhogs got the name whistlepig because they whistle to each other to show signs of danger.
The activity the children participated in this month was tunnel crawling. Lenton set up two tunnels for the children to crawl through like groundhogs would do in their tunnels they dig. Several of the children returned to the tunnels to play in after the program was over.
“The children were crawling through the tunnels,” said Lenton. “The groundhogs dig their holes in the ground, they dig tunnels and move about 700 pounds of dirt and rocks in a day.”
To end the program, the children made little groundhogs on a stick to pop up from a small cup which represented the groundhog’s hole. When the children finished putting their craft together, Lenton whistled to show there was danger and the children popped their groundhogs in and out of their holes.
The next program will be about owls and will take place on March 10 at Pioneer Pavillion.
Mill Creek Parks will also be celebrating their 125th anniversary in April.