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Neighbors | Zack Shively.Marilyn Williams used the acorns to help the children work on their math skills. She had the children count the number of acorns aloud. They played a game where the children subtracted one acorn from their pile throughout a story.
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Neighbors | Zack Shively.The children at the Ford Nature Center's "In a Nutshell" program did a craft where they pasted a paper cut-out of a squirrel onto a page. They glued leaves to on the page to give the squirrel a colorful tail. Finally, they pasted an acorn into the squirrel's hands.
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Neighbors | Zack Shively.Marilyn Williams took the children outside of the Ford Nature Center to collect leaves and acorns. The group walked along a back trail leading to a large oak tree.
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Neighbors | Zack Shively.The Ford Nature Center's "In a Nutshell" program taught the children about what animals eats acorns and how the acorns grow into large oak trees.
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Neighbors | Zack Shively.The Ford Nature Center hosted a Tales for Tots program for young children on Nov. 17. The program focused on acorns. Pictured, Marilyn Williams read a story to the children about acorns.
by ZACK SHIVELY
The Ford Nature Center invited parents and children to its learning program on the acorn on Nov. 17.
Marilyn Williams led the event, titled “Tales for Tots: In a Nutshell.” She gave the students story time, a small walk and a craft during the program.
She had the children, all ages between 2 and 3, color a picture of an oak tree before the event started. Then she introduced the acorn and explained that they grow into oak trees.
The children sat on the floor to listen to Williams read a story to them. The story covered the life of an acorn and how the seeds become oak trees.
She asked the children to sit in a circle and gave each child five acorns. She read a piece where a squirrel took an acorn. After each time, the children subtracted one acorn from their total. They worked on both literacy and math skills in this activity.
After the counting activity, Williams walked to a board of animals and they talked about which animals eat acorns. The students knew that squirrels eat them, but they were surprised to find out that deer and wolves eat acorns too.
Williams led the group outside and onto a trail in the back of the Ford Nature Center. She asked the children to find two oak leaves and five acorns, which they did. She stopped at a large oak tree to show the children how large of a tree the small acorn becomes.
The children ended the program with a craft when they returned inside.
Williams handed the children a squirrel cut-out, a piece of green paper and leaves. The children glued the squirrel to the paper. Then, they glued the leaves to the back of the squirrel to give it a textured and colorful tail. Finally, they glued one of the acorns they found outside to the squirrel’s hands.