We have lived here in Utah for 3 1/2 years and I have not ever been to Red Butte Garden. Little did I know what we were missing. Yesterday the 1st graders from Elk Meadows took their field trip their and I had signed up to chaperon. There were about 80 of us if you count the adults. We broke up into groups of 12 and were lead around the park by a guide. Our guide's name was Miriam. Before we started our mini trek we had to give our group a name. We decided on "Squirrel Scouts" So anytime Miriam wanted to get the kids attention she would say, "HEY SQUIRREL SCOUTS" and the children would answer back, "HEY MIRIAM".
Most of the trails are paved, but we started our walk off the "official" trail which took us to a magpies nest. We learned that magpies make 2 nests, the real one and a fake one to throw off predators. The children also got to see a squirrel up in a tree and we watched a snake slither out of site. As we walked along the trail she would stop and talk about the importance of plants: their stems, the leaves, she even had the children dissect a flower to see all the different parts. The best part was watching all the children be so drawn into it all.
We walked by a little pond where we saw a mama duck with baby ducks and a bunch of Canadian geese that put on quite a show for us.
When we got to the herb garden we were allowed to walk around and rub with our "butterfly fingers" the different plant and see what the smelled like. Then all the children sat down and they we given a little piece of fresh chive to taste. Some children thought it was yummy, but most of them spent the next few minutes trying to spit it all out .
There were so many beautiful flowers that we got to walk by and smell. I wish I had time to take pictures of them all, but I had to remember I was there to help take care of the children. As we left the park we were handed a pass to return. I have already told Steve to plan n doing that for one of our date afternoons while the kids are in school, so I can take some more time REALLY looking at everything.
1 comment:
Sounds like allot of fun.. wish we lived in a place that had cool stuff like this to do as a family.
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