Field Trip Friday: Asheville Botanical Gardens

This week Rylan asked to go to either the NC Arboretum or the Asheville Botanical Gardens so that he could take some pictures of flowers to enter in the fair. We decided to try the Botanical Gardens since we've never been. It was very nice, and not at all what I was expecting. I was thinking it would be similar to the University of Tennessee's Trial Gardens, but it was much more naturalized.


















  The kids were automatically drawn to the water and rocks. And flip flops are not the shoes to wear while chasing an excited toddler over slippery rocks! We spent a lot of time skipping rocks and stomping in puddles and streams.



















Rylan took pictures with my camera so he could get a better shot for his fair entries. He also hogged the camera taking pictures of every tree he hasn't seen before. And their leaves. And their sign. He was pretty excited about some of them since they were on his "want to see" list. He also has an "already seen list" which currently lists about 115 tree species.

We saw a few caterpillars to identify later. And we found a tree with an odd fruit-like seed pod. Rylan collected some seeds from the Cucumber tree and Spice Bush to try and plant at home. We also came home with a new Peterson's Field Guide- A Field Guide to Eastern Trees. And a new bird book too.  Rylan is excited to go back in the spring, since he saw signs for many of the wild flowers he's been wanting to see.

So that was our field trip of the week. Now it's your turn! Did you take a fun outing this week? Did you let your kids explore nature? A museum? Zoo? A neighborhood walk?  Link up below and share your experience! If you don't have a blog, just leave a comment with your favorite field trip.

Please link back to It's a Boy's Life and Field Trip Friday to spread the word!

linked to Fantastic Foto Field Trips,

Field Trip Friday: Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary

 

This week we took a drive over to the Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary. It's 8 acres of land in North Asheville. Mostly wetlands and marshes. We didn't see the map of the sanctuary at first so we headed off down the trail the boys picked. It was a wooded trail that wound around beside the lake- but it wasn't the way to the boardwalk.

The first thing we noticed was this flower- it was everywhere. I brought some of our field guides with us- birds, butterflies, trees and weeds- but Rylan identified it as Jewelweed without having to look it up. There was another flower- 4 petals, white, vine- that was also all over the place. We haven't identified it, but Rylan took a bunch of pictures of different plants to id later. 

 What I realized on this trip is that my kids aren't patient enough for birdwatching! It's like fishing. If you don't catch something in 5 seconds then you are done. I tried to get them to sit and just watch a few times, but they are the on-the-go type. So we walked, collected seeds, moss and leaves.

We did see one bird (well, we saw more, but not close enough to take pictures or identify).  So our birding trip turned into more of a plant trip.  And we came home with acorns, an unidentified fruit of some sort, pine cones, etc.

 We did finally make it back to the parking lot, and the sign and map of the area. So we found our way to the boardwalk- which was really nice. The boys took a break to climb on this cool tree.  It was huge and it's branched were all over the place.

 I think if we had found the boardwalk first, and if we had come earlier than 10am, we might have had better luck on the birding part. But it was still a great trip! Maybe we will take an early morning trip in the fall and see what we see then.

Now it's your turn! Have you taken a fun, educational trip this week? Have you taken school on the road and let the experience do the teaching? Add you link below, and please link back here on your post to spread the word and allow others to link up as well!

linked to Science Sunday, Homeschooling on the Cheap,

My Junior Botanist

On the Fourth of July we took the kids to the North Carolina Arboretum. I've been wanting to visit for a while now and thought it would be a pretty day for it. It was a beautiful place, full of gardens and trails and flowers.

I wish I could show you tons of pictures I took of the Arboretum and my kids, but I can't.  You see about 5 minutes into our tour Rylan's camera batteries died. And because he was one of my main motivators to go to the gardens, I handed over my camera to him. These first 2 pictures are mine, but the rest were taken by him.

Last year my dad went on a few hikes with us in the spring and shared his knowledge of the Smoky Mountain wildflowers with the boys. Rylan soaked it up. He has 2 wildflower guides now and still brings  them out to identify flowers he finds- such as the Butterfly Weed in the alpaca's yard or the various members of the mint family sprinkled throughout the grass.

And since we moved he has been carrying around my dad's old Tree Identification Book, published in 1958, attempting to identify every tree on our property. This past week he has also gotten 2 other tree guides from the library in hopes of finding the few trees he just can't seem to name. So he was pretty excited when the first tree out of the visitors center was this one:

We have one in our back yard. And now he knows what it is. 

 The gardens had an amazing Bonsai exhibit, which was really neat to see.

Rylan hooked on to the Maple Family. And he keeps asking if he is allowed to pick up seeds off the ground to bring home.

He was very happy to see some of the trees he's been seeing in his books. He is tired of Red, Silver and Sugar Maples....

He wants to see and grow the more fancy ones, like the Chalkbark Maple and Paperbark Maple.

So I did come home with a camera full of pictures. Zillions of pictures of trees, bushes, barks and identification labels. And anything else he happened to find interesting.

What are your child's interests? How do you help them to explore them?


linked to Weekend Whatever