Buds: September 14, 2026

The sun was shining for Buds this week, and we eased into the morning with some free play around the yard. The rope swing was busy, the Perler beads came out, and everyone had some time to settle in and find what interested them.

It didn’t take long for our first creature discovery of the day. One of the boys found a caterpillar and quickly named him Hickory. Of course, once you name a caterpillar, you need to know a little more about him.

We looked him up together to find out what kind of caterpillar he was and, importantly, what he might like to eat. We learned that oak, hickory, and pecan leaves were on the menu, so we pulled out pictures of the different leaves to help us know what to look for. A habitat was carefully created for Hickory, turning one small discovery into a bit of research, observation, and planning.

Later, we headed down to The Flats and stopped at Silly Goose Beach. There was more creature investigating to do almost immediately when we found a mystery bug. We pulled out our identification pamphlets and searched through them together for clues.

The ducks also came by for a visit, and the boys spent some time counting them as they moved around the river. One boy managed to catch a dragonfly for a closer look before letting the adventure continue.

There was plenty of physical exploring too. Logs were climbed, the beach was investigated, and one boy set off on a toad hunt. He found plenty of grasshoppers and butterflies along the way, although the toads remained elusive this week. This led to guesses about where they might have gone, are they getting ready to hibernate?

The boys move naturally between different kinds of play on our adventures. One minute they are climbing a log, the next they are counting ducks or searching through a field guide to figure out what they’ve found. There doesn’t need to be much separation between playing, exploring, and learning when there are interesting things all around us to notice.

And this week, there certainly were.

Thanks for a great day, Buds!