Buds: September 28, 2026

We had a pretty exciting discovery first thing in the morning: a large praying mantis! It immediately captured the Buds’ attention, and unlike some of our discoveries that are exciting for a few minutes before everyone moves on, this one held their interest throughout the day.

We found some information about mantids in one of our books and learned a little more about our new friend. Of course, one of the most important questions was: what does it eat? That sent the kids off searching for potential mantis food, including spiders and potato bugs. I love when finding one creature naturally leads us into noticing all the other little lives around us too.

There was plenty to notice above our heads as well. The bird feeder was very busy, with visits from goldfinches, blue jays, cardinals, sparrows, and chickadees. The boys enjoyed putting peanuts out for the blue jays, and a few decided they wanted to see if they could convince a chickadee to eat right from their hands.

That required a very different kind of energy from some of our usual play. If you want a tiny wild bird to come anywhere near you, you have to be calm, patient, still, and quiet. They stood with seeds in their hands and waited. Whether a chickadee cooperated or not, there was something worthwhile in the trying.

We also slowed down for a couple of stories, Have You Seen My Acorn? and The Sun Thief, before eventually heading down to The Flats.

There, the Buds got busy throwing rocks into the water, climbing logs, making willow crowns, and hunting for toads. We decided to go on a fossil hunt too, and on our way one of the boys noticed leaves beginning to change. He picked out a beautiful green leaf that was just a slightly different shade from the others and gifted it to me. It was a small observation, but a good reminder of how closely these kids are beginning to know this place. The seasonal changes don't have to be dramatic for them to notice.

Our fossil hunt also turned up a very chalky rock. Naturally, finding out that a rock can draw means you need to test exactly what it can draw on. Different surfaces were tried, including my shirt and arms! Sometimes an interesting rock is more exciting for what you can do with it than for what it actually is.

Back at Heron Tree Estates, we spent some time with our nature journals before heading to the park for pickup. Even then, the experimenting wasn't over. Some of the boys wanted to climb a tree but discovered they were too short to reach where they needed to go. Their solution? Start piling rocks against the trunk to give themselves a boost.

It was a day full of that kind of figuring out: What does a mantis eat? How close can we get to a chickadee? What can this strange rock draw on? How can we get ourselves into that tree?

The answers aren't always the most interesting part. Sometimes it's watching what they’ll try next.

Thanks for a great day Buds!