Seedlings: September 29, 2026

I was watering some plants when the Seedlings began arriving this morning, and a few of them naturally joined in to help. A simple start to the day, but one I always enjoy. When children see the adults around them engaged in real work, they often want to become part of it too.

We told them about the big praying mantis the Buds had found the day before and showed them some pictures. That sent us into the Bug Encyclopedia, where the investigation quickly expanded beyond mantises to spiders, scorpions, and whatever else caught their attention on the pages.

From bugs, we somehow made our way to squirrels.

I read Have You Seen My Acorn? and brought out a squirrel skull I'd found. We took a close look at those impressive front teeth, including the parts that extend surprisingly far back into the skull. Then I pulled out our Nature's Children: Squirrels book, expecting we might read a little bit of it.

They were riveted.

We stayed with the squirrel book for quite a while, and eventually decided we should head out and look for some of the things we'd been talking about. Our plan became a walk along the path in search of squirrels, acorns, and signs of Fall.

Of course, it didn't take long for the plan to take a detour.

Two boys discovered some enormous burdock leaves and picked them up. One began using a smaller leaf like a quill, carefully "writing" across the surface of the big one.

"We're writing messages to scorpions."

Apparently, we had left the house on a fall nature walk and were now carrying scorpion scrolls.

This is one of my favourite things about heading out with kids. The things we've been learning about don't necessarily stay neatly separated into "learning" and "play." Scorpions from a book can wander right into an autumn walk and transform a burdock leaf into an important piece of correspondence.

There were gifts along the way too. One boy picked me a dandelion, and another found a tiny white flower to give me.

Eventually we found the oak trees we were looking for. Along the way we noticed some of the other trees growing around us, including honey locust and spruce. Under the oaks, we collected acorns and looked at the evidence left behind.

One observation led to a good question: Do acorn tops taste good? There are lots here, so maybe the squirrels don't like them.

No need to rush to an answer. Sometimes noticing a pattern and wondering why is the best part.

On our walk back we got to see big construction machinery, practised crossing the street together, found a caterpillar and stopped to admire a front garden full of colourful zinnias buzzing with bees.

After lunch, the day shifted back into play. Some rope became the starting point for a game of "snakes." The Seedlings discovered ripe raspberries at the back of the garden and picked themselves a snack. There was time on the rope swing, digging, and a game of "families."

Then came one final discovery: another caterpillar! This one looked like a tiny version of the caterpillar we'd found on our walk earlier.

It was a day where one curiosity seemed to keep opening the door to another: mantises to scorpions, squirrels to acorns, trees to caterpillars, and raspberries straight from the garden.

And somewhere out there, presumably, a scorpion has mail waiting for it.

Thanks for a great day, Seedlings!