1. Kids will pan for gold (and take home whatever they pan that is gold colored).
2. Kids will shop for important items with their gold or paper money they traded with gold
3. Kids will learn who became the richest. (*HInt: It wasn’t the Goldminers)
4. Kids will travel from Europe, China, and New England in boat, train and wagon train to California in search of gold.
5. Kids will create and color their own boomtown and name it whatever they like.
6. Kids will get deputized to attempt to keep law and order in their Boomtowns

Parents, help stock our pretend General store by bringing shovels, pick axes, wide brimmed hats, canned goods, lanterns, bags of rice or beans, flour, boots, and whatever else you think a goldminer might buy from the general store!)  All items will be returned unused.  We have three or four goldmining pans the kids can take turns.

And if you miss this parkday, you can experience panning for gold and other great lessons at our very own Autry Museum of the West and Native Americans at Griffith Park.  Unless you schedule a fieldtrip, you can only pan on Saturdays and Sundays.

EVERYONE is a winner.  May I request that you BRING ONE or TWO RECYCLED TOYS per child, that are easy to part with to put on the prize table, so at the end of the events children get to pick a prize of their choice. And at the end of this month…   True to Win it in a Minute rules, each child will get a ticket disc if they complete the task in under a minute.  Since we will be playing in sets of two, the get another disc if they are the first of the pair to finish.  And to add our M&B twist, a third disc will be given out to the one child who was the most encouraging to both players until everyone finished.

Then the kids determined the order in which they picked their donated prizes at the end of MayDay playday by who had the most ticket discs.

Sometime this month, take a walk & talk with your family after the sun sets.  Does it smell differently at night? How quickly does it get really dark?  What sounds do you hear?  Are they any different than earlier in the day?  Look around for the animals that are awake at night.  Make a list of your observations with words or pictures of what you witness. It’s even better if the whole family joins in. Talk about Frogs, Bats, Owls,Mice , and Opossum while you hunt for evidence of them in your neighborhood.

After our recent visit from Topanga Wilderness Youth - Owls are on our mind to help Thrive.

To learn more about night-time animals and their feeding habits… order some Owl Pellets to take apart; I will bring  a dozen for families to take apart and identify the prey of an Owl.(Thanx Colleen & Brenda!) We will use popsicle sticks or toothpicks to pull them apart (and some rubber gloves).  Armed with a print out of an owl feeding  ID chart, you and your kids can determine what your owl ate for supper.   Remember Owls come out after the sun starts to go down.  No lunch or breakfast for these silent soarers!

(RIGHT) Kids & parents were amazed at the bones and fur owls regurgitate (the acid in an owl’s gizzard isn’t strong enough to break down the entire mouse, mole or bird).

Frog Highlights

Here’s a link with different frog calls in California to help you identify just which frog you heard.  Click on the frog’s name for lots of pictures of that frog and what their habitats could look like.

Click here to see some M&B children imitate Frogs and their Calls.

Opossums help gardens by eating snails, slugs, insects, snakes, rats and overripe fruit. Opossums are highly resistant to diseases such as rabies because of its efficient immune system and lower body temperature. Opossums are not a public health threat. There is far less of a risk of infection from opossums than from house pets.

Understanding Bats through Fun Games

Our kids played a few games to learn first-hand how much Bats rely on their senses of sound and smell. ECHOLOCATION is an excellent adaptation to handle hunting for prey in the darkest nights.  It’s nature’s SONAR.  Mother Bats must also use their sense of smell in order to find and nurse their newly born young. Most of my game ideas came from Marcie Claey’s lesson plans.

One more Bat Game

Did  you know that Bats have Bat Nurseries for their babies?  To keep warm, the babies are squeezed in so tightly together it is hard to tell whose bat pup is whose.  The pups have a distinctive call that only the Mom’s recognize, but it is the smell of each pup that is the strongest indicator of whose pup to nurse (because Bats are Mammals and all mammals nurse their young).  So, my 4 year old helped me glue about 100 cotton balls on a large sheet of paper some of which had peppermint, lemon, rose, anise or balsam fir scents.   They had to find their “bat pup cottonball” by only using their sense of smell.

We will Host a Traditional Indian (First Nations) Trade Blanket:

Children should bring Items to Trade -

Nothing new (handmade items or something they own or found that they are willing to part with)

Let’s go a bit deeper in understanding whose Shoulders of Primitive Giants we stand upon.  I will open a discussion amongst the kids (and parents) at blanket time about what makes Communities work and thrive.  How do we rely on each other.  Where do we fail when not supported.  We will discuss how things like survival, barn raising, even a visit to a working farm are a great experience with successful outcomes when the entire community pitches in.  I encourage you to dialogue with your own family about how they support each other and how they would like to do more of that.  And I will of course have some craft or activity to bring it all home.

There is a similar event coming up that is much closer  liek Buckeye called Elements Gathering that takes place near Santa Barbara on July 27 – August 1.  Registration is presently open.

For Indian Trade – Kids bring stuff from home to take turns trading with on the Indian Blanket.  It can be something you made, found, or already own.  One person puts what they want to trade in the center of the blanket.  If you are interested in that item, you put out what feels like a fair trade for the item on the blanket  in front of you.  The person who put the item in the middle gets to go around and inspect the items and pick on to trade.  The items are exchanged and the traders shake hands, and say “Good Trade!”  We will most likely go around 2 or 3 times, so bring enough booty to make a few trades.

If I can find the right tree/branch, I will whittle an Atlatl (Spear extender!) for the kids to try to throw.  And I will bring a grinding stone for anyone who wants to grind down corn or barley for primitive cooking.

And what a surprise – A Baby fledgling that we helped until it could fly.  Of course we waited for hours for the momma to help it out.  And then came in to feed it baby worms.  Do  you see the baby worm?

Come Paint a Poem.

Gratitude for the MudPies & Butterflies Mother Laurie, who with her children will sponsor this experience of the senses.  Paints, paper, and poems provided.

DISCLAIMER:

Consider discussing this ahead of time, depending on your child’s awareness of the Cycle of Life.  Connie (founder of Topanga Wildlife Awareness Youth) and myself will take care to speak in caring terms in order to protect the psyche’s of our children.  However, I do not believe in controlling the open discussion amongst the children. And some of them are VERY passionate about protecting these beautiful animals.

Some of the Books I checked out for kids to learn about the threatened Wildlife

For a craft project, kids can make Owl kites.  Some children have been building and painting Owl boxes for Owls to nest within.  Other children have been requesting purveyors of rodentcide not only stop selling it, but sign a petition to protect our Wildlife.

Learn how you can be a Wildlife Ambassador.  And take the Pledge with us to protect our Red-tailed hawks, Bobcats and cubs, Owls and owlets and more.

To learn more go to www.topangawildlife.com

If someone brings newspapers, we can make biodegradable potters and plant some of the Organic Seeds that I will bring to share (peppers, beans, kale, brocolli, carrots, squash, etc).

And lets make something we can wear!  Everyone will also get to make and decorate their own Earthday Vest!   Bring scraps of cloth or make the base from a brown Grocery Bag. Extra scissors would be helpful.

The Action Starts @ 1:00  – Deltacs will be there by Noon!

1. Guest Speaker from Honeylove 1:15 pm

2. Learn the Pirate Booty Bee Dance – Geometry & Angles

3. Blind Honey tasting (BRING ONE): Sage honey, Avocado Honey, Wildflower, etc.

4. Sign the Krieger’s Bon Voyage Memory book (Bring a photo of your family to add)

5. Paint a fence – Missouri style

In addition to Bees Part II, join us for our ode to MISSOURI, our Bon Voyage for an original M&B family moving their next week.  Missouri has an annual “Paint the Fence” Festival inspired by Mark Twain’s Huck Finn, so the Krieger’s will set up a part of our fence to paint.  So don’t come in fancy duds; actually you can dress the Praiirie part like Parker who is coming either like Little House on the Prairie style, or a cowgirl.  Feel free to dress up like any of Mark Twain’s characters as well.  There will be a memory book to sign and add a photo or two from your family as a keepsake.

Here are some more outtakes from last week’s Parkday!

Come Say Bon Voyage to an Original M&B Family