Our Pond Adventure & The Great Tadpole Hunt

[I really need to make them some naturalist style outfits.]

Last night, while watching Almighty Amphibians on Animal Planet, Big Snail asked how a tadpole grew into a frog. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to catch some tadpoles so he could watch them grow.

We are very, very blessed that Great-Great Grandmother Snail (she passed away last year at almost 106 years old) has over 400 acres of land that we can explore. On this land she has a pretty big pond. We loaded up our "nature exploring tools" and headed out early this afternoon.

First, we walked around the pond to see what we could find. We took three containers with us for collecting specimens, binoculars, a compass, water and snacks, spoons for collecting and digging, an insect field guide, and a book about snakes. We didn't bring our nature journals with us today.

Big Snail led the way with his compass. When the Snails get bigger, Papa Snail is going to teach us orienteering.

As we began our walk around the pond, we found a lot of signs of spring. Big Snail was very interested in the blooming Yellow Jessamine and the moss growing on the ground.

He said that this was the "daddy of the moss family."

As we were exploring on around the bend, we found a baby mole that had died. Big Snail cried for about 5 minutes....he is so tender-hearted. One of the great things about exploring the wilderness, or taking care of a pet, is that children can experience death in a safe, developmental, natural way. (I hope my thought makes sense)

Poor Little Guy

After the traumatic event, we took a break for some water.

Big Snail was determined to find some tadpoles. I didn't have the heart to tell him at first that he would have to look down into the water to find some tadpoles. It was just so cute to see him look all around and say, "I still don't see any tadpoles, Momma."

We immediately found a very large egg sac close to the shore in the water. It was empty and had a tear in it. It was very firm and felt slimy. It is about the size of the palm of my hand. We think it might belong to the Southern Leopard Frog. We found some large tadpoles in the water, near a log, but they were too far for us to reach. We will have to go back another day, or when Momma Snail gets some wading boots, to see if we can catch some for observation.

Next to the edge of the pond was a blooming tree with blooms that I had not seen before. I haven't been able to identify it yet. Does anyone know what this is?

When we were about to leave, Little Snail went up to a tree and said, "Aww, Momma, look, a pretty tree. I love this tree." And then she hugged it. It is so fulfilling to know that I am raising little tree huggers.


As we left the pond, we stopped to take a look at some of the crop growing on Great-Great Grandmother's land. A lot of her land is rented out to a seed company that grows various things. We found clover growing in this field. When it blooms, it becomes a beautiful sea of purple.

We also saw a beautiful cherry tree blooming. It was covered in bees.

And we found what Big Snail calls a "bean tree."

Our nature walk was a lot of fun today because we saw so many new things. Charlotte Mason believed that we should take our children on nature walks every day. She said that nature walks are not to be instructive and that the mother should not do a lot of talking. Jimmie wrote a really good article that goes into great detail about Charlotte Mason and nature study.