WNC Nature Center Day 1 of Spring Break

What do you do with 5 kids, during spring break,

on a budget?

You go to the local Nature Center

and work on scout badges.

Fun!

This year, I learned that the Nature Center has a

wild child - Ed Venture pack sponsored by REI.

Totally free program and they earn an awesome little

badge while learning different aspects of nature.

Perfect for my little cub scouts.

We had to hike on a little half mile trail just

off the Nature Center grounds.

This would not have been so bad, but of course half way

down the trail a couple of kiddos had to

potty. So we had to trek back to

the beginning of the Nature Center to where the

restrooms are located. Quite a trek on the hottest day

of the week. lol

In our back packs, there were a set of tools

to complete the small work book.

After completing the activities, a patch is earned.

Not to mention all the things my kids got to learn.

Above, Savannah and Xander are getting the temperature

of the Swannanoa River.

We also had to get the air temp and ground temp.

Ruby is hamming it up for the camera, but was working

on her specimen drawing.

They had to take a magnifying glass

and find something in nature that they would not

ordinarily see with the naked eye.

Larry chose moss on a tree

trunk and Ethan chose pollen.

Here Larry is looking through the monocle

for our three different birds.

The pack included an audobon book of different wildlife specimens.

The kids loved thumbing through it to figure

out what leaf we were looking at

or what bird we were hearing.

Here Ruby is again. She sees a camera

and that little mouth pops open and her arms go up.

Not sure what pose this is.

Xander posing with an otter statue.

My kids loved the new otter exhibit.

It is well worth a visit if you have not seen them yet.

Look at that arm.

Arm and leg this time.

Not to mention she hoarded in on Ethan & Xander's pictures.

Xander is carrying the REI pack we borrowed

to complete the exercise.

We spent all monday at the nature center

and we actually able to complete about 4

different cub scout activities.

The boys are well on their way for a productive

spring break.