Vernal Pools
This week was our last nature class. We helped to build a vernal pool and studied the animals who make these temporary ponds their homes. The timing was great on the class in one way. The ground was dry so we could actually dig. However with it being so dry we could not see the pool doing its thing. We did find many creatures though. We saw 2 different varieties of frogs including the wood frog who lay their eggs in vernal pools. We only saw fullgrown salamanders no newts. Naturalist Brian did show us pictures though.Personally I think that the newts look like Stitch. I wish we had been able to see them. He explained that these frogs go from eggs to full grown in about 1-2 months while frogs that live in rivers or permanent water supplies may take up to a year to grow to adulthood. .The rain started towards the end of class. We went back to the nature center 3 days later and visited the pool we had helped dig. It was not as big as the one in this picture but there is one this size at the nature center. NBrian said it was about 6 inches deep in the center.
For more fun with science, check out this week's Science Sunday link-up, at Adventures in Mommydom.
Great hands on. My older kids made and maintained a salamander habitat which turned into my daughter's science fair project. It is so much fun to learn about these small pond critters in such a hands on environment.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, that looks like a cool thing to build.
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