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Uncovering frass trumpets, collecting insects, tracing shadows, and searching for spider webs – this autumn in more than 50 schools across Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, and Massachusetts, hundreds of volunteers and thousands of students and classroom teachers are once again starting their school year with The Nature Program.

Below are some snapshots from Four Winds’ trainers as they prepare for their first workshops of the school year, focusing on one of The Nature Program’s five different yearlong concepts.

In the Ecosystems concept we meet some animals and plants that are part of different ecosystems and consider the interactions we observe as we explore the out-of-doors. Signs of Leaf Eaters introduces the idea of a food web and the energy flow from sun to plants to animals.

In our Patterns in Nature concept we practice sorting and classifying as well as describing and recording why objects or organisms belong in a certain group. We learn what makes an insect an insect in All Sorts of Insects, and through outdoor observations of common insects we learn to recognize patterns that help us classify them into groups.

When we study the Earth concept, explorations start with the sun as the engine that powers Earth’s major systems. In Sunlight and Shadow we see how and why we experience day and night and the seasons, and we’ll consider how sunlight supplies the energy for photosynthesis, fuels the water cycle, and provides the right conditions for life.

Throughout Structure and Function we compare different organisms as we think about how physical and behavioral characteristics relate to important functions in their lives and how they affect each organism’s ability to live and grow and have offspring. In Spiders – Web-builders and Wanderers, we take a close look at spiders, noting special structures like spinnerets, pedipalps, and fangs.

During the year of studying Cycles, we meet different plants and animals, learning about their life cycles in the turning of the seasons. In Insect Life Cycles we explore how insects go through distinct stages as they develop, undergoing metamorphosis as they change from young to adult.

With five different yearlong concepts to explore together, our Nature Program volunteers AND the children with whom they’re learning all have many opportunities to be outside really getting to know nearby nature. 

What are the white TicTac-like structures hanging off the back of this tobacco hornworm (larva of Carolina sphinx moth)?

These are the cocoons of a Braconid wasp (Cotesia congregata)! The female adult wasps use their long ovipositors to lay eggs inside a live hornworm caterpillar, along with viruses that take down the internal defense responses of the hornworm. The larvae hatch inside the caterpillar and feed on their host. After 12-16 days, the wasp larvae chew through the skin of the dying caterpillar to spin their silken cocoons. About 4-8 days later the 2-3mm adult wasps emerge and fly off, following chemical scents released by the damaged plants and feeding caterpillars to find more hornworms. 

To discourage tobacco hornworms in your tomatoes, allow the wasps to complete their metamorphosis – they will cause the host caterpillar to feed slowly and die before pupating and will also release more parasitoid wasps. 

As many children and teachers are beginning the school year this week, we’re sharing a blog post we originally posted in 2022. It is the perspective of former Little Peaks Preschool Director and current Four Winds Early Childhood Professional Development Instructor Katherine Brown about beginning outdoor time this school year with patience.

“I don’t know how to play without toys,” was the response of students when Katherine Brown first began a forest day with Little Peaks Preschool. Katherine was a bit discouraged, thinking the magic would just turn on simply by being in the woods. After listening to the kids who said it was “too pokey” in the prickly balsam fir tree grove, they moved to a more mature forest with fallen logs, big rocks, and a stream.

Slowly, Katherine says, “the kids started to really connect with that place and they started naming places in the woods and making their little forts. They really felt like it was their place, their space by the springtime.”

Patience is Katherine’s message to those wanting to spend more time outdoors with kids: “It’s not like you’re going to snap your fingers and the kids will be dancing around in the woods making fairy houses. You have to trust and give them free space to do it. It’s not going to happen all at once, but it happens bit by bit, and each time is better than the time before. They start to spend a minute at sit spots (which I always prefer to call quiet spots). And by the end of the year they’re lying there, looking up at the leaves and noticing all kinds of things, and they really enjoy being there. So it’s just taking baby steps and trusting in the power of nature to resonate with kids.”

Have you had a rock collection, a jar of fireflies, a bouquet of dandelions, or a pocket full of shells from the beach? Hunting and gathering is one of the seven play motifs, or recurring play patterns, that David Sobel has identified from observing children around the world playing freely outdoors. 

“From a genetic perspective, we are still hunting and gathering organisms. Gathering and collecting anything compels us; searching for hidden treasure or the Holy Grail is a recurrent mythic form. Look at the success of Where’s Waldo. How do we design learning opportunities like treasure hunts?”

–Childhood and Nature: Design Principles for Educators by David Sobel

To foster these gathering instincts in children’s play, try providing a small basket, bucket, or other collecting container. Or make your own! You can make a simple leaf basket by folding together one side of a leaf (easiest to fold maple lobes) and sticking the leaf stem (or a small twig) through the folded part. Leaf baskets are best for light collections – flower heads, seeds, berries… what will you collect?!

Until the end of July, the summer night sounds in New England are fairly quiet besides some wood thrush, veery, and other bird song. And then, one night, the symphonic soundtrack suddenly begins: the crickets and katydids are out in full force, singing to attract mates. The late summer symphony peaks in August but will continue to serenade you to sleep until the first hard frost.

These insects are not singing from their mouths. Instead, they rub the sharp edge of one outer wing against the ridged edge of the other outer wing. You can imitate the process by running your fingers along the tines of a comb. To practice hearing like a katydid or cricket, though, you would need to have ears in your legs!

Want to figure out what specific insects you’re hearing? If it’s an evenly paced, mechanical raspy sound from the treetops, it’s probably a common true katydid. Singing “Ka-ty-did; she did-n’t; she did”

If you can hum along to it, it’s probably a cricket. Clear, loud trill chirps coming from the grass could be a ground cricket. 

Many tree crickets sing a near continuous high-pitched trill. Evenly-spaced chirps from understory plants of woodland edges could be a snowy tree cricket, also known as the thermometer cricket. If you count the number of chirps in a 14-second period, then add 40, you’ll get the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. Try measuring the temperature with the song of thermometer crickets and with an actual thermometer, and see how they compare!

Why are this amber snail’s eyestalks brightly striped and pulsing?

The snail has been parasitized by the green-banded broodsac flatworm! The adult flatworm lives entirely inside the intestinal tract of a bird. Only the eggs of these hermaphroditic worms travel out of the bird on their droppings. 

When an amber snail eats the bird droppings, the flatworm eggs hatch in the snail’s gut as hairy larvae. The larvae develop inside elongated chambers known as broodsacs. The colorfully-banded throbbing broodsacs make their way to the snail’s eyestalks to mimic a caterpillar and thus get the attention of hungry birds. Once a bird eats the broodsacs, the larvae go on to mature into adult flatworms inside the bird, and the cycle continues. 

Flatworm larva found in the snail’s eyestalk ready to be transferred to the bird host.

Milkweed is celebrated for being monarch butterfly caterpillars’ exclusive food. However, when you look closely, you’ll see a milkweed patch supports a diverse community of nectar sippers, leaf munchers, and pollinator predators. What will you find on a milkweed patch exploration? Here are some creatures to look for:

Milkweed flowers have especially sweet and plentiful nectar that attracts bees, wasps, butterflies, and moths.

Some insects absorb toxins from milkweed’s milk-colored sticky latex sap and thus are toxic themselves. They warn predators of their distastefulness with bold orange/red and black coloration.

Goldenrod crab spiders ambush milkweed’s pollinating insects, as do other predators like robber flies, dragonflies, and wasps. Crab spider mothers prefer milkweed as a place to lay their eggs, and then they guard them until they hatch.  

Here are some books about the milkweed patch ecosystem:

Four Winds celebrated 20 years of community-based natural science education last month! Friends old and new gathered at Silver Lake State Park in Barnard, VT to enjoy the beautiful location and perfect weather.

Teams of two played corn hole while children experimented with loose parts and created giant bubbles. Families followed a story walk around the lawn, which attracted other guests visiting the park, interested to hear what our party was celebrating. One woman, a retired science teacher from New York, remarked how she wished she had had the Four Winds Nature Program in her school when she was teaching.

Cofounder and Executive Director Lisa Purcell shared words of gratitude and invited everyone to raise their hands in affirmation of nature-loving statements, such as, “Raise your hand if you’ve ever stopped on the side of the road to gather goldenrod galls.” Naturally, the majority of hands went up in response to each statement. 

The puppet show was epic, with incredible writing and acting by Four Winds cofounder Deb Parrella and Business Manager Marie Johnson. The many Four Winds puppet friends had lots to say about our organization’s long, storied history. One little partygoer was especially inspired to put on his own show afterwards – a future Nature Program volunteer in the making!

The cupcakes, from The Flour Girl Bakeshop in West Rupert, VT were delicious and exquisitely decorated. Every guest received raffle tickets and entered to win 15 prizes donated by local artists and businesses. The tickets were drawn with the help of a crew of kids, who definitely didn’t peek when selecting  😉

We enjoyed celebrating with those who were able to join us! We’re so grateful for all your support of Four Winds, and we look forward to many more years of exploring our wonderful natural world together. 

Ahh, the dog days of summer! July 3 to August 11, the hottest, most sweltering time of the year. Ancient people noticed that the brightest star in the sky, Sirius the Dog Star, appeared just before dawn during this period. They believed the glow from Sirius (from the Ancient Greek word for “scorching”) intensified the heat of summer days.

Your pooch may cool off by lying flat on the kitchen floor or finding a muddy puddle to roll in. What are some ways people can stay cool during these dog days? 

Find some shade! 

Though the air temperature may be only a little cooler in the shade, typically 2-9 degrees, shade can make it feel as much as 20 degrees cooler because your body does not have to absorb the solar radiation directly. If you find shade beneath trees, added bonus: as trees release water vapor through evapotranspiration, the process draws heat out of the air and lowers the surrounding temperature. 

Play in water!

Taking a dip or running through a sprinkler are very effective ways to cool off because the cold water will absorb heat from your body. Then, when you step out of the water and it starts to evaporate off your skin, that cools you off, too. Find some more suggestions for water play here. 

Take a nap!

Some cultures in hot places have developed a tradition of taking a break during the hottest part of the day. The good news is, if you rest during the middle of the day, you might have more energy later on. Try it and see!

Eat spicy food. Spicy food can make you sweat. Sweating helps your body regulate its temperature, so it helps you cool off. Experiment by eating some spicy Indian, Thai, or Mexican foods and see if you feel cooler. 

Wear light, flowy clothing. You might assume shorts and t-shirts are the best things to wear when it’s hot out, but some cultures in hot climates have wardrobes that look very different. Light colors reflect sunlight while darker colors absorb more light energy.

Of course, drink a lot of water to stay hydrated and stay out of the sun during the hottest part of the day. That is good advice for your dog, too.

And if you want to try to spot Sirius the Dog Star, go outside a half hour or so before the sun rises and look for the bright, bluish star on the southeastern horizon!

What do all these plants have in common?

These are all flowering plants that lack the green pigment chlorophyll. Because they cannot make their own food through photosynthesis, these heterotrophs (“other-feeding”) have to get energy from other organisms and can thrive in very shady areas.

One group of heterotrophs, root parasites like beechdrops, broomrape and bear corn, get their nutrients directly from the roots of another plant. 

Other heterotrophs, also known as fungus flowers like ghost plant (Monotropa uniflora) and pinesap (Monotropa hypopitys), receive nourishment indirectly from fungi connected to a photosynthetic plant. These mycoheterotrophs get all their energy from fungi without providing anything in exchange (unlike mutualistic mycorrhizal relationships).