Merri Creek 12th December

Wednesday was our second last trip to Merri Creek for 2012.  The end of the year is almost upon us, and having worked hard in preparation for the Writers' Festival and Twilight Market, there was a celebratory feeling to the whole morning.  

The biggest attraction of the morning was a game of limbo.  The children found an old garden stake which they paired with the particularly rough bark of a tree to make a game that lasted most of our visit and involved many children.

The rules were gradually established as the game progressed, as we decided that it was too easy to be able to crouch down or swing to the side.  The children displayed quite a competitive streak as they asked for the bar to be set lower and lower, and the height was adjusted for each child to sit somewhere between their chin and their belly button.

We also noticed a few changes from our last visit.  One of the most dramatic changes was that the seed pods on the wattle trees, which had been green and soft like beans, were now brown and brittle.

On the really dry pods, the sides had split open and the seeds inside were visible.  They were hard and brown, and didn't look anything like our beans or peas from the kitchen garden. 

Also turning brown and brittle, were large sheets of bark lying all around, which curled up as they hardened.

"I think it's from one of these trees cos I found it here and it's really tall and thin like this"

"No, it's the wrong color"

"It's bumpy, look"

We searched around for a while to try to find a matching tree that it may have fallen off. This was no small task, considering the number of trees and amount of bark in the area.

After much searching, we were able to match the texture but not the exact colour of the bark to any of the trees in the area. Students hypothesized that it may be because the bark came from higher up in the tree which we couldn't see very well from the ground, and may have different coloured bark.

We also noticed the change in the wattle trees themselves.  On our last visit to Merri Creek the wattle branches looked like this:

This week the insects were gone and the flowers had disappeared.  Only the leaves and tiny buds remained.

"Where are the bugs?"

"They're gone 'cos people were catching them."

"Oh, where are the flowers?"

"Bugs like flowers, maybe they don't like to eat leaves."

Despite the disappointing lack of bugs, there were still things to explore in the trees. There were many of the cracked and brittle seed pods to collect, and other plants to examine closely.

"This plant is spiky...it's really little, tiny spikes see? You have to feel them."

"It's got a hole that goes all the way through!  I don't know how it got there, maybe the middle fell out." (What makes you say that?) "Cos it's fallen off the tree and it's not healthy maybe?"

Thank you to Sarah and Brad who came with us this week.  We really do appreciate the help and the children love having you there.  Next week will be our last visit (barring any changes to our timetable).  Each visit is a fun and unique experience for us and for the children.  It is a special part of the Prep curriculum, so please come along and enjoy it with us while we can.