Since the week my son turned three, we’ve been attending the East Bay Regional Parks Outdoor Discoveries program, a naturalist-led class designed specifically for three-five year-old children. Each outing includes a hike and plenty of time for observation, exploration, and play. To make the classes even more fun, I always invite friends from my Nature Time! playgroup to join us.
Our class this morning was held at Shadow Cliffs Recreation Area in Pleasanton, and the theme of the day was water birds.
As usual, our class began with a brief discussion about the topic of the day. Then we headed out for our hike!
The naturalist attempted to teach the kids how to walk quietly.
We stopped along the way to look for turtles in the pond.
We didn’t spot any turtles today, but we did see some ducks.
We hiked some more…
When we arrived at our destination, the naturalist set up a scope to allow the kids to see the water birds nesting in the trees on the island in the middle of the lake.
The trees were filled with nesting cormorants and herons. Pretty cool!
Fun day!
Interested in finding a nature class for your child in the Bay Area? Check out this post (I provide a list of organizations throughout the Bay Area offering nature classes)…
- Nature Classes and Programs (ANatureMom.com)
Also related…
- Stop, Look, Listen, Observe (ANatureMom.com)
- Sticks, Rocks, Water… and Friends (ANatureMom.com)
hike.wander.wonder 
Always enjoy a glimpse of your wonderful activities…the qualification “attempted” to teach the kids to walk quietly was not last on me. lol 😉
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It was pretty cute! They were making all the motions of sneaking, but were still being their noisy selves.
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Looks awesome!! You live in a great place 🙂
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I think all places are pretty awesome, when we take the time to get out there and explore (as you do). I was surprised to see the birds nesting here. I didn’t know! I love learning new stuff along with my kid.
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