Leisure Ledger September - December 2023

continued from page 59 — Pollinators at Forest Ridge Park Age: 3-6 yrs. What lives in the pollinator garden? What plants attract the insects? Why are pollinators so important to our food supply and a healthy planet? How do the insects pollinate the plants? Com learn about the life cycle of pollinators through interactive play. See evidence of the transformations of the pollinators in the park. You will create a tie dye butterfly to take home! Forest Ridge Park – Course Fee: $3 e Sep 20 W 10:30am-12:00pm Super Animal Senses Age: 3-6 yrs. Did you know ants have a super-sense of smell, which directs them to food from far away? Did you know a starfish uses its arm to see? Did you know crickets use their legs to hear? Did you know butterflies use their feet to taste nectar? Come learn about the amazing super senses of many animals and how these adaptations help them survive. There will be hands-on activities using your senses as well as stories to help you learn about some unique animal senses. Forest Ridge Park – Course Fee: $3 Dec 20 W 10:30am-12:00pm TREEmendous Trees! Age: 2-6 yrs. Preschoolers will explore the woods and discover the wonders of trees. They will learn how trees grow and how they change as the seasons change. Songs, stories and crafts await your little learner. Preregistration is required. Children must be accompanied by adults. Adults attend free. For more information, contact Nature Programs at 919-996-6856. Carolina Pines Community Center – Course Fee: $2 Sep 21 Th 10:30-11:30am Kiwanis Community Center – Course Fee: $2 Sep 20 W 10:30-11:30am Lake Lynn Community Center Sep 26 Tu 10:30-11:30am Sep 26 Tu 12:30-1:30pm Sertoma Arts Center Sep 28 Th 10:30-11:30am Webs and their Weavers! Age: 2-6 yrs. Preschoolers will love this program featuring those eight-legged master architects: SPIDERS! Games, stories, songs and live animals are sure to engage little learners. Preregistration is required. Children must be accompanied by adults. Adults attend free. For more information, contact Nature Programs at 919-996-6856. Carolina Pines Community Center – Course Fee: $2 Nov 9 Th 10:30-11:30am Kiwanis Community Center – Course Fee: $2 Nov 8 W 10:30-11:30am Lake Lynn Community Center – Course Fee: $2 Nov 14 Tu 10:30-11:30am Nov 14 Tu 12:30-1:30pm Sertoma Arts Center – Course Fee: $2 Nov 16 Th 10:30-11:30am

What is a fossil? Age: 3-5 yrs. What is a fossil? Where do you find fossils? What types of rock hide fossils? Let’s search for fossils from North Carolina and learn about the different types of fossils and how they formed. Fossils are the remains or traces of plants and animals that lived long ago. For this reason, fossils are important to paleontology, or the study of prehistoric life. Most fossils are found in earth that once lay underwater. They usually formed from the hard parts, such as shells or bones, of living things. Children will leave with the fossils they found, mold, cast, and track fossils they created. They will learn how each of these fossils formed long ago. Forest Ridge Park – Course Fee: $4 Oct 18 W 10:30am-12:00pm Youth Animal Tracks & Signs Age: 7-13 yrs. Learn how to identify the tracks and signs of common animals that live in or near the preserve. Make a plaster cast of a track to take home. Activities will align with the ecoEXPLORE program's Mammal Signs field focus. A.L. Wilkerson Nature Preserve – Course Fee: $5 Nov 22 W 3:30-5:00pm Arachnology Age: 7-13 yrs. Spiders may be creepy, but they have an important role in our ecosystem! Activities will align with the ecoEXPLORE program's Arachnology Field Season. A.L. Wilkerson Nature Preserve – Course Fee: $4 Oct 27 F 3:30-5:00pm Digging into the past Age: 6-10 yrs. How big were the dinosaurs that roamed the earth? How do we know what we know about dinosaurs? Through activities and games, participants will dig through the dirt to find some dinosaur ‘fossils.’ They will create some mold fossils to take home along with a hatched dinosaur egg. Come join the fun as we learn about what fossils can tell us about the past! Forest Ridge Park – Course Fee: $4 Nov 26 Su 3:00-4:30pm Discovering Decomposers Age: 7-13 yrs. How does nature clean up after itself? Learn about the variety of species that serve as nature's clean-up crew. Then take a hike to look for a variety of decomposers here in the park! A.L. Wilkerson Nature Preserve – Course Fee: $4 Oct 12 Th 3:30-5:00pm

Equinox Astronomy Age: 7-13 yrs. Why do we say fall days are 'getting shorter'? How do animals know when to migrate? We'll construct models to understand how the source of the seasons is literally, 'out of this world'. A.L. Wilkerson Nature Preserve – Course Fee: $5 Sep 22 F 3:30-5:00pm Evergreens for Everyone Age: 8-13 yrs. Learn to identify our native evergreen species and make your own evergreen field guide with us. We'll also take a short hike to find our evergreens (and near-evergreens) growing wild in the preserve. A.L. Wilkerson Nature Preserve – Course Fee: $4 Dec 8 F 3:00-4:30pm Fall Leaves Age: 7-10 yrs. Why do leaves change color? Come find out in this fun filled program. You will learn about leaves while participating in leaf themed activities. We will even perform a science experiment to see what pigments leaves have. Adult(s) must accompany participant(s), adult(s) attend free and do not need to register. Advanced registration required. Thomas G. Crowder Woodland Center – Course Fee: $4 Oct 15 Su 2:00-3:30pm Lake Johnson ecoEXPLORErs Age: 5-13 yrs. Do you enjoy observing nature? Want to be a scientist and earn badges while doing it? Join us to learn more about the ecoEXPLORE program and how to participate. ecoEXPLORE is an incentive-based citizen science program for children in grades K-8. During this program we will spend time inside working through one of the badge activities before heading outside to start making nature observations. Adults must accompany participant(s), adults attend free and do not need to register. Advance registration required. Thomas G. Crowder Woodland Center – Course Fee: $4 Sep 9 Sa 10:00-11:30am Oct 7 Sa 10:00-11:30am Nov 4 Sa 10:00-11:30am Dec 2 Sa 10:00-11:30am Pollinators at Forest Ridge Park Age: 5-10 yrs. What lives in the pollinator garden? What plants attract the insects? Why are pollinators so important to our food supply and a healthy planet? How do the insects pollinate the plants? Come learn about the life cycle of pollinators through interactive play. See evidence of the transformations of the pollinators in the park. You will create a tie dye butterfly to take home! Forest Ridge Park – Course Fee: $3 Sep 17 Su 3:00-4:30pm

Nature

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Raleigh Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources