It's easy to get caught up in the gloom of a rainy day or the desire to stay inside and be cozy on a cold snowy day, but no matter what the weather is there are things to explore and activities to do!
Richard and I work for a nonprofit company that invites school groups each week to come experience outdoor education. We bring the students on hikes, teach them cool classes on topics that we are passionate about, and show them cool activities. The school pays for, usually, one grade of students to come from 3-5 days as a field trip that will help bond the students and teachers as well as teach them new experiences.
We absolutely love our jobs. We get paid to do what we love to do in our free time: hike, explore and teach others about the cool things in our environment. However, sometimes weather tends to make the students miserable. One time, we had a blizzard during a two hour field group experience and it snowed about two feet in the time that we were out. The kids were not prepared with warm winter gear or boots for that matter, and because of that they HATED us. Many students that come to our job, think that we need to do a better job at controlling the weather (ha! as if!)
What those students fail to realize, though, is the magic of certain weather conditions. Of course hiking through two feet of snow in converse sneakers is not ideal or fun but snow can bring animal tracking and learning about the magic of crystals. You could explore animal dens and learn how animals are adapted to survive the harsh conditions of the winter. When it rains, the amphibians come out in numbers! You can find salamanders of all kinds and even some more rare ones that prefer the moist underground earth to the forest floor. Rain also brings fungi of all kinds and it helps wild flowers grow in the spring. When it's extremely cold out, you appreciate the hard effort of building a fire more. When it's sweltering hot out, you might enjoy slipping into a puddle of mud or the plunging your hands deep into the lake to find salamander eggs.
No matter what the weather is, you can discover so much and have so much fun doing it! Below are some suggested activities to do in different "bad weather" conditions.
Activities to do in the rain:
1. Search for Salamanders
A great activity to do on a rainy day or in the days following a rainstorm is to search for salamanders. Salamanders are amphibians who tend to live in moist, cool, environments. On a bright and sunny day you can still find them hiding under logs and rocks where the soil is moist and cool. However, on wetter days you can find them roaming the forest floor. Carefully walking and scanning the ground should result in some salamander finds but if you don't have success you should still find them under logs and rocks. Just be sure to lift the logs and rocks with care, meaning away from you and placing them back where you found it. Remember we want to leave no trace while exploring the forest.
Since salamanders are amphibians, they breathe through their skin. You need to make sure you handle these creatures with care. As you can see in the image, my friend has dirty hands and scooped up some of the soil with the animal. Getting your hands nice and dirty before touching or picking up a salamander is a necessity. The dirt absorbs the oils and chemicals on our hands which makes it safe(r) for handling them. You also should make sure you pick up with a scooping and cupping motion instead of pinching them. Be sure to stay low to the ground and do not carry them with you. Think of yourself as a giant, which you are to them, when you lift them they are now on a skyscraper and a fall from that height could seriously hurt them. If you carry them even a few feet away from where you found them it's like a giant picking you up in Connecticut and dropping you in Florida. Don't do it! The salamanders have a home just like you do and we don't want to disrupt their life while observing and learning more about them.
2. Search for frogs and other aquatic creatures!
Go to a nearby pond, wetland, or vernal pool (a puddle in the woods that is caused by snow melt) and try to find some frogs, aquatic insects, gastropods, crayfish, and more! It helps if you have some nice waterproof shoes or waders to allow you to get into the water and if you have some nets. Be very careful to not disturb any wild life and be careful when stepping on slippery rocks. While you can definitely get into the water to search for organisms, it's totally possible to stay dry as well. When it rains, frogs often hang out around the pond. Look for bubbles.
You can also perform your own water health test by looking at macro-invertebrates! Pick up medium sized rocks in the stream or pond and look for small bugs attached to the bottom of it. These are macro-invertebrates, usually larvae of insects that hang around water, such as dragonfly, mosquitos, and more. The more bugs you find, the healthier the water is.
3. Search for fungi
A big misconception of fungus among children and adults is that its gross or harmful. While there are some more icky types of fungus, like mold or athletes foot, most fungi are essential to the health of the environment and are super cool! All fungus is safe to touch and handle, as long as you don't stick your hands in your mouth after handling them. If you can't do that, don't touch them, or wear gloves. However, I almost always touch every fungus I find so that I can observe them more closely. Another warning, if you are not a fungi expert do not eat anything you find in the woods. Yes it's true, there are hundreds of edible mushrooms, but there are also thousands more that are dangerous look a-likes. I always say, you can eat anything once but not always twice ('cause you're dead). Despite these warnings there is nothing to be afraid of as long as you are being smart and careful!
For beginner mycologists there are a few types of fungus that you can try to identify: shelf fungus, capped mushrooms, and jelly fungus! A simple google search will aid you in this, but Wild and Growing will have a video up on this once the spring is here in New England, so stay tuned! A fun fact about shelf fungus is that it always grows parallel to the ground. So if you find a log with fungus that intersects the ground that means that those mushrooms grew on the tree before it fell to the ground. If the mushrooms are growing parallel to the ground that means they grew on the log after it fell!
Activities for the Winter
1. Animal Tracking
I love following and identifying animal tracks, especially when there is fresh snow on the ground. I love it because their footprints are just so gosh darn cute but also it can lead to a fun adventure. Last winter, my students and I followed some turkey tracks and ended up finding the flock! Another time, we found some coyote tracks and followed them up a mountain! Whether you actually follow them or just identify them, it can be a fun activity no matter what. I recently made a poster guide and flashcards that you can check out by clicking on the words for some common animal tracks. I carry the flash cards, which I laminated, with me on all my adventures while teaching.
2. Study Crystals
This is one of my favorite classes that I teach at work during the winter. It's mostly indoors but with periodic elements of outdoor exploration! Grab a magnifying glass and some black construction paper and collect some snow flakes. Observe the crystal structures and how each one is unique. Compare it to a salt or sugar crystal under a magnifying glass. After observing and making hypotheses about crystals you can make your own!
To make your own crystals you just need to make a super saturated solution. A super saturated solution is when you cannot dissolve anymore of a substance in a liquid substance. In this case, you heat up water and keep adding epsom salt until it does not dissolve anymore. Using string, pipe cleaners, or other supplies, dip whatever you use, a string in this case, in the super saturated solution. Crystals will grow on the string. If you pour the liquid into a cup, crystals will also grow inside the cup as the water evaporates.
3. Animal Adaptations and Survival
Go out into the woods and try to find animal dens. These will be places where the snow might be packed down or gone all together and where tracks lead to. Often times you will find scat, animal poop, around the outside of the den which can help you identify what animal lives there.
Once you get too cold outside you can move on inside and test out the special adaptations animals have to survive the winter. One cool experiment you can do is observe how blubber protects animals from the cold. Get a bowl of ice and water and stick your hand in it, how long can you stand it? Now cover your hand with vegetable fat like crisco and dip your hand in. This time your hand should be significantly warmer!
Of course there are tons of more activities you can do but these six should give you some ideas for those seemingly bad weather days. Let us know what activities you liked and try out. If you have any questions or suggestions let us know as well by commenting!
Keep exploring,
-Hannah
Wild and Growing
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