Month: February 2021

A Long Winter’s Nap

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Yaawwnnn! These cold winter days make me feel lazy and sleepy. I just want to hibernate.

Hibernate? What is hibernate?

Hibernation is how animals save energy to survive harsh weather conditions or lack of food. When hibernating, an animal’s heartbeat and breathing slows down and its body temperature drops.

We usually think of bears when we think of hibernation. They eat up during the summer, putting on the extra pounds that they will need for their winter nap. They prepare a special place to hibernate — a bed lined with leaves and twigs. When winter sets in, the bears curl up in their dens and go without eating, drinking, or exercising for as long as 100 days!

While we probably are not going to hibernate for 100 days, we can have some hibernation fun. We can “bear-ly” wait for you to try!

First, we should prepare a snack to store some energy for our body. Let’s make some energy balls.

Next step, we need to make our den. Grab some blankets and cover a table that you can fit under. Bears like cozy little spots that are not too big. Make sure the inside is dark for excellent sleeping. Put your favorite pillow and blanket in your den. You might want to bring along a teddy bear to share the fun!

We probably should do a little exercise before we go into our den. Let’s do 10 toe touches, reach up to the sky as high as you can 5 times, and of course, we must do a quick bear walk!

Although most of the time you may be sleeping, you might want to bring along something fun if you are not ready to sleep. You can even put a flashlight in your den to help you see better. Here is a coloring page for you or how about a book to read?  Can you find a book about bears?

Are you feeling sleepy yet? If not, grab a piece of paper and write the word “HIBERNATION”. Can you find the letters inside that word to make these words – bear, ate, ran, ton, not, hear, near? Can you find any other words from those letters?

Yaawwnnn! Time for that winter nap. See you this spring!

*This activity is written as a stay-at home Cloverbud activity, but creative club volunteers may want to gather supplies to have their members design a large multi bear den and complete the activities, including making the snacks.

Photo credit for Favorite Books about Bears and Hibernation graphic: pre-kpages.com

 

The Power of Words

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The Word Collector, by Peter H. Reynolds, is the story of a boy and the love for his very special collection – words.  Jerome was inspired to write down words that he heard, saw, and read.  He organized his collection into scrapbooks.  There were so many books!  One day when he slipped and fell, the words were tossed into a jumbled mess.  Jerome began to reorganize the words into poems which later became songs.  He noticed that words could move people.

My daughter began to discover her first written words at the age of two.  The books became her friends, and she would sleep with them like stuffed animals.  By age four, she was reading books.  She discovered early, like Jerome, that words are powerful.  They have the ability to transport, transform, and transition a person to a new way of “thinking, feeling, and dreaming”.

Amanda Gorman, the first National Youth Poet Laureate of the United States, grew up with a speech impediment.  She used written word as a form of self-expression and practiced spoken word as a way of developing her own “speech pathology” to overcome her speech difficulties.  Gorman was chosen to read an original poem for the inauguration of President Joe Biden.  Words can heal.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a voracious reader, masterful orator, and eloquent writer synthesized words into a symphony of thought that united people during the Civil Rights Movement.  In his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. King stated, “This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning: My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims’ pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”  Words can unite.

George Washington Carver stated, “Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom”.  Carver, who was born into slavery, later became an instructor and researcher at Tuskegee Institute, a scientist, and an inventor.  He used his words to educate people in traditional and non-traditional classroom settings, to pen bulletins and newspaper articles on agricultural innovations, and to craft more than 400 uses for crops such as the “peanut, sweet potato, soybeans, and pecans”.  Words can inspire.

Peter Hamilton Reynolds concludes The Word Collector with this quote, “Reach for your own words.  Tell the world who you are and how you will make it better”.  Looking for ideas to guide your Cloverbuds as they begin their word collections?  Check out Cloverbud Reading Adventures.  You will find a diverse collection of books and activities that will inspire our youngest 4-H members to find their words as they “think, feel, and dream” the world better.

Sources:
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/i-have-dream-address-delivered-march-washington-jobs-and-freedom  
https://www.biography.com/scientist/george-washington-carver