The zoo has a place called the "Swap Shop" inside. It's a little store of all things nature... Bones, shells, rocks, fossils, you know, TREASURE! When you bring in an item (found in nature), you give it to them and you get points. Certain things get certain points. You get more points if you know something about the item, like it's name, where it's from, or something interesting about it. Then you can spend your points on something else in the shop... So when Paul found this dead snake in road, the boys yelled, "Let's bring it to the Swap Shop!!" Well, it wasn't quite ready (and a little stinky) so we left it outside for the ants to clean it off. All those little black dots are ants, working very hard to clean it up so we can trade for something great, like a giraffe vertebrae (Hawken's coveted prize). It's mostly just bones now and ready to be swapped. Oh the joys of having kids...
2 comments:
I think it's great that the boys are learning so much and are so into the world around them. I never would have thought to let the ants eat down to the bone. WOW! It looks very small, will you be able to get it to the museum without it braking? Maybe if you slide something under it?
Way to go Paul - good eye!
I love the idea of the swap shop, and have told more people about it. It's wonderful. You'll have to post about what the kids get in exchange. I hope Hawky gets his giraffe vertebrae. Can us Grandmas help out by sending stuff for you to take in? I wonder if you do that fun science experiment that takes the shell off an egg if that would be lots of points?
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