Throughout November the Gardens has been busy with field trips of Wausau Schools’ 4K classes. Even though November isn’t usually considered the most beautiful time in the Gardens, it has its hidden treasures, especially in a 4-year-old’s eyes. These field trips are extra special because students’ parents are able to tag along and experience the fun with their children.

Hawthorn Elementary’s 4K classes were during the first real snow of the season, creating all sorts of magical-feeling opportunities for play and learning. Students started by learning about migration while they looked at the new monarch butterfly sculpture by the Treehouse, noticed and tried identifying animal tracks in the snow along every trail, and debated whether or not the duck frozen in the pond was real or not (spoiler, it’s a decoy).

The last stop on the trip was the Kitchen Garden to look at the scarecrows left over from Blossom of Lights, but students and adults alike couldn’t resist the perfect-for-building wet snow that had just fallen the night before. The last fifteen minutes of the field trip were spent with children and adults playing in the snow, building tiny and large snowmen, and finding rocks, pinecones, and greens to create the perfect snowman face.

It is easy to complain about the snow, but instead, the adults accompanying the students on the field trip embraced the snow, playing alongside the students. It was such a joy to watch the whole group playing and creating snowmen together, hopefully reinforcing a lifelong appreciation for the different kinds of fun that all weather can bring.

Written by Education & Events Manager, Elise Schuler