Critter Class

Paul is helping organize a FFA Ag Bowl competition in our area the end of this month. One of the competitions will be wild life identification. In order to conduct the test Paul sent away to a company that loans our animal pelts for this purpose. The box arrived the other day while Paul and I were our working with the cows. The big kids who had just gotten home from school for the day opened up the box and were scared to find it full of fur. They told me they thought there was a bear in the box.

    Later that night Paul went through the box with the kids and they had a little critter lesson. All of the pelts are from animals found in Minnesota and many of them were types of animals they kids have seen on our farm. Paul is a wonderful educator and knows so much information about these animals after teaching about them for many years in the classroom as an ag teaching. He told the kids interesting fact about each animals and the kids commented on how soft, colorful, or large the animals were.
    I then had the kids pick out their favorites and I took a picture of them.  

         Mary choose the largest and smallest pelts the coyote and the white weasel. She named the weasel Herman. He is very soft.

   Simon choose the water loving animals with a otter and a beaver round. The otter was surprisingly long.

    Rose surprised us by choosing the skunk. She called it "Rosie's Stinky". She begged to take it to bed but we were finally able to convince her that the skunk would be happiest sleeping in the box with his other animal friends.

    It was a fun evening and makes me so thankful of all the wonderful experiences my children get being exposed to agriculture and nature. They were able to name all the animals by sight and some facts about them by the end of the lesson. They also learned that trapping and preserving these animals pelts is a part of natures way also. Hunting helps the animal population stay within a manageable level so there is enough food and resources for the rest of their species to be health and make it through the harsh winters.