Sharp's has a cotton field that the kids can walk around.
Thankfully, it was not my child, though the child in question is a charmer who has the spirit of an adventurer. The corn maze was a lot of fun - until one of the kids thought that it might be a good idea to trailblaze his own path. Sharp's has a corn maze and corn mini maze. This kid isn't really great with either nature or agriculture. Actually, he really liked the idea that the cow made milk that became butter that became cookies. The children, however, love feeding them - except my son who shares my germaphobic tendencies.ĬhaseKBH really liked the cow. Third, there's often not great hand washing facilities, and I spend the rest of the day thinking about the agricultural diseases most recently reported in the press.
Second, I try very hard to teach respect and distance from strange animals - and even docile goats and cows can be dangerous. First and foremost, the animal tongue feels gross on my hand. I personally hate hand feeding animals in situations like this. One of the kids also got to dress up like a bee keeper.Īfter the beehive, we went to look at the animals. Well, they knew they were inside the hive, didn't do work, then were thrown out and died - all ideas that I personally thought were much more difficult to grasp than their role with the queen's eggs. All the preschoolers knew the role of male bees, or drones. Next was a discussion of honey bees, and choosing volunteers to do the honey bee dance. Given where our family lives, and the discussions we have already started to have regarding the Civil War at the B&O Railroad Museum, I am going to have to figure out a reasonable approach to have these discussions. There wasn't much discussion of its place in American history - which is a difficult discussion to have with three and four year olds. The tour stated in the barn, with a discussion of cotton and its place in agriculture. However, from talking to Jamie, it seems that the Sharp's trip was a bit more educationally focused than previous farm trips, but, on the other hand, more kids were there so it was a little chaotic. Prior to doing the whole stay-at-home parent thing, I was never the parent to take ChaseKBH on field trips, so my comparison points aren't great. So yes, it was my kid crying in the parking lot about not being able to get on the bus. ChaseKBH was horribly disappointed that we drove rather than take the school bus - since we brought BeaABH with us, and she's too little to sit on a school bus. I think we were joined by about a thousand other kids in Howard County and Montgomery County schools.
We took the obligatory preschool fall fieldtrip to a farm and pumpkin patch - this year it was Sharp's at Waterford Farm. We have yet to shed any blood here, though we have cutting open bagels. Where the Howard clan always gets its Christmas tree. I even just wrote a post about this place. It's pretty much our county's science center, with a planetarium, tons of activities, and nature related exhibitions. Really frickin' cool, and shocking that this place is in a county this small. There's a great trail that is very accessible to small children - and a great discussion about Sodor will likely ensue. This is a the last remaining all iron truss bridge.
There's a magic in this bridge for all, but especially for a preschooler just learning how things are put together. My nature-hating son loves Larriland - though last time he was there he gave himself a bloody nose trying to cut flowers for his crush (which is either on his 2.5 year old friend or her mother, I haven't figure out which yet). Tractor rides, great fruit, and a gorgeous pond. Pick some apples, beets, broccoli, pumpkins, or flowers. I also suggest the grown ups fortify themselves at Iron Bridge across the street. There's a petting zoo, tractor rides, and the ability to purchase farm produce and some very good meat. For the Howard County parent of a certain age, there's the bizarre experience of reliving your childhood in a disjointed manner, seeing all the old Enchanted Forest items strewn around.
It's an interesting historical site as well. Trails, geocatching, nature walks, animals, and similar. I also spent a summer volunteering here back when Green Day was edgy. A great local, small museum focused on trains and the history of the railroad and Ellicott City, which are rather intertwined.