This may have been my favorite day of the year, word nerd that I am. Today I brought an armful of thesauri for the Neutrons thinking it might be a fun way to guide our walk. I was pleasantly surprised how into it they were!
We started by talking about the job of a dictionary compared to the role of a thesaurus, then practiced by becoming a thesaurus ourselves to enumerate synonyms for several terms. I had flagged nature-related terms as our discussion starting point and the kids quickly found other terms that were more fascinating to them. If your child comes home talking about assassination, gore and putrify, thank a thesaurus.
We also poked around (with a stick) at some decomposing coyote scat and uncovered bone fragments within the hair. Then along the boggy path we came upon raccoon prints. Both finds were satisfying among the cold and damp day.