Recently, my 20 month old grandson, Isaac, and I attended the “Mommy and Me” class at the Bob Jones Nature Center (BJNC). The BJNC is a beautiful place in Southlake, Texas. Bob Jones was a slave that was set free after the Civil War, along with his brother and mother. They bought the 60 acre farm and over the years, Bob, his wife and their ten children expanded the farm until the owned almost 2,000 acres. The BJNC is located on part of that land.
At the BJNC, they have summer camps for kids, Mommy & Me classes, a Preschool, Home Away from Home classes, Camera Club meetings, Master Gardeners meetings, and they encourage membership and volunteering to keep their preserve beautiful. Lots of weddings are held there, and tons of visitors come each year to visit. It’s a great place to experience nature!
At the “Mommy and Me” class, there were about 12 little ones with their mommies, grandmas, and nannies. They ranged from one year old to three years old. This class lasted an hour. The theme was Earth Day.
Before we got out of our car, Isaac refused to give up the little ambulance that he was holding. So we took it with us. That might not have been the best idea! We sat down to hear the story. Little ones were doing fine with their mommies. Isaac decided that was a great place to roll his ambulance, and he rolled it out to the middle of the circle. Other children’s eyes lit up, some reached for it, and their mommies restrained them. After retrieving the ambulance, we moved to a bench, outside the circle, so Isaac could roll his ambulance around without disturbing the group.
The story led into the next activity, which was painting. That was a fun activity, which included painting the earth…a blue circle of construction paper. We left the paintings to dry, and then took a nature walk.
Along the nature walk, there were a bunch of ant hills. After we looked at them, we tried to avoid them. It was a nice walk. At one point we stopped and the leader gave all children a little tiny plant to throw in the wind, so there would be new flowers next time they visited. Trudging on, we were pretty far behind the group. Isaac was fascinated with the gravel on the path, and wanted to scoop up every rock and throw it. We eventually caught up.
The group stopped to hear another story and sing some songs. Then there was free play. Ahhhh…finally…Isaac got to play with the ambulance and other kids shared with him. Eventually, we picked up our paintings and made our way back to our car. Within three minutes, Isaac was asleep for the long drive home.
This was a fun experience. I’d highly recommend the Bob Jones Nature Center. There’s so much nature to explore! The leader was great and had a lot of patience when the little ones started wandering off during the last story. The only problem I had was the time…it took me an hour to get there, and an hour to get back. I’ll find somewhere closer next time. But the best part of the day was spending time with my little guy!
What fun things do you do with your children or grandchildren?
