Exploring Footprints

While on a walk after a recent rainfall, we passed an old baseball field.  We noticed that there were tracks across the inner diamond and went to investigate. 

I asked my kids what animal they thought made the tracks. We discussed the animals that live near us – squirrels, cats, dogs, deer, birds, chipmunks, skunks, etc… I asked my 4 1/2 year old if he could guess what kind of animal made the tracks, and he said (correctly) a dog.  

I pointed out that it looked like several more animals had arrived and pointed to all of our own tracks. Then we had fun investigating our own footprints: 

• We figured out which of our prints were the smallest, biggest, and the middle.
• We figured out who made which print.
• We tried to walk in each other’s footsteps.
• We played with spacing: We walked slowly and saw the distance between our steps, and then ran and saw that the distance increased.