Capuchins and Chimps and Polar Bears... Oh My!

Our family trip to the zoo couldn't have been on a more perfect Saturday. The ocean air was cool and clean by the San Francisco Zoo. For many of the children, it was their first visit to the San Francisco Zoo. From the outset, they ogled and cooed at the Zebras and Giraffes. While looking at the Chimpanzees, we couldn't miss the fact that they were so like humans. Children and mothers alike pointed out the Chimps' prerogative to bask in the sun. The one chimp that had taken enough sun in, was lying under the rafters cuddled in a blanket; many of the girls told us that he was just like their father! We were awed and impressed by how big the grizzly bears were. We were fortunate enough to view them practically nose to nose (through a thick pane of glass, of course).

When we visited the tropical house, we had to search for water turtles as they were so well-camouflaged. We did not, however, have to search for the giant anaconda they house there. The anaconda was 18 feet long and as thick as the children's waists. He (or she) was quite terrifying, especially since he was pressed against the aquarium window.

Over all, after seeing creatures like koalas, pelicans, polar bears, flamingos, and monkeys, everybody got a good sense of how diverse animals on this planet are.

Pumpkin Patch

This October ChildReach was off with the families of Raphael House for our annual visit to the Arata Farms pumpkin patch in Half Moon Bay.  This was great opportunity for families to spend time together celebrating the fall season.  There was a hay maze, train ride, haunted house, petting zoo and of course lots and lots of pumpkins. 

Everyone had a wonderful time playing, laughing and most of all taking time to relax and enjoy each other and the season.  We are all looking forward to this time next year when we can get together again and celebrate the fall.

Slide Ranch

This weekend, the ChildReach team visited Slide Ranch, a small educational farm near Muir Beach, in Marin County. We started the day exploring the grounds, upon which we noticed many small, crooked houses. They were all two stories, and about half the size of the houses we normally see. These are the homes of the farm's caretakers. Slide Ranch offers year-long internships to adults who wish to experience life on a small farm and are interested in becoming environmental educators. Two of these interns, Abalone Ashley, and Salamander Sam were our guides for the day. With them, we were able to meet goats, catch chickens, and make cheese! We learned the rules of Slide Ranch are 1) Get Dirty! 2) Try Something New! 3) Have FUN!

We split into two groups and named our teams, The Wildlife Kids and the Ranch Kids, and took names for ourselves like Black Cat Naema, Sunflower Selena, and Great Dane Diamond!

When visiting the goats we learned that Slide Ranch owns two or three of the many species of goats in existence. We were able to pet both black and white sheep, whose fur was fluffy and thick compared with the coarse fur of the goats. Salamander Sam taught us that the taste of goat milk can change depending on whether or not they live near a male goat. The goats at Slide Ranch do not live in the same pen as their male companion, Gobi, and so their milk is sweet and mild tasting.

After petting the goats we took turns milking one! The goats get milked twice a day, and produce a few pounds of milk during each milking. When Sam and Ashley milked her, they squirted milk straight from the goat's udder into our mouths. Most children thought this was strange at first, but in the end agreed that the milk was delicious. For many of us, we had abided by rule 2 of Slide Ranch, and tried something new.

We met the Ranch's chickens who were all from different species. We saw freshly laid eggs that were all sorts of sizes and colors, from brown, to beige, even blue! They were nothing like the eggs you find in stores. They had been laid so recently they were still warm and we could still here the egg-laying song chickens sing just before they are ready to lay an egg (that's right, an egg-laying song). Whether, they sang "Hey Hey, get out of my way" or "I beg, i beg, for you to take my egg! my egg!" we were not sure. We were just happy to hear it.

The cheese was quite easy to make, surprisingly. We warmed milk, let it simmer, added apple cider vinegar, and ran it through a cheese cloth after the milk had curdled and the curds had separated from the whey. We even added some fresh herbs, lemon balm and lavender, from the Slide Ranch garden, to our cheese. While this process was happening, we swapped stories of science experiments we had all done in school. Every child was engaged and had a story to offer. The one that stuck out in my mind, was the boiled egg in a bottle experiment, in which you create a vacuum in a class bottle, place a boiled egg on the opening, and in a matter of seconds, it will get sucked into the bottle, and be stuck!

We ended our day eating our cheese, along with fresh kale, chard, spinach, and blossoms in the garden. Our lavender-lemon cheese was DELICIOUS! When asked about their favorite and most interesting part of the day, the Raphael House group, without prompting, spoke about making food from scratch, understanding how much hard work is put into getting food from farms to our tables, and how grateful they are to have the sun and the earth and the plants work so hard to bring us food as well. The group of children that joined us at Slide Ranch is a bright and intelligent group that already had ideas about the importance of food and where food comes from. Their visit to Slide Ranch merely solidified their ideas, and made them appreciate the idea of farms, and animal raising even more.

Harvest Festival 2010!

Raphael House's 2010 Annual Harvest Festival was a great success. More than fifty families came to join in the fun; people from all walks of life came, including Spider Man, princesses, fairies, and even giant bananas!

This year's festival was an attack on the senses. The ghoulish entryway led to a scrumptious feast of tea sandwiches, cupcakes, and cauldron of liquid luck! (aka lemonade). Whoever dared to travel onward, encountered a friendly popcorn dealing gnome before entering the games area, where the real treats were.

Around the room were various games to enjoy with the family, including Ned's Head for the little ones, which is a game that helps develop sensory skills. Children dipped their hands into the Ned's GIANT head to find things like a giant ant, a used cotton bud, an alien, and more!!! (all fake of course).

Our next game, pin the heart on the skeleton, had children practicing their surgical skills while blindfolded. The next games developed children's imaginations by having them dip their hands into buckets of oily boiled eggs for eyeballs, jumbled jell-o for BRAINS, and spaghetti for WORMS!!!!

Our photo booth, which magically transformed kids and adults into a friendly witch and vampire for pictures, was a nice respite from all of the gross out games. The bag toss, also a nice break from the sensory games, was a great hit and had every child who played it kept coming back for more. We ended the evening with a visit from Mother Goose, and a rendition of many of her well-known nursery rhymes.

Thanks to our wonderful volunteers, this event ran smoothly and was a ton of fun. Until next year....