What is that smell?

Ever wonder how you can tell the difference between smells? Why does a lemon have a citrus smell while freshly cut grass smells different? The answer is olfactory receptors. In a short version, different smells stick to your scent glands, or olfactory receptors, causing them to change shape. This change sends a signal to the brain, like a text message, telling your brain what it is your nose is picking up.

Here at Sticks Stones and Bonez, we have all sorts of fun smells to stretch those olfactory receptors. Some are things that your brain will recognize immediately. Others you may not have ever encountered. It's a workout for your scent glands to find all of the exciting scents at our scent-sational sensory station!

Snake Fun!

Thank you to everyone who came out for our snake event yesterday! It was so much fun having everyone there! 

This Wednesday we learned about 5 different snake families and the native snakes of Nebraska! We looked at each type of snake through an interactive website and learned about what makes each family of snakes unique! 

After learning about the different snake families, we looked at some of Nebraska's native snakes! The kids were challenged to look at each one and determine what family it belonged to! The kids did very well and got almost all of them right including the 4 Venomous Snakes of Nebraska which include our native Pit Viper, the Massasauga! 

                           

The kids then got to handle some of our live snakes, including Hector the Dwarf Boa! We compared each snake and used their physical characteristics to sort them into family groups! The kids loved holding the snakes and experiencing how they felt and looked, up close! We then looked at sheds from different snakes including a Burmese Python shed, which is one of the longest species of snakes in the world and compared them! We attempted to do a shed rubbing but did not have a lot of success with that! We learned that our method did not work and that we'll have to try something a bit different the next time. Despite the rubbing not working, many of the kids turned their attempted rubbings into scribble snakes and classified them into one of the families we learned about! 

                                                 

Lastly, we did a snake craft! Each one colored and decorated their snake and were able to take them home! It was a lot of fun seeing the kids work together and create using everything that they learned!

Join us next Wednesday, March 1st, at 11am for our Duct Tape Warfare Event! We'll be learning about the French Short Sword, the Baselard, and will use Duct Tape, Pool Noodles, and more to create our own Baselard Short Sword and re-enact a battle using them! We hope to see you there for more fun and exploration!

- The Sticks Stones and Bonez Team