Outdoor lore

By Kevin Gutting Staff Photographer

February 16, 2021

These images were originally published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

AMHERST – Participants in the “Jumping Mice” group, for kindergartners and first graders, hiked to what’s known as the “Squirrel Kitchen” to enjoy some nature play during the first day of the February vacation program at the Hitchcock Center on Monday.

: Ursa Koerten, 5, brings a shovel as the Jumping Mice group of kindergartners and first graders hikes to the “Squirrel Kitchen” for some nature play during the February Vacation program at the Hitchcock Center in Amherst on Monday, Feb. 15, 2021.

: Yejun Ko, left, and Lucas Kravitz, both 6, hold stuffies of a deer and a rabbit – two animals they’ll be learning about – during opening circle time for the kindergarten and first grade group of the Hitchcock Center’s February Vacation program in Amherst on Monday, Feb. 15, 2021.

: Nia MacLean, 5, has Katie Koerten check the temperature on two sticks she was rubbing together to start a pretend fire during the February Vacation program for kindergartners and first graders at the Hitchcock Center in Amherst on Monday, Feb. 15, 2021. Koerten, also an educator at the center, was accompanying her daughter, Ursa, as she attended the youngest “Jumping Mice” group.

: Hitchcock Center educator Aemelia Thompson helps kids in her “Jumping Mice” group of kindergartners and first graders mark their track and sign books with a squirrel stamp on the first day of the February Vacation program in Amherst on Monday, Feb. 15, 2021. From left are Nia MacLean, 5, Yejun Ko, 6, Isaac Morris, 7, and Lucas Kravitz, 6.

: Yejun Ko, 6, marks his track and sign book with a squirrel stamp on the first day of the February Vacation program at the Hitchcock Center in Amherst on Monday, Feb. 15, 2021.

: Participants in the “Jumping Mice” group, for kindergartners and first graders, runs back from an activity on the first day of the February Vacation program at the Hitchcock Center in Amherst on Monday, Feb. 15, 2021. From left are Katie Koerten and her daughter, Ursa, 5, Acadia Ripley, 6, Charlotte Ribe, a Northampton High School junior volunteering through the Key Club, and Roey MacLean, 7.