Students Try Their Hands At Sculpting Butter

Landis Woods Nature Preschool has been meeting for more than two years, and teacher Matt Geyer, known as Mr. Matt, has always interspersed lessons about the great outdoors with learning letters and numbers. However, this year, classes are being held primarily outside Boettcher House in Landis Woods, located off Route 501 in Neffsville. "Our goal is to have them ready for kindergarten when they go, but we add a nature twist to it," said Alex Van Pelt, who works in environmental education and outreach for the Manheim Township Recreation & Park Planning Department, which oversees the preschool. "This year especially, we are outdoors the entire time," he added.

The classes, held on the Boettcher House patio with children sitting on individual squares and wearing masks in accordance with COVID-19 restrictions, take place weekdays from 9 to 11:30 a.m. with 4-year-olds meeting three times a week and 3-year-olds meeting twice a week.

On Jan. 15, in addition to classes discussing the letter H, taxidermied birds stored at Boettcher House were brought out, and Mr. Matt discussed differences between types of hawks and also between hawks and owls. The discussion varied from history to helicopters to herpetologists, and students learned about using vowels to build words before the discussion turned to butter. "We are going to make some butter sculptures," announced Geyer, who reminded students that butter comes from cows before Van Pelt showed a video about how milk is processed into butter. Geyer reviewed the information from the film, discussing how butter is separated from buttermilk in a machine. A second video focused on butter sculptures that have been created for the Pennsylvania Farm Show, which was held virtually this year. Past sculptures have featured life-size depictions of people, children, and animals.

Following the films, each child received a stick of butter, courtesy of Oregon Dairy, as students lined up along tables at the edge of the patio. Butter sculpting supplies and decorations found at each table included popsicle sticks, colorful feathers, seashells, googly eyes, and pipe cleaners. Using the items they were given, children created sculptures resembling insects, birds, and other whimsical creatures.

Van Pelt noted that holding the classes outside has not deterred any students from attending. "They come dressed for the weather," he said, noting that pop-up tents are available when it rains and that in extreme weather, the classes would move inside Boettcher House with social distancing to give each student personal space. "We do exercises and fun activities to keep the blood pumping and keep them warm," shared Van Pelt. "It really works great for shorter attention spans (because) they can squirm around on their square, and it's not a distraction to others." Van Pelt added that it made sense to move a preschool class that focuses on nature outside. "We just transitioned everything outside to accommodate (COVID-19 restrictions)," he said. "The kids are loving it, and the parents are loving it."

Readers who would like more information about the preschool may visit http://www.landiswoodsnaturepreschool.org.