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We love learning about Lichen and Moss in our children's art class but when we came to find a book or poem about them for the end of class we were really stumped... so we created the poem below with accompanying colouring in sheet (and threw mushrooms in there too!) and thought that you might enjoy reading and colouring it in too!
Why not encourage your preschooler to colour in the colouring sheet as you read the poem. Then wrap up warm and head outside to track down the natural wonders in the poem: Lichen, Moss and Mushrooms! Maybe take a magnifying glass to see them up close and even your sketch book and crayons to record which types you see.
Please remember never to pick items from the wild, such as mushrooms, unless the Adult supervising is 100% sure if they are safe and not poisonous!
We would love to see what you get up to, so don't forget to tag us on Instagram/Facebook: @NatureMakers and we can share your pictures :)
Something is growing on me
"There in a wood stood an old apple tree, twisted and bent, but happy and free.
Used to her leaves, her flowers and fruit, she didn’t take notice of her own
bodysuit.
Until one day when Autumn came and something changed with the wind and the
rain.
‘Oh that tickles, what could that be? It appears that something is growing on
me!’
Crusty or cup-like, colourful but small, Lichen covered her branches all.
‘Oh that tickles, what could that be? It appears that something is growing on
me!’
Spongy and thick, green clumps spread across, on the trunk of the tree grew a
skirt of soft moss.
‘Oh that tickles, what could that be? It appears that something is growing on
me!’
At the base, not a flower but a colourful bloom, with a stem, gills and cup was a
fleshy mushroom.
And they grew and they grew through the wind and the rain, a friend to the tree,
never causing her pain.
So there in the wood stood the old apple tree, covered in friends, happy and
free.”
First published in Great Britain 2020.
Text copyright Faye Smith 2020.
Illustrations copyright Richard Whillock 2020.
Faye Smith and Richard Whillock have asserted their rights to be identified as the author and
illustrator of this work under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. All rights reserved.
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