Topsfield

Community Giving Tree is proud to announce the Annual Toy Fair held at the Topsfield Fairgrounds in Coolidge Hall. The event will be held Saturday, November 3rd, 2012 from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. This massive annual toy sale, is a good time to pick up gifts for the holidays as contributions will go to benefit Essex County children and families in need.

At sundown this Halloween weekend, Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary will be transformed into a magical forest with creatures that can talk! Take a guided walk along our Halloween trail, home to some interesting creatures that come out just for Halloween. Learn firsthand about the creatures of the night and some history and myths that surround this spooky holiday.

Join watercolorist Brenda Sloane in a monthly program that combines nature and art. We will start with a walk on the sanctuary to observe the topic of the month. We will then return to the Nature Center to create a follow-up work of art.

The elusive fairies and gnomes who live in our forest are sometimes too busy to build their own homes. Let's help them out. But first, we'll learn about these mysterious and magical creatures. We'll play games, create fairy and gnome art, and then hike to the Hemlock Forest where we will design the homes. When we return as twilight is descending, we'll have hot cocoa and cookies to reward ourselves for doing a good deed. We'll sit by the woodstove to enjoy our treats and listen to a story about fairies and gnomes.

Can you imagine eating the home that you grew up in? Some insects lay eggs inside plants and cause strange-looking growths called galls. The walls of these miniature "bug castles" give the developing insect larvae food and shelter. This is evidence of another fascinating relationship between insects and plants. We will examine a variety of galls and learn about the lives of their inhabitants. On our walk, we'll hunt for as many kinds of galls as we can find.

Mid-October is an excellent time to take in the spectacular and stunning colors provided by the Ipswich River. The riverside silver maples will be showing off their yellow-gold, while the cattails and other marsh grasses will provide beautiful greens and browns, all set against the winding blues and blacks of the river. Have your family join us for a few hours as we explore this pristine habitat via a gentle paddle in canoes. With a little luck we might encounter a beaver, otter, or muskrat as well!

Join us as we share a children's nature story before we explore the woods, fields, and wetlands of the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary.  This month we'll focus on the Insects and Spiders of Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary.

Come enjoy a hike at the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary in Topsfield, one of Mass Audubon's largest sanctuaries. Visitors will have the opportunity to enhance their hike by visiting naturalist-docents on the sanctuary trails. Docents will be stationed at a wildlife observation tower overlooking a freshwater marsh and alongside a beautiful fall field. Visit them to learn about the fall migration of monarch butterflies, and the needs of migrating waterfowl.

The Ipswich River is the perfect river to start your children canoeing. We'll pair up two adults and two children per boat and take a leisurely paddle up the river. We'll stop off in one of the backwater areas and do some dipping in the river to observe up close all the creatures under the surface. On our return, we'll lunch at the canoe landing and talk about what we discovered. Bring your lunch and a blanket, and we'll provide a sweet treat.

What's the deal with fungus? Is it a plant? Is it an animal? Is it something in between? And just what do fungi do anyway? Answer all these questions and more! We will begin by learning about the function of fungi and the many different forms, colors, and habitats in which they can be found.