Hop! Swim! Fly! Discovery Camp

Hop!Swim!Fly! Campers' Families-

My how the summer flew by...
and what fun it was to examine animal locomotion with 6 great campers!
Quinn, Gabe, Isabelle, Matt, Aidan and Madeleine were great explorers and we got to discover a lot of new things.

Here are the highlights of our 3 days of camp:

Day 1: Hop/Jump

• we started out camp with looking for some mighty jumpers by using sweepnets on our mounds area which has lots of grasshoppers and other cool insects. We managed to catch quite of them, and even a damselfly, which flies, but was really exciting nonetheless


• We went on an animal locomotion scavenger hunt. We talked about or saw all of animals on the list (which was sent home with the campers)


• We played a game called Fox & Geese, which explored prey/predator relationships as well as animal behaviors.


• We made origami frogs and some of the campers participated in a frog jumping contest/race


• We read the book "Oscar and the Cricket" which discussed movement in a variety of ways


• The campers ended the day by designing "tumblebugs," which had to roll down a ramp (ruler) and not slide. The campers enjoyed exploring and experimenting with different items (paper, small bead weights) until they accomplished the task.

Day 2: Swim

• Today was the aquatic day, although we did do one thing that we didn't get to on Day 1. They started the day by making potato bug traps- they were halves of potatoes with most of the inside removed to make them look like little igloos. We then placed them out on the sides of the trail on our hike out to the north end of the marsh.


• The rest of the morning we spend learning a little about the marsh and using dip nets to catch aquatic animals. We did manage to collect (and return) a small fish, and a variety of insects and other invertebrates: waterboatmen , backswimmers, a giant water bug, a damselfly nymph, a leech and a whirligig beetle larva.


• In the afternoon, we switched over to discussing a favorite furry swimmer, the beaver, by examining some biofacts like their fur, their swimmer feet, tail and skull. We then made
  fun beaver hats.


• We then discussed fish by first reading "Fish is Fish" and "Swimmy" by Leo Leonni and then ate a fish snack {pretzel stick rods, peanut butter bait and goldfish fish}, then practiced fishing for paper fish, before trying our hands at some real fishing in Lake Kirsty. No fish caught but still a good end to the day.

Day 3: Fly

• Today was a focus on things that fly. We explored more of the preserve while doing a bird behavior bingo game, at the end of which we got a chance to see a goose taking a bath, which is quite interesting to watch.


• We also collected our potato traps, which had a number of millipedes and 'potato' bugs in them. Before releasing them, we had a couple of potato bug races (on a rock with a finish line, and another where we drew a circle in the dirt and placed 2 bugs...the first out of the circle wins).


• After lunch, it was warm so we played a game called "keep the fish in the pond" with a parachute and a water balloon, and then did a water balloon partner relay.


• We also made butterfly or bird wings that the campers were able to wear. The boys made bird wings, the girls opted with butterflies.


• We looked at a preserved bat specimen, as well as some rabbit fur.


• We finished the day with games: Bat and Moth (similar to Marco Polo), Nature Says (similar to Simon Says but movements had to imitate plants/animals) and the ever popular Everyone's It.

Our time together was filled with learning, discovering and lots of fun. For me, it was a great end for the summer of 2011 discovery camps. I hope all our campers have a great school year this fall and that we'll see them back next summer. Keep a lookout for 2012 summer camp info in early 2012.

Here are some photos from our 3 days of adventure! To see the captions, move your cursor down to the bottom of the slideshow and click on the white balloon bubble below the photos.



Sincerely,
Miss Caryn