Our first week of Preschool Nature Summer Camp is here! This week was all about Celebrating the magic of the longest day of the year! We discovered the beauty of summer by exploring Audubon’s ponds, streams, forest, and fields.
On Monday as our campers came to camp they got to make their very own tree cookie name tag to then wear the whole week. Today our theme was looking at why plants need the sun. We got to turn Max into a flower and learn all about the different parts of a flower from the petals to the leaves and stem. We then looked at different colors in nature and what colors were common and which we saw less frequently, green was very present where pinks and purples were rarer, this was CIT phoebe’s favorite part of the day. To cool off from the hot day we then had a water obstacle course in the backyard along with playing Drip, Drip, Splash.
Tuesday morning started with a craft using watercolors. Later in the morning to transformed Max again, but this time into a monarch butterfly! We got to put wings on him, and even his proboscis too. We then went on a monarch scavenger hunt trying to find pictures of monarchs in the garden. This then took us to Mossy Rocks where we built a home for our butterflies to enjoy. To cool off in the afternoon we enjoyed maple snow cones, playing in the water and enjoying the shade.
Wednesday morning, we made frogs to take home! Some of us made green frogs other made frogs of various colors. This then took us to hike down to Beaver Pond and see if we could catch any frogs. We saw green and bull frogs, and heard them, but we weren’t able to catch any. We used nets and tried to catch some other critters who use the sun like turtles and other cold-blooded critters too. In the afternoon we went to mossy rocks to see if we could find any insects on the forest floor.
Thursday was all about rainbows! We made rainbows as our morning craft before going on a rainbow hike down to the brook. On our hike we worked together to point out and find all the colors of the rainbow, from flowers to ferns and rocks we found them all. At the brook we explored the water, searched for critters and built some rock towers. In the afternoon we played some field games, enjoyed an activity of predicting things would sink or float and enjoyed some time playing in the mud kitchen.
Friday was our final day of camp for the week. In the morning, we searched for laminated animals in the backyard- we had to find 20 green frogs. We then got our day going and hiked down to Beaver Pond were we enjoyed snack in the shade while learning some bird calls. For the rest of the morning we played at the pond, we looked for critters in the pond- not catching just observing. Other friends played freeze tag or made some mud pies and pancakes too. In the afternoon we enjoyed a leaf litter search at Forest Camp were we also made beaver lodges too!
What a wonderful week celebrating the sun!
