Summer Day Camp Blog

Builder’s Diggers and Crafty Critters

Preschool Nature Camp June 30- July 3

This week we Called on all creative creatures! This was a week of building, sculpting, and excavating. We explored wild animal dens, lodges, and dams that inspired us to make our own hideaway!   

Monday we spent focused on animals who use/make dens. We found laminated foxes in the backyard that were hidden by our wonderful CITs. Later in the day we hiked up to Mossy Rocks to explore as if we were chipmunks romping through the forest. We also built a big group den altogether too. We ended by playing a round of den tag. 

Tuesday we learned all about birds! To start we turned one of our CITs into a bird by talking about all the different parts of a bird, from feathers to their beak and talons too. Then we made our very own bird masks and turned ourselves into birds too. Along with the bird masks we also learned about bird beaks and how different beaks allow for birds to eat different food. Then we learned about bird nests, how they make them, what supplies they use and headed to mossy rocks to build our own nests. We played capture the egg where we had to protect our eggs and our nests. We enjoyed a bird migration puppet show and some additional games too. 

Wednesday, we got to experience the world of bugs! We hiked all the way down to Beaver Pond to look for our aquatic critters and try and catch some of them too. Later in the day we made a spider web on the floor and got to make our own slug slime too. Our final craft was making watercolor butterflies with clothes pins, coffee filters, and pipe cleaners.  

Thursday was our final day at camp; this was a short week. Today's focus was all on beavers. We played “who has my stick?” as well as park ranger too.  we made our very own beavers out of paper bags, googly eyes, and paper accents. We enjoyed a beaver puppet show and when it was raining super hard suddenly in the afternoon, we enjoyed watching a few BBC kid videos all about beavers. We spent the rest of the day outside building a giant group nest which we shared with our adults at closing circle. 

Cam per building their animal den Photo: Hannah Rubino
Turning a CIT into a bird Photo: Hannah Rubino
testing our different animal beaks Photo: Hannah Rubino
Testing out different bird "beaks" Photo: Hannah Rubino
Catching critters at Beaver Pond Photo: Hannah Rubino
Exploring the pond Photo: Hannah Rubino
We found a red eft! Photo: Hannah Rubino

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