This week's campers joined us for a week of exploration of the swamp, river, meadow, and forest to discover the plants and animals that call Audubon home! We used scientific tools like binoculars, hand lenses, and nets to explore our ecosystem. Food, water, shelter, and space make a happy living place!
Monday we looked at the life of a bug! We enjoyed a lead litter search at Forest Camp finding creepy crawlers. We learned about the different parts of a butterfly/insects by turning a CIT into a butterfly! In the afternoon we created our very own insects and designed and colored it in exactly how we wanted making sure it had 6 legs, maybe wings, antennae, thorax and abdomen and more! Our last activity was making a bug hotel out of recycled materials and leaving them out all week to see what critters we collect.
Tuesday’s focus was on birds and their habitats. We learned about bird nests, which birds only use during breeding season, and we got to make our own bird nests at Forest Camp. We also enjoyed a bird next paper plate craft to take home. We also turned another CIT today into a bird giving them talons, feather, and even a beak! In the afternoon we learned how ot use binoculars and went on a bird hike down to the brook.
Wednesday we took a dive into the river habitat world. Right away we hiked down to the river and enjoyed some Splish and splash play there. When we hiked up before lunch, we enjoyed a habitat puppet show to learn more about what makes a habitat and the various ones that exists. In the afternoon we transformed into beavers and frogs and also enjoyed a handprint duck craft.
Thursday habitat was the pond! We hiked down to Beaver Pond where we enjoyed a critter search and tried our best to catch these quick moving critters. We tried to catch some frogs, but we did catch some water striders, tadpoles, and leeches. In the afternoon we built beaver lodges at mossy rocks.
Friday we learned a food, water, shelter, space song focusing on different habitats! We made raccoon masks which many of us wore all day. We read salamander room and then build a salamander space in the kiddy pool. In the afternoon we created a caddisfly case using a toilet paper role and we explore with our adults.
