Nature Day Camp, Session 3
With this last session of Nature Day camp, BRDC’s summer season has come to an end! Once we get started, it’s crazy how quickly time passes. Luckily, we had the same amazing crew that we did in 2023! Nature Day camp is one of my personal favorites because of the freedom it allows. Our other camps have plenty, but they do also have set activities that need to be done in a day (paddle or hike x miles). With Day Camp, we get to follow the kids' interests. We have activities that we plan for, but rarely even end up doing half of them!
Day 1: Habitats
Our morning was filled with rain! But not to worry, we got to spend extra time investigating BRDC’s different specimens and learning about nature journaling. We even ventured out into the rain garden to collect fresh specimens, before bringing them to the safety of the porch for sketching. After that, we discussed what makes a habitat (food, water, shelter, and space) and brainstormed what a forest habitat would look like. Every camper got to contribute to our whiteboard-home. Then, each camper designed their own forest critter costume so we could play the competition game. The rain finally let up after lunch and we drove up to Elk garden and headed into the woods to look for interesting things to journal about. And it turns out that our brainstormed forest looked pretty similar to the one we were in! We made it back just in time for pick-up!
The competition game- survival of the fittest! You need three pompoms to make it to the next round- food, water, and shelter. Drought, fires, and human impact can limit resources.
Day 2: Birds
The weather was still a little iffy with scattered downpours, so we spent the morning learning about what makes a bird, a bird. And then campers got to hold actual bird parts! When talking about how a bird’s beak can tell you about its diet, it helps to compare specimens. A Great Blue Heron, Great Horned Owl, and Ruby-throated Hummingbird have very different beaks, and different food sources and behaviors that go with them. We even got to test how waterproof feathers are using the rain outside! (Great Blue Heron wings make a great umbrella in a pinch) To really understand bird anatomy, we also played bird body bingo by coloring and labeling some diagrams. After lunch we headed to the Whispering Waters trail, where we did a short loop and saw lots of different mushrooms and salamanders! And got to (safely) climb on a perfectly-placed boulder. Again we made it back right at pick-up time!
Day 3: Insects
Our most popular topic BY FAR with this group. With a shift in weather, insects were out in full force. Mr. B taught everyone about insect anatomy and the different insect groups before we grabbed our nets and headed up to Skulls Gap to see what we could catch! We saw plenty of grasshoppers, bees, and butterflies. Mr. B and Ms. Olivia were pretty good at transferring insects from net to container, and only a few precious catches were lost. But in the direct sun, it can get hot quickly! We headed back to campus for lunch before we wandered back into the rain garden for more net time! It really did take up most of our day- which we absolutely love to see! One of the coolest snags was probably a thread-waisted wasp. We also introduced two new activities- the caterpillar races and camouflage hide-and-seek! To compete in the caterpillar races, all you need is a thin scrap of paper and a straw. After coloring, it just takes a couple folds to get it into an “inchworm” position. Campers used different techniques to blow their caterpillars across the table to the finish line. Camouflage hide-and-seek is pretty straight-forward. The entire rain garden is available as hiding space (as long as campers are mindful of the plants), and they need to try their hardest to blend in with their surroundings so that they don't get found- just like an insect! Every year we’re impressed by the new hiding spots we see. And, while hiding, one of the campers found a dead wasp midway up a plant stalk that had been overtaken by a parasitic fungus. What luck!
The final round- Wyatt used his unique caterpillar rolling technique to squeeze out a win!
Day 4: Water
Usually a camper-favorite, we bumped water day up from Friday because we had two campers who couldn’t attend our last day. In the morning, we talked about different salamander species that can be found around BRDC, and each camper picked one species to be an expert on. They had to make very detailed drawings- some salamander patterns can be hard to differentiate. An important lesson we learned was that salamanders have thin, sensitive skin and they need to be handled with care. So before we went down to Dela’s branch, we made sure to rinse our hands with just water and grab jars to observe our amphibious friends with. (We also had a longest worm contest, and the winner was fed to the native Brook Trout in our classroom) After lunch, everyone grabbed their water shoes and we made our way across the street to Big Laurel for some macroinvertebrates! One of our tools, the seine net, requires 3 people, so the campers had to work as a team. We had a great collection of crayfish, giant stoneflies, common stoneflies, waterpennies, aquatic worms, caddisflies, and more! When we returned to the schoolhouse, we did bring some macros back for the Brook Trout.
Day 5: wilderness skills and interests
Our last day! Stella brought her own butterfly container- a huge, mesh box- so we spent the better part of the morning trying to fill it with as many species as we could find. The kids also tested our net-to-jar transfer abilities by trying to max out the number of silver-spotted Skippers or bumble bees we could successfully get in one container. (We hit 4 for both before they started to escape and it got a little too crowded) Though we never managed to catch a Monarch to complete our collection, we released our captives. Then we moved from the garden to the woods…. it was time for shelter-building! When we got out there, we saw the remains of last day camp’s effort and knew… ours had to be BIGGER and BETTER! So we set to work. First building the structure, and then by lining the inside with leaves and the outside with some decorations. Everyone managed to squeeze in for the picture (except Mr. B and Ms. Olivia)- can you see all 8 of them? After that, we took a minute to do some paper crafts (specifically, paper airplanes). When Ms. Olivia debuted her gliding “Turkey Vulture” airplane, everybody wanted to make their own. And then we had a contest to see whose airplane could go the farthest! (It was Mr. B’s) Lastly, we learned how to use a compass to kick off our end of camp treasure hunt! Following clues and their camp experiences, the kids ran around campus in the rain until they made it to the dining hall…. where ice cream was waiting for them! After enjoying our tasty treat, we got together for one last picture in our camp shirts and then everyone headed home.
