Last week we welcomed 15 little Cloverbuds to the Piedmont Research Center for a week of camp. The theme of camp was "Everyday is Earth Day". Even though it rained for the first two days, that did not stop the kids from learning about bugs and trees. Paul Sumpner, a former entomologist for Virginia Tech brought in a number of insects for the kids to observe. After learning about the different kinds of insects from butterflies, to spiders, and even poisonous insects, campers got to hold a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach, a water beetle, and a variety of other live insects.
Campers enjoyed painting paper mache globes that showed them the amount of water on earth, and making adventure books where they stamped different wildlife tracks to learn how animals move. Continuing on with the earth day theme, they had the chance to search for different habitats, and even go fishing with nets in the pond. Though they didn't catch any fish, they did catch a small snail.
They ended the week with songs about hippos, planting grass, and mentioning that they learned that "playing outside with nature can be really fun."
