Day 1: Science Explorations Camp

Today was the first day of Science Explorations Camp! The kids have a very full schedule throughout the week, but crafts are an integral and educational part of their camp experience. Today the craft was centered around the solar system. The kids were doing papier mache today onto balloons to create suns for mobiles.

teamwork!

these kids weren't afraid to get messy

really good cooperation from this team :)

 The kids finished working on the papier mache and I hung them up to dry for the next few days. We will come back to them after the molds have set and we can pop the balloons!
We had some down time between activities and the kids really wanted to meet Cézanne. The next few pictures are the kids holding the snake. He was a huge hit! They had all sorts of questions.. made me feel like a zoology major again.

 

 All sorts of love for snakey today. He even got to be in the camp picture in the front row! Too cute :)

After learning about snakes the kids were given yo-yo kits to build. I got to make one, too, and attempted to show off my skills. Ha. Ha. The kids learned about some of the scientific principles that apply to yo-yos and had a good time learning tricks and techniques.

 

Before dinner the kids had another free period to come work in Rockland. The next step in the solar system project was to build the framework for the mobile and paint the planets. The kids learned about what the planets were made of, what they look like, how big they are, and how far from the sun they are. The mobiles were designed according to the rough distances of the planets from our sun. Pretty cool project! They can't hang up any of the planets until the suns are complete, though..

making planets

craftermath!

Tomorrow the campers get to start building their ROCKETS and continue to work on their solar system mobiles. It's kind of nice that the counselors/helpers have planned out these activities, but they still come to me for advice on little hiccups that happen during the crafts. I like being around to help them and work with the kids, obviously. Some of them I recognize from my observation hours in local schools.. it's a small world, truly.

Time to relax and stop smelling like a bug bomb.. the bugs are so awful here without spray.

Ms. K