By Stephanie Tolar | Off-Site and Adult Education Program Coordinator
After a few false starts, spring has finally sprung in North Carolina! Our Earthkeepers have been busy through the winter and spring watching the change of the seasons and honing their nature awareness skills. We can continue to offer scholarships for this outstanding program because of donors like you!
Our theme for this Spring session is “Animal Adaptations.” We’ve explored how both predators and prey use camouflage to hide, and played several stealth games to get campers in the mindset of an animal. During our Bird week, we played a game using diverse types of “beaks” to pick up different types of prey to determine which beaks were best adapted to different varieties of food. Earthkeepers competed in the “Bird Olympics” where they got to show off their avian skills by participating in activities such as standing on one leg like a sleeping Great Blue Heron and flapping their “wings” as fast as they could like a hummingbird. We took to the forest to explore and look for reptiles, amphibians, and insects the following week. This session, we are also keeping nature journals, where we document our discoveries and interesting finds!
Last week, we talked about mammal adaptations! Earthkeeper Ibrahim was very excited to learn about mammal skulls and how the physical characteristics of the bones can help you to identify an animal and tell something about its lifestyle. He was amazed at how different the bones looked without the rest of the animal. “There’s so much stuff in between the bones and the skin!” he marveled. “You can tell which animals are predators or prey because of where their eyes are!” He went on to tell me that his favorite skull that we looked at was the beaver!
Ibrahim was new to Earthkeepers this year, but he and his brother, Ali, love Earthkeepers so much they have returned season after season. Ibrahim said that he enjoys finding cool things in the forest and playing fun nature games in the woods. He likes being able to explore outside and learn new things with his friends.
Our Earthkeepers not only learn more about the world around them - they also learn about themselves. Our activities challenge the students to think creatively, and what they accomplish is often more than they thought possible. Our program has a strong emphasis on creating community and nourishing the important connections between all of us. Earthkeepers not only gain knowledge about nature, but they also learn to make friends, resolve conflicts, think critically, and solve problems. As a part of our afternoon, each Earthkeeper shares something they are thankful for during Gratitude. Answers range from the predictable - “candy,” “video games,” and “my birthday” - to the touching - “my family,” “all the other Earthkeepers,” and “the world.”
We at the Piedmont Wildlife Center would like to thank YOU for your continued support of the Earthkeepers afterschool program. Because of your support, we can continue to offer enriching nature- and community-based experiences for these children.
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