On Monday we started off our Spring Break Camp with a snowy morning. Nothing more like spring in Colorado. We learned all about some new animal baby neighbors that might be popping up in and around the South Platte River this year. Then we went searching for them. The cold didn’t stop us, nor the crawdads that lay their eggs this time of year.
Then on Tuesday the snow melted away to present us with a great day to explore the park and look for even more animal babies, especially the baby mammals, like bunnies and fox kits. We did not spot any mammals down by the river but we saw a crawdad full of eggs ready to hatch in the coming weeks.
As the sun warmed up the park this Wednesday we took a look as close as we could in and out of the river for some baby Macroinvertabrates. The crawdads, leeches, bugs, and butterflies saw us coming with our magnifying glasses, trying to see how they adapted to the new spring weather. Lots were found in the river during critter crawl and a surprising amount were found in the building too!
On the sunniest day of the week we fled outside for field day! We slithered through the grasses like reptiles and hopped in and out of the river like amphibians. All day we talked about how these animals and their babies have adapted to habitats like the ones along our river.
We flew into Friday on the tails of the strong winds. We learned all about how birds and bird babies change their habitats and habits to find more resources. Steering clear of winds that would have birds soaring higher for miles we crafted ways to support our local birds making houses and feeders for them! At graduation we all came together to reflect on how much fun we had and all we learned throughout this week.
Spring into SPREE
On this lovely Monday of SPREE camp we continued our exploration of natural phenomena in our park by dissecting plant seeds, talking about how plants live their lives, and grow year after year. After counting the years of our own trees, we took our explorers outside and played games about other processes that happen every spring. In the afternoon we searched the river for crawdads and other small critters and were super successful in finding so many new species!
February GLC:Snowshoeing and outdoor skills